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The best of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” reminded me why I used to love comic books, especially the ones about a boy named Peter Parker. There was a playful unpredictability to them that has often been missing from modern superhero movies, which feel so precisely calculated. Yes, of course, “No Way Home” is incredibly calculated, a way to make more headlines after killing off so many of its event characters in Phase 3, but it’s also a film that’s often bursting with creative joy.

Director Jon Watts and his team have delivered a true event movie, a double-sized crossover issue of a comic book that the young me would have waited in line to read first, excitedly turning every page with breathless anticipation of the next twist and turn. And yet they generally avoid getting weighed down by the expectations fans have for this film, somehow sidestepping the cluttered traps of other crowded part threes. “No Way Home” is crowded, but it’s also surprisingly spry, inventive, and just purely entertaining, leading to a final act that not only earns its emotions but pays off some of the ones you may have about this character that you forgot.

Note: I will very carefully avoid spoilers but stay offline until you see it because there are going to be landmines on social media.

“No Way Home” picks up immediately after the end of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” with the sound of that film’s closing scene playing over the Marvel logo. Mysterio has revealed the identity of the man in the red tights, which means nothing will ever be the same for Peter Parker ( Tom Holland ). With an almost slapstick energy, “No Way Home” opens with a series of scenes about the pitfalls of super-fame, particularly how it impacts Peter’s girlfriend M.J. (Zendaya) and best bud Ned ( Jacob Batalon ). It reaches a peak when M.I.T. denies all three of them admission, citing the controversy about Peter’s identity and the roles his buddies played in his super-adventures.

Peter has a plan. The “wizard” he met when he saved half the population with The Avengers can cast a spell and make it all go away. So he asks Dr. Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) to make the world forget that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, which, of course, immediately backfires. He doesn’t want M.J. or Ned or Aunt May ( Marisa Tomei ) to forget everything they’ve been through together, and so the spell gets derailed in the middle of it. Strange barely gets it under control. And then Doc Ock ( Alfred Molina ) and the Green Goblin ( Willem Dafoe ) show up.

As the previews have revealed, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” weaves characters and mythology from the other cinematic iterations of this character into the universe of the current one, but I’m happy to report that it’s more than a casting gimmick. My concern going in was that this would merely be a case of “ Batman Forever ” or even “ Spider-Man 3 ,” where more was often the enemy of good. It’s not. The villains that return from the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb films don’t overcrowd the narrative as much as they speak to a theme that emerges in the film that ties this entire series back to the other ones. For a generation, the line about Spidey was “With great power comes great responsibility.” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is about the modern Peter Parker learning what that means. (It also helps a great deal to have actors like Molina and Dafoe in villain roles again given how the lack of memorable villains has been a problem in the MCU.)

So many modern superhero movies have confronted what it means to be a superhero, but this is the first time it’s really been foregrounded in the current run of Peter Parker, which turns “No Way Home” into something of a graduation story. It’s the one in which Parker has to grow up and deal with not just the fame that comes with Spider-Man but how his decisions will have more impact than most kids planning to go to college. It asks some interesting questions about empathy as Peter is put in a position to basically try to save the men who tried to kill other multiverse iterations of him. And it playfully becomes a commentary on correcting mistakes of the past not just in the life of Holland’s Parker but those of characters (and even filmmakers) made long before he stepped into the role. "No way Home" is about the weight of heroic decisions. Even the right ones mean you may not be able to go home again.

Watts hasn’t gotten enough credit in his other two Spider-Man movies for his action and “No Way Home” should correct that. There are two major sequences—a stunner in a mirror dimension in which Spidey fights Strange, and the climactic one—but it’s also filled with expertly rendered minor action beats throughout. There’s a fluidity to the action here that’s underrated as Mauro Fiore ’s camera swoops and dives with Spider-Man. And the big final showdown doesn’t succumb to the common over-done hollowness of MCU climaxes because it has undeniable emotional weight. I also want to note that Michael Giacchino ’s score here is one of the best in the MCU, by far. It’s one of the few themes in the entire cinematic universe that feels heroic.

With so much to love about “No Way Home,” the only shame is that it’s not a bit more tightly presented. There’s no reason for this movie to be 148 minutes, especially given how much the first half has a habit of repeating its themes and plot points. Watts (and the MCU in general) has a habit of over-explaining things and there’s a sharper version of “No Way Home” that trusts its audience a bit more, allowing them to unpack the themes that these characters have a habit of explicitly stating. And, no offense to Batalon, turning Ned into a major character baffles me a bit. He always feels like a distraction from what really works here. On the other hand, this is the first of these three films that has allowed Zendaya and Holland’s chemistry to shine. In particular, she nails the emotional final beats of her character in a way that adds weight to a film that can feel a bit airy in terms of performance.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” could have just been a greatest hits, a way to pull different projects into the same IP just because the producers can. Some will see it that way just on premise alone, but there’s more going on here than the previews would have you believe. It’s about what historic heroes and villains mean to us in the first place—why we care so much and what we consider a victory over evil. More than any movie in the MCU that I can remember, it made me want to dig out my old box of Spider-Man comic books. That’s a heroic accomplishment.

In theaters on December 17 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence, some language and brief suggestive comments.

148 minutes

Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man

Zendaya as Michelle 'MJ' Jones

Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange

Jon Favreau as Harold 'Happy' Hogan

Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds

Marisa Tomei as May Parker

Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus

Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon / Electro

Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin

Tony Revolori as Eugene 'Flash' Thompson

Angourie Rice as Betty Brant

Martin Starr as Mr. Harrington

Hannibal Buress as Coach Wilson

J.B. Smoove as Mr. Dell

J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson

Benedict Wong as Wong

Writer (based on the Marvel comic book by)

• Steve Ditko
• Chris McKenna
• Erik Sommers

Cinematographer

• Mauro Fiore
• Michael Giacchino

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Spider-Man: No Way Home Review

Saturday morning cartoon meets deep mcu drama more of this, please..

This is a spoiler-free review of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which will hit theaters Dec 17th 2021.

Once-in-a-lifetime films are pipe dreams for most studios, yet, here’s Marvel showing off the fact that they have us all in the palm of their hands yet again. Spider-Man: No Way Home is somehow a perfect harmony of a Saturday morning cartoon and the deep drama that we’ve come to expect from these epics. You’ll find no spoilers here, but the film will remind you repeatedly that there are a whole lot of reasons that Sony and Marvel kept the details of this one as close to the vest as possible.

Despite the fact that there’s so much we can’t talk about here, we can still find plenty of tidbits to discuss, because there’s truly never a dull moment in Spider-Man: No Way Home. That’s due in no small part to stellar performances across the board. The MCU as a whole has never been a slouch when it comes to casting. Some of the best actors in the world now hold their own respective Marvel roles. But, whether it be the pandemic or No Way Home's lack of buildup from other installments in the MCU, the performances here feel like something different. Willem Dafoe nails everything he does, but his reprisal of Norman Osborn is something for the MCU history books. His character — like the rest of the villains who find their way into Peter’s (Tom Holland) universe — is given a new depth that was never explored in previous Spider-Man films.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailer 2 Screenshots

Built around performances like Dafoe’s — Alfred Molina’s Doc Oc and Jamie Foxx’s Electro aren’t anything to sneeze at, either — is the root of Spider-Man: No Way Home’s success. Amidst the laughs and the tears is a deep, heartfelt empathy that’s felt missing not just in the early MCU, but in the Spider-Man films that preceded this one. That’s not the fault of the creators or the performers of those respective series, but more a result of the times in which they were made, and what audiences were expecting at those times. The early live-action era of superhero fare was much more focused on thwip, thwip, bang, bang than the complex emotional impact of it all. Spider-Man: No Way Home’s empathy finds itself woven into the storyline in a way that doesn’t feel overly didactic or pandering, but instead truly drives home the ethos of Spider-Man: with great power comes great responsibility. Even when it freakin’ sucks. (Especially when it freakin’ sucks.)

The involvement of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) really helps to drive home the age difference between Pete and the rest of the Avengers, which furthers The Spectacular Spider-Man of it all. Underneath all of Tony Stark’s tech is a kid who just kinda wants to do kid stuff sometimes. Like, y’know, get into college or whatever.

It’s the Tony Stark of it all, though, that takes us to what may be the most exciting long-term effect of Spider-Man: No Way Home. In other canons, Peter’s involvement with Iron Man comes after he’s established himself. The scrappy kid from Queens didn’t need a billionaire to sort out his gadgets. He did it on his own. Now, we’re obviously well past that in this Peter Parker’s story, but now that we’re far enough from the fall of Stark, Spidey’s finally taking things into his own hands. Heck, the kid even uses math to get out of a desperate situation.

What's your favorite MCU movie of 2021 so far?

While there's a real thrill in watching a story of this scope, which takes from and adds so much to the MCU as a whole, I’m not going to tell you that Spider-Man: No Way Home is without its flaws. When folks talk about superhero fatigue, they’re often not talking about audiences becoming tired of seeing people in capes. What they typically mean is an overall boredom with tropes that have been long-standing staples in the genre. The MCU has been forced to reckon with these tropes over the years to varying degrees of success, but there are some moments in this one that fall into one of the most frustrating hero habits of them all: the lone hero. This complaint and the specific fallout from certain choices made by our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will undoubtedly see resolution in later films. But, for now, they’re annoying.

