Rejoice! The time has come for us to all finally discuss and dissect spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Not just speculation, either. Actual, real things that happen in the movie. And while it may seem like No Way Home is a film fans figured out long before a single frame was released, we now know that’s partially right, and partially not. Below we’ll talk about the biggest events in the movie and what they might mean for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Let’s start with the big one. The one we all kind of knew and didn’t think was possible but secretly hoped it was. And that’s that Doctor Strange and Spider-Man splintering the multiverse does, in fact, bring the two other live-action Spider-Men, played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, into this world. And I mean, let’s take a second to acknowledge just how incredible this is. Who knows how much money these guys were paid to return but the fact they revisit these roles in service of this story, is really something. Plus, and I couldn’t say this in my review but I can now, the scenes between the three of them were an absolute delight. The humour, the callbacks, the emotions, all of it perfect. Seriously, No Way Home is a good movie at best until Garfield and Maguire show up, and then the whole thing goes to another level.
Plus, while we all had an inkling they were coming, how they arrived was quite a surprise on its own. That it was Ned, having stolen Doctor Strange’s sling ring, who has the ability to open portals to other parts of the city that allowed the other Peter’s through. Couple Ned’s new ability with a very brief glimpse of what looks like a green costume in MJ’s apartment, as well as a ton of knives, and you get a sense Peter Parker’s friends (or, ex-friends, which we’ll get to) might have heroic aspirations of their own.
The biggest discussion point with the new Peters isn’t what happens in the Marvel Cinematic Universe though. Once the three Peters valiantly save the city from Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, Lizard, and Electro, everyone goes back to their dimensions. That’s it. And yet, it’s not. The Spider-Men don’t defeat the villains in a traditional sense, they fix them, basically removing all their evil tendencies. So when all of those characters go back to their universes, we assume, they’ll no longer be bad. But when do they go back? Do they go back at the moment of their death, which seems to be when they came through? Or do they go back now, a few years later, when they’ve already been dead? How will any of that mesh with those realities or impact the lives of the other Spider-Men?
Honestly, though? I don’t think any of that will ever be covered. You get the sense this was Sony and Marvel’s one big chance to bring those movies into this universe and now they have. Which is great, but there’s no doubt the implications almost certainly screw up those realities. Maybe something like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse can deal with it but, we can’t sure. Our best guess is we’ll never see Peter 2 and Peter 3 again. If you disagree, let us know below.
Of course, once everyone goes back to their dimensions there’s still the problem of the multiverse sucking every Spider-villain ever into this world to take care of. (In the shadows you saw Rhino for sure, and probably some others too, let’s know who you saw below). Peter – the Tom Holland one – realises the only way to stop people from travelling across dimensions to kill Peter Parker, is for Peter Parker to not exist. So he asks Strange to remove all memory of Peter Parker from the world, that includes his friend MJ and Ned.
My first thought about this was Peter would not have done it if Aunt May was still alive. That Aunt May, his only real family that we know of, was killed earlier in the film allowed him to make such a harsh, selfless decision. Now, as the other Peter said, she truly didn’t die for nothing. Once you get past that, the choice makes sense as a solution but hugely complicates the narrative going forward. The subsequent scene reveals that the world still remembers Spider-Man, he’s still around, just not that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. And that’s because literally no one knows who Peter Parker is now. He doesn’t exist.
That puts Peter back to square one in so many ways. Not just as a hero but as a human. What about bank accounts, potential inheritance, school, just super-duper basic existence stuff? These all seem like very big mountains to climb if you don’t have an identity. The film basically glosses over that because we see Peter has his own apartment now (with what money?) and is studying for the GED. So, presumably, losing his identity meant no more high school but he’s still planning on continuing his education. He’s got a plan. But it’s all a little confusing to say the least.
There’s also that new suit to think about. From a comic fan perspective, that the film ends with Peter now wearing a homemade Spider-Man suit feels like the entire run in the MCU so far has been an origin story to him becoming the Spider-Man of the comics. Now he finally has the confidence to do it on his own. And yet, was he forced into that decision because the Stark suits were coded to Peter Parker and now Peter Parker doesn’t exist? Does Strange’s magic work with technology too? One would assume, and if so, it makes that decision a tad less powerful.
Speaking of which, on a larger scale, is Spider-Man still an Avenger? Sure, there’s no guarantee the Avengers even exist anymore without Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow, but now no one knows who Peter Parker is. Does he just go to Nick Fury, take off his mask, and reintroduce himself? How would anyone react to that?
Truly, you could go on and on forever about how the ending of this film will play out. What we do know is that Spider-Man in the MCU is back at the starting line. An anonymous hero with the world at his feet. Will he choose to keep things on the neighbourhood level, or will it get bigger than that? We’ll find out eventually. Tell us what you think about the big reveals and ramifications in Spider-Man: No Way Home below.