Chris McKenna, co-writer of Spider-Man: No Way Home, revealed that an early draft had Peter Parker using the alias "Ben Reilly" and pretending to be British when he first met MJ after she forgot him. This idea was ultimately cut.
The film opens with several short scenes showing Spider-Man fighting villains like Boomerang, Tarantula, Tombstone, and Hammerhead, featuring comic book Easter eggs. An early script also included another scrapped plotline: a fake Spider-Man who registered the "Spider-Man" trademark first, forcing Peter to hire Matt Murdock to handle the situation.
In the film, MJ and Ned Leeds remember that Spider-Man helped and saved them, but don't recall their personal relationships with him. Peter doesn't reconnect with them until attending a house party. An earlier version had him meeting MJ sooner and inventing a different identity since she no longer recognized him.
In an interview with The Bulwark, McKenna said the fun of the fake accent lay in the fact that Tom Holland is actually British. They wanted Holland to portray "an American imitating a British accent," and the name Peter used in this version was Ben Reilly.
McKenna didn't explain why they ultimately reverted to the name Peter Parker. However, he mentioned that the creative team had many ideas for Spider-Man movies that were later canceled due to character arrangements in other Sony films.
For instance, the team initially wanted to use The Spot before learning the character would appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. They also planned to include Kraven the Hunter after hearing Sony wouldn't use him, but eventually dropped that idea as well.