Spider-Man’s other tiny “pitfalls” are what you’ve come to expect from a Marvel film. Sometimes there might be a little more CGI than there should be, maybe some moments of dialogue will be considered a little hokey. But they’re our hokey moments, dangit! When I compare Spider-Man: No Way Home to a Saturday morning cartoon, that’s said in the fondest possible way. It has all the cheesiness you expect from a high school-aged Peter Parker, met with the silliness that comes along with a kid who uses web-slingers to swing around New York City to fight bad guys who are sometimes literal lizards.

Those tiny tidbits aside, the scale of Spider-Man: No Way Home is wild. Folks concerned that it was going to Spider-Man 3 itself with all the villains involved need not be worried. The vast majority of everything presented in this newest chapter works in such a way that you’ll leave the theater both thrilled and counting down the moments until we see Peter and his friends again.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits all the right notes as the MCU's latest entry. Its impact on the universe as a whole, as well as the overall emotional beats, all feel earned. Stellar performances meet what feels like a Saturday morning cartoon rife with all the devastating punches we've come to expect from this sneaky universe. Though it struggles with some tired superhero tropes, everything else about it will leave fans grinning ear-to-ear.

More Reviews by Amelia Emberwing

Ign recommends.

The Joyful Pandering of Spider-Man: No Way Home

The film might be a new nadir for Hollywood—but it’s also an undeniably watchable good time.

Superhero movies often evoke the feeling of childhood play, of breaking out a couple of action figures and thrilling in imaginary team-ups and surprise villain cameos. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, a staggering piece of storytelling that shows no sign of abating after 27 films, has figured out how to bottle that feeling and sell it to grown-ups and kids alike, provoking cheers every time Iron Man gets a croissant with the Hulk. Spider-Man: No Way Home , however, has a maniacal sense of glee that not even prior Marvel movies possessed.

In this third entry in the third Spider-Man series, which features Tom Holland as the web-slinging do-gooder, one cinematic universe simply isn’t sufficient. Jon Watts’s film collides with Spidey flicks of the past, roping in old villains from other franchises to deliver a turbocharged, 148-minute nostalgia rush. Spider-Man: No Way Home unfolds as though it were written by a room full of children who had just eaten a whole bag of sugar; it’s a hectic series of plot twists and deus ex machinas that overturns an entire bucket of action figures and smashes them all together with delight. The film might be a new nadir of cinema—but it’s also an undeniably watchable good time.

Read: Spider-Man: Far From Home satirizes the way Marvel movies are made

No Way Home begins with some semblance of the teen hijinks that powered the last two films featuring Holland as Peter Parker. He’s worried about getting into college; he’s trying to maintain a healthy relationship with his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya); and his life as Spider-Man has been thrown into disarray by the revelation of his secret identity by the enraged journalist J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons, here reimagining the character as a vlogger type hawking dietary supplements). In search of a quick fix, Peter hits up his pal Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), demanding a magic spell that will erase the knowledge of his secret identity from the world.

Everything, of course, goes very wrong; the barrier between universes cracks like an egg and various realities start to ooze into one another. If you’re wondering why a super-intelligent grown-up like Doctor Strange would deign to get mixed up in all this, the answer is corporate synergy; sure, there’s vague dialogue about the inexorable bond Strange and Spidey share after teaming up with the Avengers , but that’s just an excuse for Sony to break out some fan-favorite performances from past films. Did audiences enjoy the villains of the Tobey Maguire–starring series? Do you even remember the ones from Andrew Garfield’s run at the character ? Well, then you’re in luck, because they’re on their way back to say hello.

Sony has a long history of getting ahead of itself on the Spider-Man front. Both the Maguire and Garfield series ended up collapsing under their own weight, piling on too many villains for their final installments and planning for massive franchise expansion a little too quickly. For the Holland iteration, Sony allied with Disney to squeeze him into the existing Marvel world, an approach that lets the character bounce around in a bigger sandbox, though at the risk of being overshadowed by bigger stars. No Way Home is a ridiculous celebration of all the highs and lows the character has experienced over the years, and though seeing the return of Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin or Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus is certainly pleasant, the returns of Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, and Rhys Ifans’s Lizard are a lot more bizarre.

Read: If only more superhero movies were like ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’

Is the nostalgia sometimes forced? Absolutely. The often-baffling narrative swerves between deep emotion and zany humor, and though Holland’s impression of an excitable teenager remains on point, I did want the movie to settle down a little and pick a thematic lane. Despite its ample running time, No Way Home doesn’t really do that; instead, the approach is a grab bag of Spider-Man’s greatest hits, riffing on his inherent nobility and his well-known mantra of great power and great responsibility going hand in hand. As supervillains trickle in, Doctor Strange pushes to return them to where they belong, but Peter balks once he learns that he’d be sending them back to narratives that end in their death.

So the stakes of No Way Home become, essentially, cosmic dramaturgy—Peter, MJ, and their plucky pal Ned (Jacob Batalon) trying to rewrite these villains’ fate and give them a happy ending. Any plot holes in that convoluted-sounding scheme are covered up by the screenplay’s frenzied nature; why fret over logic gaps when one can luxuriate in Molina’s grandiose monologuing, or Dafoe’s echoing cackle? The final act of the film piles on more surprises and fan service, and although the pandering is clear, any viewer who has a history with these characters (i.e., most cinemagoers of the past 20 years) will likely have trouble resisting the joy of it all. No Way Home is less a movie and more a fun-house ride through our collective memory tunnels. I won’t blame anyone for giving in and letting the serotonin flow.

Related Podcast

Listen to David Sims discuss Spider-Man: No Way Home on an episode of The Atlantic ’s culture podcast The Review :

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Tom Holland’s Spider-Man went where Marvel Comics has never gone before

The MCU’s Peter Parker is like no other: completely alone

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“Anyone can wear the mask,” as Miles Morales puts it in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse . And there are so many versions of Spider-Man , all a little bit different from each other, that there have now been two different movies about their multiplicity : Peter Parker’s story is as universally familiar as any in pop culture, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of it has reached the end of its first major arc with Spider-Man: No Way Home .

[ Ed. Note: This essay contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home .]

But the version of Peter we’ve been watching Tom Holland play for the past six years is a curious one. It plays some tricks with the fact that we think we know his backstory already, and ends up in a place we’ve never seen Peter Parker’s story go before — a Spider-Man with no supporting cast left, no primal failure to motivate him, and no real home at all.

Fresh-faced neighborhood Spider-Man?

The MCU’s Spidey arc begins with a flash of brilliance: It takes his background as given. We’ve seen the earlier movies , or read the comics , or watched the TV shows . We know (or think we know) who Peter Parker is, what his special abilities are, how he got them, who raised him, what his late uncle told him about the relationship between power and responsibility, and the painful way that message got driven home to him. Why waste time repeating familiar details?

2016’s Captain America: Civil War is a somber, heavy movie as it is, and it doesn’t have room for the bitterness and death that are central to Peter’s backstory. So when the MCU’s Spider-Man debuts midway through it, he’s a beam of sunshine. His action scene at the Leipzig-Halle Airport is pure delight; he bounds around the screen, hero-worshiping Captain America and trying to ingratiate himself with Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson even as he’s fighting them. And he’s very obviously a kid . Holland’s delivery of “Hey, everyone!” (his only line that made the Civil War trailer , or needed to) is in the voice of someone who’s grown up watching YouTube videos .

All we’re told about Spider-Man in Civil War is that he got his powers about six months earlier, and he’s been performing heroic feats in a costume. (What’s his motivation to do that? Superheroes are cool, basically.) We see Marisa Tomei as a considerably younger Aunt May than most versions of Spidey’s story have featured, but there’s no mention of a radioactive spider, or of Uncle Ben. As close as Holland’s Peter Parker comes to recapping the familiar origin is dropping some vague hints: “When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t ... and then the bad things happen ... they happen because of you.”

Still, we don’t get a sense of what bad things he’s talking about, either there or in his next appearance, Spider-Man: Homecoming . (The title has a double meaning: It signifies both that this Spider-Man is specifically a high-schooler, and that Marvel had cut a deal with Sony to get their hands back on the character whose film rights they’d sold for chump change in 1998.)

‘Mister Stark, I don’t feel so good’

Most of Homecoming is concerned with setting Peter up not as the lonely outcast that Spider-Man has often been, but as a smart, likeable, nerdy kid from Queens, with a new best friend (Ned Leeds) and a serious case of hero-worship directed at “Mister Stark.”

Spider-Man’s early comics often read like his search for a new father, with a string of villains who could potentially be (terrible) role models for him: arrogant scientist Doctor Octopus, psychopathic industrialist the Green Goblin, bloodthirsty showman Kraven the Hunter. Homecoming feints at that briefly — the Vulture turns out to be the father of Peter’s homecoming date — but his actual dubious father figure in these films is another superhero. Tony Stark, Iron Man, repeatedly drafts the starstruck teen into dangerous conflicts, and Avengers: Infinity War doubles down on that theme: Peter stows away on a spaceship out of loyalty to Tony, and he ends up dying in Tony’s arms .

When Peter returns to life in Avengers: Endgame , five years (of in-story time) later, the first thing Tony does is hug him (“Oh! That’s nice”). Peter returns the embrace as Tony is dying, shortly thereafter. The next time we see Peter, in Spider-Man: Far from Home , he’s being set up as Iron Man’s rightful heir, by way of the high-tech E.D.I.T.H. glasses that are meant “for the next Tony Stark.” But Peter’s manifestly not ready for that yet; he’s still working up the nerve to tell a girl that he likes her.

