Part of me wonders if the initial plan was to have Keaton back as the Vulture and/or Michael Mando back as The Scorpion since that seems to be something Homecoming was setting up. Maybe once the idea that this would be a multiverse thing was floated and the focus shifted to the previous franchise's characters it didn't make sense to include him anymore.
Either way, that thread appears to have been cut since unless something else happens; Toomes is back to having no clue who Spider-Man is, and just like the rest of the universe, has no memory of, nor even heard of Peter Parker.
Yeah, those thoughts have been bouncing around in my head, especially since I just rewatched
Homecoming and I considering Toomes one of the MCU's best villains. While I loved getting this multiverse adventure and the consequences from it, I am sad we won't get to see a proper follow up with Toomes to explore why he didn't out Peter to Mac (or anyone else) and how he intended to get revenge.
That said, now that Simmons has returned as JJJ, there's a strong chance we might actually get Scorpion's proper origin now. Plus, this version of JJJ seems like a better fit for someone who would create a supervillain just to hunt down Spider-Man. The only difference is he may not regret it when Mac goes crazy and slips out of JJJ's control.
Which is a shame, because I always thought the idea of bringing Liz back somewhere down the line as a version of Black Cat has some potential. I guess they can still do that since she's still the child of a convicted thief who's fallen on hard times and suddenly found her once promising future ruined thanks to that jerk Spider-Man.
And if they want to be really cheeky about it, maybe she now goes by her middle name 'Felicia' and her mother's maiden name 'Hardy' (yes I'm making this up!) because if your dad is a notorious super-criminal, you'd probably change your name too.
The interesting possibilities in such a storyline of course stemming from the fact that she might understandably hate Spider-Man, while having no memory of Peter. While Peter very much would remember her, and while there certainly would no longer being any adolescent romantic feelings for her, he'd still care about her as one would any former friend/old flame, and (Peter being Peter) feel deeply responsible for her situation if she's ended up following in her father's footsteps.
Plus of course the MCU has been rather light on female antagonists, so that alone for me makes Black Cat (in whatever form) the preferable next choice for a Spider-Man movie. Hell, have her work for Fisk so they have the plit be about her getting out from under him, and setting her up for her own solo anti-hero movie/Disney+ show!
Damn, I love all of those ideas! I've also wanted to see Liz return and I think this would be a brilliant way to do it. Plus, your reasoning for why she would change her name (that
coincidentally conforms to Felicia Hardy) makes perfect sense to me. And, as you said, the MCU is lacking in female antagonists so even more reason to go down this route.
I would argue that they did fill that sixth spot, it's just that Venom didn't bother to show up because while all the others were already in New York when they were yoinked across the multiverse and already had a reason to go after Spider-Man; Eddie/Venom were on the lamb down in Mexico and weren't in any big hurry, so spent the whole time getting drunk and arguing with themselves about whether it was a good idea to go skinny dipping.
Yeah...I can see that. But like I said, the Sinister Six moniker wouldn't work here anyways because that group is usually organized as means to take down Spider-Man and this group never had that cohesive grouping (except maybe briefly when they were all imprisoned).
First, did the spell apply to offworld characters? In other words, when Nick Fury gets back from space, is he going to know who Peter Parker is? ("Peter MFing Parker, what the hell do you do?")
Speaking of Fury...how the hell does some officer in Damage Control know that Fury is off world?! Considering how secretive Fury is, I figured the only people he would tell that to are Maria and Carol...and that's it. No way he would tell that to anyone part of Damage Control.
I mean I get why we had that line but it still stood out. Especially since it wasn't ever followed up on.
Second, what do the various Avengers characters remembering doing with Spider-Man? If he showed up on the side of Avengers Tower, would he be allowed in? And, if he was able to convince them that he was, in fact, the Spider-Man they remember, could they set him up with an identity?
Corrolary to the second: Post-Blip, there are probably people who can't document who they were pre-Snap, and there are probably government and non-profit programs set up to help these people get back on their feet, get identification, etc.
I think this all highlights that we aren't suppose to think about the mechanisms of the spell too much, just like we shouldn't think too much about the real-world implications of 50% of the population disappearing...and then reappearing five years later. The world would be in complete chaos and so would the nature of mind-wiping people of Peter on whatever level it might be.
The way I look at is that everyone remembers everything Spider-Man did, but just without the knowledge of any connection to Peter. Of course, how that works with people who knew him well on both sides of the mask while directly connected to other significant events like Happy is going to be weird. During that whole cemetery scene, I kept thinking "How exactly did Happy know May?" and "How the hell did he love May...and
not know who Peter is even without knowing he's Spider-Man?"
It all falls apart pretty quickly when you look at it too closely. I'm fine with just looking at it on the surface level.