The Donut Shop In 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Is Ready to Be MCU Canon
You know those portals Doctor Strange makes? When he scrunches his eyebrows, whips his hand in a circle, and whoosh—an improbable vacuum appears in the air, sparking and spitting, offering a golden ticket to another universe? There's one at the door of Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
It starts at the store and spits you out somewhere you've never been—a time that doesn't exist anymore. You're transported. The shop's workers whirl around in mint-green uniforms and pink baseball hats, plucking donuts from the wall. Sugar jelly, chocolate cake, honey dip. They're cheap, like change-in-your-pocket-cheap. Customers buzz and pull out wallets and recite long orders in their heads, just so they don't mess it up when they get their chance at the counter. There's usually a line out the door, too, hoards of people waiting to go somewhere else.
Peter Pan has been this way since the 1950s, etched in New York lore, now and hopefully forever. And on December 17, 2021 the shop was written into the history of another world: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, MJ (played by Zendaya) gets a part-time job at yep, right here. Without giving too much away, Greenpoint's donut haven gets more than just a blink-and-you'll miss it sighting. MJ even dons the pastel uniform, and she may or may not serve a sweet or two. You know what they say: With great power, comes great responsibility—so I called up co-owner Donna Siafakas and her son, Demetri, to see how they're handling the added fame, and if they're prepared to feed the rest of the Avengers.
"One of the producers from Spider-Man used to live a few blocks from here and visit Peter Pan," said Siafakas, who you can often glimpse masterminding the business's operations during a trip to the shop. "He loved the place and [said] he wants it in the next Spider-Man movie. I said, 'Why are you even asking me? Just do it. Who would say no to that?'"
One caveat: The Spider-Man team recreated Peter Pan at its Atlanta, Georgia studios. So the shop you see in No Way Home is a remarkably impressive—to use Marvel-speak—variant of the store. "They did a really good job," Siafakas added. "It's just that the shop in the movie seems a tiny bit smaller and the front-facing counter in the door. Even the donut presentation is kind of the same." When we spoke earlier this week, Siafakas said she hadn't seen No Way Home yet, but heard that her nephew screamed so loud in a Long Island theater that he likely scared the whole place.
It's not just Siafaka's nephew who considers Peter Pan one of No Way Home's most stand-up-and-shout-worthy cameos in a movie stuffed with them, by the way. Take a scroll through Peter Pan's Instagram and you'll see both countless admirers big-upping the shop and Spidey fans who wasted no time in embarking on a pilgrimage to MJ's place of work. Especially the latter. Siafakas says that countless new faces keep showing up and mentioning the web-slinger. I have to ask, if Zendaya happened to walk through the door, which donut would you recommend? "I would have to say the Red Velvet," she said, "We were thinking of coming up with a Spider-Man donut based on our red velvet donuts because Spider-Man has a lot of red in him, and adding something to make it a Spider-Man donut."
Now, before we get to the most important question—as in, whether or not Peter Pan is ready to be the official postgame spot for any and all Avengers battles—we need to address the major accusation leveled against the outpost in No Way Home. At one point, MJ quips that she'd be happy to offer "stale donuts" to her buddies Peter Parker and Ned Leeds. Not cool. Stale donuts are no joke, even in an MCU laugh-fest. "I would say that she didn't get it here. I would never sell a stale donut," Siafakas responded, adding that it could've been cold day, and maybe MJ was snacking on the pastries that were up against the window all day. Case closed.
Now that we have that settled, let's get to Peter Pan's future in this dangerous world of superheroes and supervillains (the latter of which would be more than happy to crush a beloved donut shop to mere sprinkles). I get Siafakas's son, Demetri, who's more schooled in the ways of the MCU, on the phone for this one. "Listen, I'm not going to get greedy here," he says. "I, of course, love that. A bunch of people keep telling us we're Marvel canon now. That might be one of the greatest things to ever happen to us. I'm not going to get greedy and say we should be in more, but that would be the greatest thing that could happen."
Say Peter Pan gets the call again. The Avengers need donuts. Now. Maybe a bagel, too. Who does he want to walk through that portal? "Bring back the Avengers," he says. "Have them all come back here. Doctor Strange, all of them. We'll take all of them."
Let's make it happen, Marvel. I've heard that the Hulk loves a good Bavarian cream.
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