Again, Far from Home plays with what we already know about Spider-Man: The running gag about his precognitive sense of danger being his “Peter-tingle” is mostly funny because it’s a substitute for the far less smutty-sounding “Spider-Sense.” And the hand-me-down suitcase Peter takes to Europe has the monogram BFP, but Uncle Ben still isn’t mentioned by name.

The first explicit reference to an Uncle Ben in an official MCU story is in, of all things, the zombie-apocalypse episode of the animated What If...? show — in which he’s mentioned by an alternate-universe Spider-Man. It’s entirely possible, in fact, that there is no Ben Parker in the world of Tom Holland’s Spidey. (Tobey Maguire’s version mentions his Uncle Ben in Spider-Man: No Way Home , but it seems like that’s a surprise to Holland’s version.)

No home left

There are no father figures for Holland’s Spider-Man in No Way Home . Tony Stark’s E.D.I.T.H. glasses are gone, and even Tony’s former assistant Happy Hogan is getting dumped by Aunt May at the beginning of the movie. Peter finally suffers the devastating loss we’ve been led to assume happened much earlier, and it’s not his uncle but his aunt, who even gets to deliver the line whose inevitability has been deferred for five and a half movies: “With great power there must also come great responsibility.” (That phrase appears in a narrative caption at the end of the first Spider-Man story, from 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15; it’s specifically associated with Uncle Ben in the popular imagination mostly because Cliff Robertson’s Ben Parker said it in the 2002 Spider-Man movie.)

What Aunt May’s “great power” moment suggests is that this is the conclusion of the MCU Spider-Man’s origin story, the moment when Peter Parker realizes that the “bad thing” has happened because of his failure to live up to — something or other. As the Spider-Man story is usually told, Ben’s death is (in some way) Peter’s fault, and it leaves Peter with greater responsibility now that he has to take care of May. But No Way Home muddles that idea. May supports Peter in the course of action that leads to Norman Osborn killing her (“You did the right thing,” she tells him as she’s dying). More than that, she’s the one who talked him into it in the first place (“This is what we do — we help people”). Her death is a callback to the tragedy of Spider-Man’s familiar origin, without its hubristic sting.

By the end of the movie, Peter is broke and lonely, forgotten even by his closest friends MJ and Ned (not that we even got to see them as a functional trio for very long). He’s swinging around the city in a cloth suit that he’s made himself, just as he had apparently been doing before Tony Stark showed up on his aunt’s sofa in Civil War . For the first time, he’s entirely on his own, and the six-movie plot thread of how this earnest kid is going to grow up seems to have reached its end. (Fair enough: Holland, 25 years old by the time No Way Home opened, and he can’t really pass for a kid anymore.) Holland’s Peter Parker has long since accomplished what Civil War and Homecoming established was his greatest dream — being an Avenger — and even the Avengers are a thing of the past.

But a Spider-Man who’s alone in the world is an entirely new take on the character, and not a promising one. His story has never been about a quest for independence — it’s about his struggle to figure out where he fits in. No Way Home leaves Holland’s Spider-Man with nothing to expiate and no one to protect; if he has no personal attachments left, he has no particular reason to preserve his double identity anyway. The interconnected web of Peter Parker’s family and friends and associates is his home: the structure that gives his story power and meaning. Without it, he’s just another lost young man in a suit, crawling up the walls.

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'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Spoiler-Packed Review: A Marvel Masterclass

As Tom Holland and Zendaya swing into home release, let's just say we'll all be signing the Amazing Spider-Man 3 petition.

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No Way Home stuck the tricky landing.

It's the next Avengers: Endgame . It's bigger than Avengers: Endgame, because it combines 20 years of movies, instead of 10. It's the movie that will save cinema, and it features the best best-friend handshake of all time.

Prepare for all of those hot takes and more right here in CNET's global spoiler-packed review of Spider-Man: No Way Home , available to buy and watch at home on Vudu now (and coming to Blu-ray and DVD April 12). The third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie  broke box office records , and the reviews are, for the most part, radiant. It's the crowd-pleasing, fan-servicing Spider-Man bonanza years in the making, and somehow it sticks the landing.

Check out how CNET staffers reacted to Spider-Man: No Way Home below.

'A masterclass'

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a masterclass in balancing MCU Peter Parker's story with nearly 20 years of legacy elements. Green Goblin is particularly intense, and Willem Dafoe is clearly having an amazing time being a total monster. Ditching the silly flight suit was a wise move; the new look lets Dafoe do plenty of face acting and brings him much closer to the horrible comics version of the character.

The arrival of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Peters was magnificently timed, bringing hope in a super dark moment. It was fun to catch up with Maguire after 14 years – I was super relieved he and MJ stuck together. However, Garfield reminds us that he's the most talented actor to play the role (but got stuck with a mess of a movie in The Amazing Spider-Man 2); he oozes charm every moment he's on screen. 

-- Sean Keane, London

'Best bit: Charlie Cox's pitch-perfect Matt Murdock cameo'

Pretty much everything you've read about in the online rumor mills is in the film – even the now-iconic midair fight, which has its missing characters airbrushed back in. The result is that, much as with an Apple press event when all the news has leaked ahead of time, the surprises aren't really all that surprising, even if they're still pretty cool. 

The three Spider-Men do what they came to, although I would have liked to see more Maguire-Garfield interaction as a pair of fish-out-of-water (universe?) heroes, and they could have clawed back some excess Happy Hogan screen time. One of the film's best grace notes is how the characters from the first two Spider-verses are stunned that magic (of the Dr. Strange variety) exists on Earth-616 ( or is it Earth-199999 ?). In fact, in the film's denouement, Spider-Tom resets himself to something closer to those more grounded incarnations, with a hand-sewn suit and a new shabby neighborhood to patrol. Best bit: Charlie Cox's pitch-perfect Matt Murdock cameo. Worst bit: They couldn't find a spot for 1970's TV Spider-Man Nicholas Hammond .

-- Dan Ackerman, New York

'Redemption'

I've always said Avengers: Endgame is the best MCU movie because it's the movie that pulls from more than a decade of movies to make an amazing and coherent movie. Then we have No Way Home, and it does that even one better. It combines three different universes that were never meant to tie together, and it just works. 

What I appreciate the most about No Way Home is how much redemption this film provided for Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx. These are two great actors who were put into a bad sequel, but they were given another shot. Foxx establishes himself as the smoothest supervillain Spider-Man ever faced, while Garfield gives everything that you want from a great hero. I think the biggest compliment for No Way Home is that it's easily on the same level as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which many consider to be the best Spider-Man movie. 

-- Oscar Gonzalez, New York

'Sense of closure'

No Way Home is not only an excellent movie on its own, but it somehow retroactively makes prior movies — going back to the original Tobey Maguire trilogy — better. The film could have easily brought in the cast of the previous films in one-off cameos, but No Way Home brilliantly incorporates many of these characters so they're critical to the plot and the development of Tom Holland's Spider-Man.

Andrew Garfield, as mentioned, was dealt a poor film, and the way the film resolved his arc by saving Tom Holland's MJ (after, spoilers, losing Gwen Stacy the same way) was powerful, as was seeing Maguire stop Holland from killing Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. Little grace notes like Maguire reconnecting with Alfred Molina's Doc Ock and Garfield talking with Jamie Foxx's Electro were nice moments that offered a cathartic sense of closure.

The ending, when Holland's Spider-Man opts to live in a world where no one remembers his Peter Parker, brings back that classic down-on-his-luck character that doesn't have the luxury and Stark technology or aid from the Avengers. By turning the "Home" trilogy into an extended origin story, it lets us better appreciate the films while getting hyped up for what's next.

-- Roger Cheng,  New York

'Incredibly moving'

I'm struck by this film's emotional impact. Not only was it thrilling to see the three Spider-Men come together, but it was also incredibly moving to watch them relate to one another's pain and loss. Nothing makes a superhero more relatable than the problems they can't solve, and their struggles with accepting a fate they can't change. 

I loved the advice the older Spider-Men gave to Tom Holland's character to never become bitter about what's happened in the past, because it won't fix anything. It made me think about how everyone watching in that theater had surely experienced some form of loss and grief, and we could all take a moment to disconnect from that pain and find comfort in these characters – and, by extension, in each other.

-- Abrar Al-Heeti, San Francisco

'Real stakes'

My favorite thing about this film is its commitment to real stakes and the consequences that come with them. It would have been easy for the writers to have come up with a quick fix from Dr. Strange to make a happy-ending all around, but Peter is forced to make a real sacrifice and give up the things that are most important to him.

The dynamic between the three Spider-Men was absolutely brilliant. Some people might think that the "joke" got old during their dialogues (for example, how the eldest Spider-Man's superhero body could actually make webbing), but I was eating up every minute of it. All three absolutely nailed their characters, and where they realistically could have been in their lives this many years later. Though this proved once and for all what I've always thought: Andrew Garfield is the king of all Spider-Men.

