The Real Reason Spider-Man: No Way Home Skipped China, Finally Explained

Spider-Man: No Way Home skipped China after censors demanded the Statue of Liberty be scrubbed from its finale — a request Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures rejected. The clash explains how a global smash missed the world’s second-biggest box office.

We finally have a clean answer for why Spider-Man: No Way Home skipped Chinese theaters, and it is as specific (and wild) as it sounds.

The note that ended the China run before it started

Back in 2021, Jon Watts dropped the third MCU Spidey movie with Tom Holland back in the suit as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, alongside Zendaya as Michelle 'MJ' Jones-Watson, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange. The film turned into a box office bulldozer, racking up about $1.9 billion worldwide without the help of China.

So why did China pass? Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman says the country had one ask: remove the Statue of Liberty. That’s where the finale takes place, of course, which makes the request... ambitious.

"No problem, just cut out the Statue of Liberty."

Rothman says that was the condition to secure a release. He also got pretty blunt about what he thinks the movie would have done with China in the mix and why he was not interested in making that cut.

"It pisses me off that I have to say this, but [No Way Home] did 1.9 billion... In my mind, it’s over two [billion], because I know what we would have done in China... I really didn’t look forward to sitting there in front of Congress telling them why I cut the Statue of Liberty out at the request of the Chinese Communist Party."

What that means for Spider-Man 4

Rothman added one eyebrow-raising detail about the next film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day (aka Spider-Man 4): there are no shots of the Statue of Liberty this time. Make of that what you will.

• Title: Marvel's Spider-Man: Brand New Day (aka Spider-Man 4)
• Release date: July 31, 2026
• Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle/Punisher), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Michael Mando (Mac Gargan/Scorpion), Marvin Jones III (Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone)

Meanwhile, Spider-Man: No Way Home is streaming on Disney+. If Brand New Day clears the China hurdle, we might be talking about a very different ceiling next time.