Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home
Uncle Ben's absence in the MCU was finally explained by the events of Uncle Ben fits into the MCU, it became apparent that Marvel's most famous father figure never really mattered at all.
Unlike in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man duology, viewers were never given the opportunity to see Peter Parker's origin story in the MCU. He was already Spider-Man when he was recruited by Tony Stark during the events of Civil War. As such, many wondered if his origin was the same as it was in the other Spider-Man films and whether he was responsible for letting Uncle Ben die. It was also unclear whether Peter had been told "with great power, comes great responsibility", as it was traditionally through Ben's death that Peter learned this lesson.
Spider-Man: No Way Home confirmed that Uncle Ben never mattered in the MCU, and that the final chapter of the Home trilogy was actually the culmination of Peter's origin story. The use of Aunt May as his mentor figure in this movie effectively erased Ben's role from the continuity, as she served as Peter's moral com and the guardian who taught him the lesson about responsibility. The film even gave her a more active role in convincing Spider-Man to try to help the Green Goblin, who would ironically go on to kill her.
However, Peter's first appearance in Civil War did suggest that he may have had a similar lesson before. When asked by Tony Stark why he wanted to be a superhero, he said that "when you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen - they happen because of you". Whilst this was by no means a repetition of "with great power, comes great responsibility", it was clear that Peter had already been taught about morality. Some assumed this meant that Ben must've previously taught him this lesson. However, Far From Home and No Way Home expanded May's character, and consistently showed her urging Peter to do good. It was therefore apparent that she had been this positive presence in his life, not Ben.
The screenwriters' reveal that No Way Home was meant as the Uncle Ben and died so that the MCU Peter Parker could finally learn what it meant to be a hero.
Despite a handful of allusions that confirmed the existence of Uncle Ben in the MCU, Spider-Man: No Way Home proved that he never mattered. Watts clearly intended for Aunt May to take on the tragic role as Peter's moral com and the mentor figure who ultimately transformed him into Spider-Man. In a sense, Marissa Tomei's Aunt May took on both roles in Peter's life, which was a refreshing change after two film series which both exclusively used Ben as part of his origin.