 --  Andy Altman, San Francisco

'Blending vibes'

If there's one thing you absolutely need to give this film credit for, it's how seamlessly it blended the vibe of each Peter and his film set. Tobey Maguire's mature Peter has always held more of the weight of this responsibility, so it felt all the more rewarding to see him as a sage mentor for not just Tom Holland's Spider-Man, but also Andrew Garfield's. Meanwhile, Garfield's Peter was easily the most troubled, so to see him finally shed the emotional baggage and guilt in No Way Home felt right. 

Yes, this is me echoing all the demands for an Amazing Spider-Man 3. 

Tom Holland himself did a lot of heavy lifting, but I think it was most important to have No Way Home bring back Peter's wild science brain. From mid-dimension mathematics through to developing cures for not one, but five different ailments, Peter grounds himself in science in a world that feels more magic than reality half the time. Science gives him something to hold onto.

-- Steph Panecasio, Sydney

'Educational'

No Way Home turned out to be an incredibly educational movie. It taught me several things. The golden ratio is a unique mathematical relationship that can be found in the natural world. Tobey Maguire is 46 (and still in incredible Spidey form). And, unequivocally, Andrew Garfield is the best Spider-Man ever and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 needs to happen. Please look up #MakeTASM3 for more information.

-- Jennifer Bisset, Sydney

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• Consequence

Spider-Man: No Way Home Review: A Daring Narrative Feat With a Lot to Say About the Web-Slinger

Avoid spoilers if you can. Seriously

Directed by

• Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei
• Columbia Pictures

The Pitch: It’s very very hard to make specific references to much of what happens in Spider-Man: No Way Home without spoilers. But at one point, while discussing the memory spell that Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) has agreed to perform for Peter Parker ( Tom Holland ), Peter voices his concern over his beloved MJ ( Zendaya ) forgetting that he’s Spider-Man.

Doctor Strange then points out that if MJ is only Peter’s girlfriend because he’s Spider-Man, then what does that say about their relationship? It’s perhaps the smartest thing Doctor Strange says in the entire movie, and evaluating No Way Home leads to a similar dilemma.

What director Jon Watts and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have done with this film is an unprecedented piece of corporate-produced art. But attempting to write about it without blowing some of the bigger reveals highlights this question: Separated from the most exciting/controversial/unexpected moments in play, and without the element of surprise, does No Way Home hold up as a good story well told? The answer is yes to a degree…but it could have gone further.

Bring Me Pictures of Spider-Man! If you haven’t recently seen Holland’s previous Spider-Man outing, Far From Home , you might want to go revisit it, as the action of No Way Home picks pretty much immediately after the surprise outing of Peter as Spidey by J. Jonah Jamison ( J.K. Simmons , whose new interpretation of the character veers immediately into full-tilt Alex Jones territory here).

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Deep Dive Analysis

Mal and Joanna discuss Spider-Man as a character and his many iterations, overall plot points, their thoughts and predictions for future installments

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A note up top: This episode contains content that details the entire MCU. Proceed with caution!

Your friendly, neighborhood Ringer-Verse gang is here to break down the latest in the Spider-Man series , Spider-Man: No Way Home . The duo discuss Spider-Man as a character and his many iterations, overall plot points, their thoughts and predictions for future installments, and more.

Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Associate Producer: Lani Renaldo Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production: Steve Ahlman, TD St. Matthew-Daniel, and Arjuna Ramgopal

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The Los Angeles premiere of Sony’s “ Spider-Man: No Way Home ” has officially wrapped and the first reactions to the MCU’s latest entry are out in the wild. Official reviews and social media responses are beginning to pour in, with many offering euphoric praise for the multiverse mash-up featuring Tom Holland’s friendly neighborhood superhero.

Director Jon Watts returns for “No Way Home” after directing previous “Spider-Man” entries “Homecoming” and “Far From Home.” The newest installment picks up after Spider-Man’s identity as Peter Parker has been revealed to the world. Peter turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who casts a spell to make the world forget that he’s the web-slinger, but the enchantment goes awry and breaks open the multiverse. The MCU is invaded by “Spider-Man” villains from alternate realities, including Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx) and the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau and J.K. Simmons also return for this new “Spider-Man” entry.

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“Spider-Man: No Way Home” will be released exclusively in theaters on Friday.

Popular on Variety

Variety  chief film critic Peter Debruge called the blockbuster “a clever meta-adventure” adding that “audiences who’ve tuned out [of the ‘Spider-Man’ films] along the way will be rewarded for giving this one a shot.”

Reviewing the film for IGN , Amelia Emberwing hailed the film as a “perfect harmony of a Saturday morning cartoon and the deep drama that we’ve come to expect from these epics,” citing the blockbuster’s performances as one of the key reasons for its success.

The Playlist’s Rodrigo Perez was less enthusiastic, calling the film a “very regressive, fan-service-y ‘Spider-Man’ legacy-sequel that’s overly nostalgic for its heydays.” Comparing the film to the similarly multiverse-focused “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the critic wrote that the film is “nowhere near as successful or inventive.”

Nick Schager offered a positive review in The Daily Beast , deeming it “the MCU’s best Spidey movie by a mile.”

On social media, Variety awards editor Clayton Davis erred on the side of caution with regards to spoilers, offering a humorously non-descriptive response that still expressed his praise.

#SpiderManNoWayHome has a beginning, middle and an end. I like those three elements. Tom Holland and Zendaya are good at making me believe they are those characters. The special effects look real. I liked the fights. I had a lot of fun. This is how I review Marvel movies now. pic.twitter.com/AZrOiX7Cnt — Clayton Davis (@ByClaytonDavis) December 14, 2021

Fandango’s Erik Davis deemed “No Way Home” the best live-action “Spider-Man” picture to date.

I can confidently say #SpiderManNoWayHome is THE BEST live-action Spider-Man movie. A thrilling & emotional end to the “Homecoming” trilogy, but also a smart, fun & exciting tribute to 20 years of Spider-Man movies. Both hilarious & heartbreaking, I honestly loved every second. pic.twitter.com/8xpqbTNgfz — Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) December 14, 2021

Gizmodo’s Germain Lussier called the film “immensely satisfying,” adding the caveat that the middle gets a little bogged down with setting up so many characters.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is immensely satisfying. You'll cry happy tears, sad tears, and cheer in the theater. The middle gets a little clunky cause there are so many characters but the third act is so dynamic, fun and powerful, it more than makes up for it. #SpiderManNoWayHome pic.twitter.com/klthYwtmCg — Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) December 14, 2021

Decider’s Alex Zalben stated that the film works because it remains centered on Holland’s Peter Parker, even while spinning lots of fan service plates.

#SpiderManNoWayHome shockingly works by keeping focused on Tom Holland's Spider-Man, front and center. It's still packed with fan service and pays off nearly 20 years of movies; but most of all it's funny, fun, and often extremely emotional. Stay spoiler free as long as possible. — Alex Zalben (@azalben) December 14, 2021

See more reactions below:

https://twitter.com/adambvary/status/1470659900812324864

Spider-Man: No Way Home didn't meet my expectations, it EXCEEDED them. This movie is worth every excruciating moment we had to wait! The visuals, the score, the heart, the story, the villains…. talk about an EPIC creation. Tears, chills, happiness… #SpiderManNoWayHome pic.twitter.com/44FcO7IrtF — Tessa Smith – Mama's Geeky (@MamasGeeky) December 14, 2021

Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the best superhero movies of all time. It just continuously proves, over and over again, why Peter Parker is the greatest fictional character, ever. pic.twitter.com/2VCcIxfZ1J — Hector Navarro (@Hectorisfunny) December 14, 2021

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the best Marvel movie of all time. #SpiderManNoWayHome perfectly pays tribute to the legacy of Spider-Man and finds that perfect balance of humor, action, heart, and nostalgia. Fans of the web-slinger will absolutely lose their minds when they see this. pic.twitter.com/mYZ7emhkY1 — Scott Menzel (@ScottDMenzel) December 14, 2021

#SpiderManNoWayHome is simply amazing. Every scene w/ Willem Dafoe is GREAT. A love letter to the fans. I don’t even want to say anything else. I love Homecoming, but this may be my favorite of the trilogy. Can’t wait to see it again. 🕷❤️ pic.twitter.com/GBia3SlCqs — Kirsten (@KirstenAcuna) December 14, 2021

No Way Home is fucking great. Endgame levels of "Wow they nailed it." — jason concepcion (@netw3rk) December 14, 2021

#SpiderMan #NoWayHome starts off wobbly under a mountain of exposition/overcrowding but eventually rounds into form. The multiverse elements provide great fan service constructed to serve a greater thematic arc. A natural emotional step from FFH & conclusion to first trilogy. pic.twitter.com/sB8AjQdU0q — Brandon Katz (@Great_Katzby) December 14, 2021

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An unnecessarily long essay on "Spider-Man" in No Way Home

Or, a more spoilery title: a ridiculously long and hastily-written essay on the character work of "Spider-Man" in No Way Home, specifically the balancing of three different, yet familiar versions of the same character.

Where do I even begin? It was all so perfectly done that I'm still amazed. There were so many chances to mess it up, but you could truly tell that the filmmakers are huge Spider-Man fans themselves. There's so much unspoken meaning behind the ways they use each Spidey, which I will go into shortly. All of the following is a mix of my own thoughts and a lot of the general opinion shared by the fanbase, gleaned from hours of reading post-watch.

Spider-Man Introductions

I was speculating and slightly worried that they might come save him while he was getting fucked up at the apartment. In retrospect, that would've been awful. That beatdown and that defeat/loss is essential. Not only would that have been a shitty Deus ex machina, it would've ruined what they were trying to do. However it's done, whatever details are switched up, Spider-Man's defining moment is when he loses the figure who fulfills that "guardian" role in his life. He feels like it's his fault, and he's filled with murderous rage towards the person who was responsible (as good-hearted as he is, comics Peter is easily angered and resentful). In he end, that moment teaches him about responsibility and he goes from being a kid with superpowers to a true hero.

Briefly related: as much as I liked the first two MCU Spider-Man movies, I always felt like something was missing. I knew Tom Holland had what it took, but NWH made me realize that until now he hasn't been THE Spider-Man. I know people get sick of the same origin stories being done to death, but this was just a great example of taking that same story and bringing something new to it. Uncle Ben's death will always be iconic, but it was ballsy to do it this way and they pulled it off perfectly.

Now if you recall from TASM2, the whole theme of Peter's arc in that movie was his struggle to be a symbol of hope. He couldn't bring hope to the people who needed it from him the most, and in the end, he lost it all. He continues on being Spider-Man, but the crux of his character arc is that he failed. In NWH, he says that he became rageful and stopped pulling his punches – he had no hope anymore. Which is what makes what happens next so freaking perfect: now, and only now, when MCU Peter is at the lowest point of his life, and he has lost all the hope he had of saving these people, who shows up? The version of himself – who, last time we saw him, couldn't inspire that hope no matter how hard he tried – shows up at the most hopeless part of the movie. And suddenly we have a little faith again: not all is lost. When I re-watched NWH through the lens of understanding the story and not just spending the whole time waiting to see if the rumors were true, it became clear how deliberate the decision was to have Andrew show up first: he's finally become that symbol of hope that he failed to be before.

Tobey’s entrance is different in a lot of ways. Andrew's is fast-paced, and he's confused but curious. But Tobey walks through that portal almost as if he was waiting for it to open. He's cool and confident, and doesn't even need the suit to convey the sense that this IS Peter Parker. He immediately lets it know he knows what's going on and he's here to help. While the TASM series ended prematurely, the original Spider-Man trilogy told a full story with some sense of closure. The Peter that comes through the second portal is a fully seasoned, veteran Spider-Man, with years of experience behind him, who’s endured the same trials that Andrew and Tom are still going through now. It's telling that Andrew is introduced first and foremost as Spider-Man, while Tobey comes in as Peter Parker. Not only do I think it's a slightly cheeky reference to the fact that many fans agree Andrew = best Spidey and Tobey = best Peter, but story-wise it also shows that he's finally reconciled those two sides of his life. For him, Peter and Spider-Man are one in the same, whether he's wearing the suit or not. I also love how they meet each other first before they meet our Peter. For long-time Spider-Man fans, it's so cathartic to see the original two iterations of our hero on screen together for the first time.

Three Peter Parkers

When they do meet MCU Peter, they all meet as Peter Parker, not Spider-Man. Peter feels like he's failed as Spider-Man. What he needs right now is to talk to the only person in the multiverse who can understand what he's going through, and that's Peter(s) himself. The whole sequence was just... quintessential Spider-Man. To highlight my favorite moments:

Initially, they try to relate to him, but he tells them they can't possibly understand what he's feeling. They definitely understand every bit, but they respectfully stay silent BECAUSE they do.

The talk about the moment. Again, it's the moment because that's makes Spidey who he is, just like the Waynes' death makes Batman who he is. They both tell him how they dealt with it, and how no matter what, anger and revenge never did anything but make everything worse.

The key moment, when Tom starts telling them how May said great power brings great responsibility, and Tobey finishes it for him. Tobey even looks at Andrew as if asking "you too?" and Andrew silently nods. Tom doesn't understand, and they explain: "Uncle Ben said it..." "...the day he died." Not only is this the first MCU reference to Uncle Ben, it's the point at which it sinks in for all of them that there's something bigger at work here. It's ALMOST fourth wall-breaking in showing just how monumentally important that moment is to the story of Spider-Man as a whole.

Everything that follows is just pure awesomeness. The lab scene shows off their chemistry, while still managing to insert bits of character development here and there, like Andrew and Tobey's little talk about finding love. Also, Tom still contemplating how he's going to face the Goblin again, and Tobey reminding him that they need to cure them all because that's what they do. This scene showcases Peter's scientific intelligence, which all Spider-Man movies up to now have had problems with doing. The only additional thing I might have liked would have been some friendly competitive banter about who had the best suit, but the bits with Tobey's organic webbing and their shock was everything.

The goodness just continues with the pre-fight talk on the Statue of Liberty. All they're doing is talking, but I honestly could have watched another forty-five minutes of it. They're just geeking out over themselves, talking about their different experiences. The "MY BACK" reference. Andrew insists he's not teasing Tobey about his organic webs, while Tom asks if it comes out of other places, like the teenager he still is. Andrew feeling like he sucks compared to them and Tobey assuring Andrew that he's "amazing ;)" honestly just feels like an end to the whole "Tobey > Andrew" debate.

The fight itself - pure bliss. The choreography, the action, the intensity, it’s all there. Andrew and Tobey immediately fall back into familiar dynamics with their old villains. Even their swinging/fighting styles haven’t changed. Of course, any good fight scene also tells a story. At first, they don't know how to work together, which makes sense because Spider-Man in general isn't known for being a team player. He might be an Avenger, but the Spider-Man has always been his own solo hero. But it's Tom who gets them to come together and once they do it is GLORIOUS. I barely even have to talk about that triple swinging shot. It will be engrained in our heads forever. But one thing I do want to mention is that the way they build up to it elevates it from a moment of fan service to a real moment of camaraderie between them that feels earned . With a lesser screenwriter, Tom would be alone and on the verge of losing the final battle, with Tobey/Andrew arriving at the last moment in an "Endgame portals"-esque rip-off that would all amount to a glorified cameo. It still probably would've been cool, but not nearly as fulfilling as it ended up being. They did it just right, making the first full shot of all three Spider-Men together a well-deserved culmination of twenty years of "build-up." (Notice how up until that point, there hadn't yet been a full shot of the three of them fully suited and masked up.)

The second half of the fight gives closure to a lot of past Spider-Man storylines:

Peter getting a chance to get through to Max, who ruined himself in his attempts to become someone who was no longer a "nobody." He really did look up to Spider-Man, who he saw as THE guy to be, and in the end we realize that he never stopped.

Peter and Doc Ock reuniting on friendly terms. I don't see this as undermining Otto's sacrifice from Spider-Man 2. It was always my opinion that ultimately, he was an overly-ambitious scientist who suffered the consequences and paid the price. But he was under the influence of his own machine and never deserved to die. NWH honors his redemption and gives him the second chance he never got before. He and Peter are happy to see each other. The "How are you?" "Trying to do better" bit is a great nod to their interaction in Spider-Man 2.

How can I not mention Peter saving MJ from falling to her death? Andrew's acting is phenomenal, and his expression says it all. Peter has rehearsed that moment in his head countless times, and this time he was ready. It's his own personal redemption, as well as him saving MCU Peter from the years of misery he went through. It's also extra fitting, since MJ initially didn't trust him, didn't even consider him to be the "real" Peter, and he ends up being the one to save her life.

Tobey stopping Tom from killing Norman. I had a thought that if you consider ALL the Spider-Man movies as one long saga like the Infinity saga, with NWH being this story's "Endgame," then it just feels fitting that the Green Goblin was the first and last villain to round it all off. Both times he "won" in a way, by changing Peter's life forever. This scene brings it full circle from the 2002 film. I'm sure that Norman's death has haunted Peter since the night it happened, knowing that Norman was buried deep under his "darker half," yet never knowing if there was a chance to save him. At the same time, he saves MCU Peter from going down the same dark path that he too has struggled to avoid time and time again. I know people wish there was a little more interaction between Norman and Tobey, but Tobey's smile when he sees that his old foe is "just Norman" again is enough for me. Sometimes less is more.

Overall, they brilliantly managed to incorporate Tobey and Andrew in a way that genuinely contributed to the story, as well as their own stories, instead of having them show up purely as fanservice. The best fanservice is the kind that actually reminds you why you're fans of these stories in the first place, instead of just showing a familiar face to please the audience. For that half-hour, it was no longer just an MCU movie – it was a 2000's Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, and an MCU Spider-Man movie all in one.

Tobey and Andrew didn't miss a beat, falling seamlessly back into their iconic roles years later. It's great because Andrew is a huge fan of the original SM trilogy and definitely looks up to Tobey, the man who played his childhood hero. I got the sense that Tobey was just proud of his two successors, who stepped into his shoes and filled that role in their own ways. Meanwhile, Tom definitely looks up to both of them, and he was probably ecstatic to work with the people who made all of this possible for him. The dynamic they went with was perfect: they were mentors, big brothers, and equals of MCU Peter all at once. The writing was fantastic too: both of their dialogue sounded just like what their versions of the character would say. They captured each of their distinct personalities just right. I would even say that they were both presented as evolutions of their old selves: Tobey as the wise, fully-fledged hero, and Andrew as an experienced Spider-Man, who still has a way to go before he reaches that level. They could rename this movie to just "Spider-Man" and I wouldn't even be mad. Truly the greatest era to be a Spider-Man fan.

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is a lesson in restorative justice

This article contains spoilers for “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

I went into “Spider-Man: No Way Home” thinking it was going to be another feel-good film about one of my favorite characters to come out of Marvel’s long list of heroes. But I was happily surprised to find that the film had a deeper plot that was underscored by themes of restorative justice, or the idea that those who do wrong need healing just the same as their victims. These themes are incredibly relevant to the real-life discussion of how American society views incarcerated people as “villains” and unworthy of redemption. 

Instead of the typical scenario where the hero of the story must defeat the villain to save the day, we’re presented with a plot that requires the hero, Peter Parker, to forgive — forcing the hero to show empathy to the villain in order to do so. 

As people grapple with another spike in COVID infections, we can’t forget empathy for a vulnerable population of folks whose deaths are preventable: the incarcerated. We can easily save them by setting them free and providing resources that address why they’re incarcerated in the first place. The prison abolition movement is rooted in this mission and actively working to make it a reality. But prisoners aren’t a priority in a country that willingly casts them aside rather than invest in their freedom.  

Previous Coverage

Villains from earlier Spider-Man trilogies — led by Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield — pour into the universe of the latest Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland. As a result, Holland’s Spider-Man is tasked with sending villains like Doctor Octopus and Electro back to their respective universes, but the solution to the conflict is more complex.

Peter realizes he has a choice (thanks to his wise Aunt May): Send the villains back to their respective universes to meet their end or try to convince them to abandon their evil ways before returning home. To see the hero of a Marvel movie offered this choice is a huge victory for prison abolitionists, showing that their vision of a world without prisons is permeating American culture in a positive way. 

Dr. Strange is resistant to the idea of helping the villains and argues that their fate is fixed, insinuating that they deserve to die for the havoc they’ve wreaked. Strange’s argument is strikingly similar to real-life carceral thinking and reminiscent of how proponents of our own prison industrial complex view criminals as inherently violent and favor capital punishment . As prison abolitionists point out, this limited mindset overlooks the many factors that drive someone to commit a crime or, in this case, resort to villainy. 

The overarching message in “No Way Home” is that everyone deserves a second chance — even the villains we all know and, in some cases, love to hate. In the real world, some view the two million people in prisons, jails, juvenile correction facilities and immigrant detention centers as villains of their own making, which helps explain why the U.S. has the highest amount of incarcerated people worldwide. Every year, 600,000 people are sentenced to prison and 83 percent of federal criminal defendants are found guilty. 

Re-entry programs give formerly incarcerated folks the second chance they need to overcome the complex challenges they face when they are released to break the cycle of incarceration. Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles provides former gang members and the formerly incarcerated with resources to reintegrate, such as employment, tattoo removals and mental health services. The Center for Women in Transition in St. Louis provides formerly incarcerated women with transitional housing, case management and other resources to rebuild lives after prison. These organizations and others like them are supported by the Second Chance Act , a fund that awards grants to groups working to reduce rates of recidivism nationwide. 

To see the hero of a Marvel movie offered this choice is a huge victory for prison abolitionists, showing that their vision of a world without prisons is permeating American culture in a positive way. 

In a similar (albeit superhero) fashion, the three Spider-Men join forces to “cure” the villains rather than defeat them in a final battle that takes place at the Statue of Liberty — a monument that symbolizes the film’s theme of restorative justice and second chances. After all, for earlier immigrant generations, the statue was a beacon of hope, representing the possibility of a second chance or the start of a new life. Of course, America isn’t so welcoming of immigrants today. Not only has the path to naturalization narrowed over the past few decades, but there are currently more than 22,000 migrants in ICE detention centers — despite most having no criminal record. What’s more, nearly two million migrants were arrested at the U.S-Mexico border this year, alone. The opportunity the statue once stood for has been tarnished — something the filmmakers are clearly aware of, as they allow it to serve as a backdrop to the final act.

As the film comes to a close, the Spider-Men “cure” most of the villains by addressing the trauma that led them to acquire their menacing abilities. Doctor Octopus was relieved of the relentless voices in his head after Holland’s Peter injected him with a device that stopped his tentacles from infecting his brain. Sandman, Electro and Lizard — who were disfigured by the traumatic accidents that gave them their abilities — were given antidotes by the other Spider-Men, reverting them back to their human forms. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Strange — who’s more concerned with keeping the multiverse from collapsing than learning about restorative justice — prepares to close the many portals that Peter opened. In the commotion, the three Spider-Men are blindsided by the Green Goblin who they have yet to cure. Norman Osborne has long stood as a metaphor for the criminalization of mental illness, but until this film, the source of his demons had not been explored — no doubt due, in part, to our general lack of understanding of mental health as a society. 

After all, the U.S. has a history of punishing the mentally ill rather than treating them. Before the first psychiatric hospital was established in 1773 , Americans were incarcerated just for being mentally ill . That legacy carries on today where, in most states , the majority of people with mental illnesses are in prisons rather than psychiatric hospitals equipped to meet their unique needs. Incarceration has only ever kept people from getting the help they need to lead better lives.

Scenes from “No Way Home ” shed light on Osborne’s mental health, showing symptoms that mirror borderline personality disorder or schizophrenia. After encountering Holland’s Peter for the first time, Osborne is seen covering his ears in an alley to silence the voices inside his head. In a scene with Aunt May, he talks about how he becomes someone else when he puts on his mask. In the final battle, he switches from Osborne to the Goblin, wanting nothing more than to make people suffer the way he does. After watching the Goblin kill his Aunt May and wound Maguire’s Spider-Man, Holland’s Spider-Man struggles to be empathetic at first. But he honors Aunt May’s dying wish for him to finish what he started — by curing Osborne of his alter ego that killed the only living family member Peter had left.

The movie ends with Holland accomplishing what he set out to do. The villains, along with the Garfield and Maguire Spider-Men, are all sent back to their universes. We can assume they made better choices after being given the tools they needed to change their narratives. 

What’s most compelling, however, is that Holland’s Peter also — knowingly or not — seeks out his own second chance. In the last film, “Far from Home,” Mysterio outs Peter and frames him as his killer. In the eyes of many, the hero became the villain. Consequently, in “No Way Home,” Peter wants Dr. Strange to wipe his slate clean so he can walk through life as if he was never outed. His wish is granted in the end when Dr. Strange recasts the spell that went wrong to make everyone forget who Peter Parker is and what he was accused of.

In the real world, that’s a fantasy that many incarcerated folks want, too, but can ultimately never have under a system that punishes them even after they’ve served time. Convicted felons struggle against laws that make it near impossible to reintegrate into society without being defined by their record. People with criminal records are half as likely to get a job compared to those without one. States have been slow to enact Clean Slate Initiative laws that allow ex-offenders to get their records expunged or sealed once they’re released from prison. They might be free from their cells but they aren’t free to vote, apply for social benefits or even serve on a jury after they’re released. 

Holland’s Spider-Man insists throughout the film that the vitriol aimed at him was because people didn’t know the whole story — namely that Mysterio was actually a villain. People who look like Peter Parker, a white man, are given the benefit of the doubt far more often than people of color in the criminal justice system. Nevertheless, Peter’s frustration with the public’s perception of him aligns with that of marginalized people in our own world who are affected by racial bias during every step of the system , from profiling to sentencing.

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Despite having the opportunity to see through the eyes of the oppressed, Peter still didn’t know what stories the villains carried with them — stories that were crucial to him changing his views and unlearning a carceral mindset. After all, villains are easier to hate when you only see the horrible acts they commit. But it gets harder when you’re introduced to their backstories that are often tragic and riddled with abuse and neglect. The same can be said for the incarcerated. 

In order to save the day, Peter had to give those he once saw as villains the very thing he was seeking for himself: a second chance. The minute viewers like me realize this, we’re also able to see the power we have to do the same in our everyday lives — and with great power comes great responsibility.

We can choose what kind of hero we’re going to be the same way Peter did in “No Way Home.” Recognizing the flaws of our punitive carceral system, through the lens of Spider-Man or otherwise, can be a stepping stone to getting involved in the actual struggle to change the system and build a world without prisons. It all starts with acknowledging that the people we throw into cells every single day are just that: people.

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Raven Yamamoto

Raven Yamamoto is a journalist and fellow in the Uprising Fellowship at Just Media.

Indeed our reponses to serious mental illnesses continues to be less than medical.

Harold A Maio

Nice review and my thoughts exactly. Congrats to the script writers for their excellent work!

The complete idea was to humanely treat those already here BUT close the border.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

• With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear.
• Peter Parker's secret identity is revealed to the entire world. Desperate for help, Peter turns to Doctor Strange to make the world forget that he is Spider-Man. The spell goes horribly wrong and shatters the multiverse, bringing in monstrous villains that could destroy the world.
• Picking up where Far From Home left off, Peter Parker's whole world is turned upside down when his old enemy Mysterio posthumously reveals his identity to the public. Wanting to make his identity a secret, Peter turns to Doctor Strange for help. But when Strange's spell goes haywire, Peter must go up against five deadly new enemies--the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Electro, the Lizard and Sandman--all while discovering what it truly means to be Spider-Man. — Blazer346
• "With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, our friendly neighborhood web-slinger is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from the high stakes of being a superhero. When Peter asks for help from Doctor Strange, the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man. — krmanirethnam
• With his identity compromised, right after the spectacular confrontation with super-hero charlatan Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) , Peter Parker is now with his back to the wall. On the run and having no one to turn to for advice, desperate Peter seeks a radical and equally dangerous solution to right a wrong, utterly unaware of the grave consequences of his ill-advised decision. And, as the unfathomable Multiverse expands with a vengeance, formidable adversaries from a not-so-distant past, too, seek closure, demanding the Spider's head on a platter. But when there's no way home and nowhere to hide, who can Parker trust? — Nick Riganas
• After Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) frames Peter Parker (Tom Holland) for murder and reveals his identity as Spider-Man, Parker, his girlfriend Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson (Zendaya), best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) are interrogated by the Department of Damage Control. Quentin is hailed as an inter-dimensional warrior who sacrificed himself to protect the planet. Happy and May broke up. J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) leads the public trial against Spider-Man and builds a negative image of him. Peter explains to DODC that Nick Fury is his witness, but he is told that Nick Fury has been off-planet for the entire year. Lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) gets Parker's charges dropped, but the group grapples with negative publicity. Since Peter's home is under 24*7 media coverage, May and Peter shift to Happy's apartment. The world is equally divided between fans and protesters of Spider-Man. Eugene (Tony Revolori) tries to cash in on the mania by claiming to be Peter's best friend and even publishes a book. After Parker, MJ, and Ned's MIT applications are rejected (the trio were also rejected at all of their backup schools. It is very clear that MJ and Ned were rejected due to their association to Peter), Parker goes to the New York Sanctum to ask Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) (A neurosurgeon who became a Master of the Mystic Arts following a career-ending car accident) for help. Strange suggests a spell that would make people forget Parker is Spider-Man (Wong (Benedict Wong) warns Strange that the spell is dangerous since it travels the border between known and unknown reality), but the spell is corrupted when Parker repeatedly requests alterations to let his loved ones (MJ, Ned and Aunt May) retain their memories. Strange contains the spell to stop it from working and makes Parker leave. Parker tries to convince an MIT administrator (Paula Newsome) to reconsider MJ and Ned's applications but is attacked by Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) (A scientist from an alternate reality with four artificially intelligent mechanical tentacles fused to his body after an accident). Octavius rips Parker's nanotechnology from his Iron Spider suit which bonds with his mechanical tentacles and allows Parker to disable them. The MIT administrator sees the whole battle firsthand and realizes that Peter is a hero, when he overcomes all odds to save her life against Otto. She leaves promising to look into admissions for Peter and his friends. As Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) (A scientist and the CEO of Oscorp from an alternate reality who tested an unstable strength enhancer on himself. He developed an insane split personality as a result and uses advanced Oscorp armor and equipment) arrives and attacks, Strange Teleports Parker back to the Sanctum and locks Octavius in a cell next to Curt Connors / Lizard (Rhys Ifans) (an Oscorp scientist from Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) who transformed into a large reptilian monster while trying to regrow his missing arm). Strange explains that before he was able to contain the corrupted spell it summoned some people from other universes who know Spider-Man's identity. He orders Parker, MJ, and Ned to find and capture them. Strange gives Peter a bracelet that generates a spell and transports the person whom it is aimed at, straight to a cell in the Sanctum's basement. They are able to locate and retrieve Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) (An Oscorp electrical engineer from an alternate reality who gained electric powers after an accident involving genetically modified electric eels) and Flint Marko / Sandman (Thomas Haden) (a small-time robber from Raimi's Spider-Man 3 who received sand-like abilities following an accident). Osborn reclaims control of himself from his split Green Goblin personality. He goes to a F.E.A.S.T. (Food, Emergency, Aid, Shelter and Training) building where May comforts him before Parker retrieves him. While discussing their battles with Spider-Man, Osborn, Octavius, and Dillon realize that they were pulled from their universes just before their deaths. Strange prepares to reverse the contained spell and send the villains back to their respective universes, but Parker argues that they should first cure the villains' powers and insanity to prevent their deaths upon their return. Parker steals the spell, traps Strange in the Mirror Dimension, and, with May, takes the villains to Happy Hogan's (Jon Favreau) (The head of security for Stark Industries and former driver and bodyguard of Tony Stark, who looks after Parker) apartment. He cures Octavius, but Osborn's Goblin persona takes control and convinces the uncured villains to betray Parker. As Dillon, Marko, and Connors escape, Goblin fatally injures May. Before she dies, May tells Parker that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility". Ned discovers that he can create portals using Strange's sling ring, which he and MJ use to try to locate Parker. They instead find alternate versions of Parker from the villains' universes who were also summoned by Strange's spell and who are nicknamed "Peter-Two" (Tobey Maguire) (An alternate version of Parker who utilizes organic webbing instead of web shooters like his alternate counterparts) and "Peter-Three" (Andrew Garfield) (An alternate version of Parker who is haunted by his failure to save his deceased girlfriend, Gwen Stacy). The group finds this universe's Parker, nicknamed "Peter-One", who is ready to give up and send the villains home. The alternate Parkers share stories of losing loved ones and encourage Peter-One to fight in May's honor, and the three Parkers develop cures for the villains. The group lure Dillon, Marko, and Connors to the Statue of Liberty. Peter-One and Peter-Two cure Marko and Connors while Octavius arrives to help cure Dillon, and Ned frees Strange from the Mirror Dimension with a portal. Goblin appears and unleashes the contained spell which begins pulling more people in from other universes. Strange attempts to hold them off while an enraged Peter-One tries to kill Goblin. Peter-Two stops him, and Peter-Three helps Peter-One inject Goblin with his cure, restoring Osborn's sanity. Peter-One realizes that the only way to protect the multiverse is to erase himself from everyone's memory and requests that Strange do so, while promising MJ and Ned that he will find them again. The spell is cast, and everyone returns to their respective universes-including Eddie Brock / Venom (Tom Hardy), who leaves behind a piece of the Venom Symbiote. Two weeks later, Parker visits MJ and Ned to reintroduce himself, but decides against it. While mourning at May's grave, he has a conversation with Hogan and is inspired to carry on, making a new suit and resuming his vigilantism.

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• Every Single Detail of the <i>Spider-Man: No Way Home</i> Trailer, Explained

Every Single Detail of the Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailer, Explained

T he ominously titled Spider-Man: No Way Home is proving to be the most anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie since Avengers: Endgame . The first trailer has set the Internet aflame, thanks to some familiar faces from previous Spider-Man films.

No Way Home is likely the last time we’ll see Spider-Man in the MCU since Sony’s contract to lend the character to Marvel Studios for three solo films is coming to an end. But he’ll go out with a bang: the movie will throw Tom Holland ‘s Spider-Man into the multiverse where he will meet characters from previous Spider-Man franchises—specifically the Sony versions starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, respectively.

While Maguire and Garfield aren’t technically confirmed cast members, we’re probably getting a live-action version of the Spider-Man pointing meme . We do know that Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2 , Jamie Foxx’s Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Matt Murdoch from the Netflix TV show Daredevil will all appear in No Way Home. The first trailer also revealed for the first time that we’ll get to see versions of the Green Goblin, Sandman and Lizard. And there are a few hints that we may finally get a live-action rendering of a beloved version of Spidey from the comics, Miles Morales.

We do know that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) will play a pivotal role in the film. When a Spidey villain reveals Spider-Man’s secret identity, Peter Parker pleads with Strange to use magic to reverse the revelation. Things go predictably awry from there.

Here’s everything you need to know about the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home and how it fits into the MCU’s growing multiverse.

Read More: Why We’ll Never Stop Getting New Spider-Man Movies

We see the fallout from Spider-Man’s identity reveal in Spider-Man: Far From Home

The last time we saw Holland’s Spidey , he was in big trouble. At the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home , Jake Gyllenhaal’s villainous Mysterio created a fake video to make it seem as if Peter Parker murdered Mysterio in cold blood. (As an aside, Mysterio gained Peter’s trust by claiming that he was a superhero who arrived on earth from a parallel universe, and then joked with his henchmen about how gullible Peter was for believing the parallel universe nonsense. That past burn may mean that Peter is slow to accept the whole multiverse concept in No Way Home .)

In the final scene of Far From Home , the vindictive journalist J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, reprising his role from the Sam Raimi movies—more on that later) publishes the Mysterio video and reveals that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: No Way Home looks to pick up the action seconds after the end of Far From Home . Peter tries to swing away from crowds with his love interest MJ (Zendaya) in his arms. Kids in school snap his photo. Protestors call Peter a “Devil in Disguise.” The police bring Peter, his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) in for questioning about Mysterio’s death.

This dramatic reaction on the part of New York City seems rather harsh considering how normal citizens in the MCU idolize heroes like Iron Man (who revealed his secret identity in the very first Iron Man movie). But in the comics and the other Spidey films, New Yorkers have always been a bit suspicious and scared of Spider-Man, thanks in large part to J. Jonah Jameson’s anti-Spidey propaganda at the Daily Bugle . And now that Mysterio has framed Spider-Man for his murder, the public perceives Peter as a vigilante.

Unlike Tony Stark or even Stephen Strange, Peter is just a kid. He can’t hide away from the public in his mansion or the Sanctum Sanctorum. Thus, Peter turns to Doctor Strange for help.

Read More: Breaking Down the Spider-Man: Far From Home End-Credits Scenes

Is Matt Murdoch, a.k.a. Daredevil, Peter Parker’s lawyer?

We briefly see a man drop a load of papers in front of Peter. This could be a cop confronting him with (fake) evidence that Peter killed Mysterio. Or this could be Peter’s lawyer. (Stark Industries would, presumably, have some sort of legal defense fund set up for this very situation.)

We know that Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdoch from the Netflix Daredevil TV show is set to appear in the film. Fans think this may be him. The mystery man is sporting Matt’s signature white shirt and black tie getup. On a grander scale, this could mean that Netflix’s Marvel TV shows, which never really tied into the MCU films, are, in fact, canon.

A “careful what you wish for” plot line pulled from the comics

In the trailer, Peter Parker asks Doctor Strange to make the world forget Peter’s secret identity. Wong (Benedict Wong) warns Doctor Strange not to attempt the magic to make this happen, but Strange does so anyway. Strange was reckless in the Doctor Strange film, but taking such a big risk seems uncharacteristic after the events of Infinity War. But perhaps he hasn’t learned his lesson. Or, worse still, this is a different sorcerer masquerading as Doctor Strange.

Regardless of his motivation, while Strange is casting his spell, Peter has second thoughts. If MJ, for instance, forgets his secret identity, their bond will disappear. Peter’s backtracking messes up the spell and seemingly breaks open the multiverse.

The conceit for No Way Home pulls heavily from the notorious Civil War storyline in the comics in which Peter reveals his secret identity. Peter eventually realizes he made a mistake and put his loved ones at risk. His Aunt May is shot, and in the One More Day storyline, Peter turns to Doctor Strange to help save her. Doctor Strange isn’t able to save May’s life, so Peter makes a deal with the literal devil, Mephisto. In exchange for Aunt May’s life, he has to give up his marriage to MJ, and Mephisto erases MJ’s memory of Peter.

Read More: The Definitive Ranking of Every Single Spider-Man Movie

A quick primer on the concept of the multiverse

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse was the first popular movie to introduce the idea of a superhero multiverse into the mainstream consciousness. The Oscar-winning animated film centered on Miles Morales, a Black-Puerto Rican teen growing up in Brooklyn. Miles not only gains Spidey powers but is caught up in the combustion of a dangerous machine that makes parallel universes collide. That accident ushers Spider-People (or, well, Spider-beings) from parallel universes—including Peter Parker, Gwen Stacey’s Spider-Woman, and a pig named Spider-Ham—into Miles’ Brooklyn.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a hit and got movie fans comfortable with the concept of the parallel timelines and multiple versions of superheroes living in different universes. While Spider-verse is not a part of the MCU (it was made by Sony), Marvel Studios has since embraced the concept of a multiverse in its live action properties.

Read More: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Is Filled With Spider-People. Here’s Who They Are

The multiverse wouldn’t be possible without Loki

(Major spoilers for the show Loki in this section)

Marvel Studios introduced the multiverse into its movies and TV shows with the series Loki this summer. In it, the beloved Thor villain (played by Tom Hiddleston) tries to escape to a parallel universe and is stopped by the Time Variance Authority (TVA). The TVA is basically a group of space-time cops responsible for pruning any timelines that branch off the main timeline, creating parallel universes.

The show crucially establishes the concept of “variants,” different versions of the same character existing in multiple universes. Loki, for example, falls in love with a female variant of himself who goes by Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino). After watching Loki , it’s easy to see how Tobey Maguire Spider-Man and Tom Holland Spider-Man could both exist in the same movie franchise.

By the end of Loki , Loki and Sylvie discover an incredibly intelligent man named Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors) has been behind the TVA and maintaining one single universe. Kang warns them that other Kang variants are even more evil, and if they kill him, they’ll just create many parallel universes with many versions of Kang in them. Sylvie chooses to kill Kang anyway, thus creating many branching timelines. (A different version of Kang, also played by Majors, is set to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania .)

Why is this important for Spider-Man? Well, had Doctor Strange created parallel timelines before Loki and Sylvie messed with the universe, the TVA would have just shown up and destroyed the branching timelines. Now, however, chaos reigns and variants can meet one another.

Read More: Here’s What the Loki Finale Means for the Future of Marvel Movies

We may finally see a live-action Miles Morales

In a brief shot in the trailer, we see Peter wearing a black and gold Spidey suit running through F.E.A.S.T., a homeless shelter from the excellent Spider-Man video game . In that game, Aunt May works at the homeless shelter, as does Miles Morales.

Maybe it’s a stretch to say that the inclusion of F.E.A.S.T. in the trailer suggests we’ll get to see Miles. But this isn’t the first time that the MCU has hinted Miles is coming to the MCU. In the first Holland Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming , Spider-Man meets Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, a.k.a. the Prowler, played by Donald Glover. Aaron name checks his young nephew to Peter. Maybe that version of Miles will get Spidey powers. Or perhaps Peter meets an alternate-universe Miles.

Read More: Spider-Man: Miles Morales Could’ve Tackled Police Reform Head-On. Instead, the Cops Are Almost Entirely Gone

Doctor Octopus is back

The greatest Spider-Man movie villain ever is back on the big screen. Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus emerges on a highway and says, “Hello, Peter.” Either Doc Ock is greeting Holland’s Peter as if he knows him or he’s actually saying hello to Maguire’s Peter, and the trailer is just holding back that reveal.

The last time we saw Doctor Octopus, the character drowned in the Hudson. Molina has hinted that the character gets transported from a parallel universe to this movie before his death.

The Green Goblin is back, too

We don’t see the Green Goblin in the trailer but we do see a teaser for him: a pumpkin bomb, the Green Goblin’s favorite weapon, tossed among a cluster of cars. It looks like the same setting where Peter encounters Doc Ock. It’s unclear if Willem Dafoe, who played Green Goblin in the Maguire Spider-Man movies, is returning as the character, or if we’re getting another variant of the villain played by another actor. But we do hear a Green Goblin cackle that sounds an awful lot like Dafoe.

And so is Electro

We get a brief shot of an electric bolt flashing above some police cars, which seems to indicate the return of Foxx’s Electro. Notably, this electricity is yellow (like it is in the comics) rather than blue (like it is in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 ). That could be just an aesthetic change, or it could mean this is a totally different Electro than the one we’ve seen before. Fans would likely embrace a less timid version of the character than the one Foxx portrayed in the 2014 film. After all, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was not particularly well received and ultimately ended the Garfield Spider-Man franchise.

And so is Sandman

Another villain tease! We see sand swirling up from the ground, a telltale sign that bad guy Sandman (who appeared in Spider-Man 3 ) will also return for this film. Last we saw Sandman in the Maguire Spider-Man movies, he apologized to Peter and blew away. So it’s unclear what version of Sandman we’ll get.

And so is the Lizard

Lizard, the villain from Amazing Spider-Man, is also making a comeback. It’s difficult to see in this screenshot, but we see Holland’s Peter briefly turn around and get scared by Lizard in the trailer.

We’re probably getting the Sinister Six

That’s five villains. One more and we’d have The Sinister Six, a team of super-villains that join forces in order to try to kill Spider-Man. They show up frequently in the comics and, recently, in the aforementioned Spider-Man video game. It’s possible that a villain from the first Holland movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming , could join this team, be that Michael Keaton’s Vulture or Michael Mando’s Scorpion.

Remember, Scorpion confronted Vulture about Spider-Man’s identity in an end-credits scene for Homecoming . Now that Scorpion knows who the webslinger is, he’ll likely want to go after him. Vulture, too, has reason to hate Spider-Man for landing him behind bars and separating him from his family.

Where are the other Spider-Men?

We don’t actually get to see any other Spider-people in the trailer. They may be holding those reveals back for future trailers or for the movie itself.

But we do get some allusions to past movies. For example, the moment at the beginning of the trailer between Holland’s Peter and Zendaya’s MJ on the roof is reminiscent of the scene where Maguire’s Peter and Kirsten Dunst’s MJ lie together in a web in the early Spider-Man films. In another shot, Peter and MJ stand atop the Queensborough bridge, which is a pivotal location in the original Spider-Man . These shots are likely intentional reminders of the Spidey films that came before and how Peter’s life parallels those of other Peters in other universes.

Are we finally getting a glimpse of the Fantastic Four or X-Men?

This may be an easter egg or just pure desperation on the part of fans to see Wolverine, but Doctor Strange’s mug in one shot says “Oh For Fox Sake” on it. This could be a throwaway prop or it may be nodding at Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which gave Disney the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four characters .

The parallel universes plot is the perfect way to usher the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the MCU. After all, everyone would ask where the heck all those heroes were during the fight against Thanos if they were to just come out of hiding now. There’s already a lot going on in No Way Home , so I doubt we’ll get a glimpse of Reed Richards or Raven in this movie, but a fan can dream.

Does Spider-Man: No Way Home connect to Morbius or Venom ?

Yes and no. After the Garfield Spider-Man movies failed to make quite the splash that the Maguire movies had, Sony turned to Disney for help producing a new set of Spidey films. Spider-Man: Homecoming , Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home were all co-produced by Sony and Disney.

However their three-picture contract ends with Spider-Man: No Way Home . (Indeed, the deal almost fell apart before No Way Home ever saw the light of day.) Sony fully intends on building out an entire Spider-verse without Disney and has begun producing film series for some of Spidey’s greatest villains, including Venom and Morbius . A Venom sequel and Morbius are both due out in the next year.

These villains do exist in Spider-Man’s world: Keaton’s Vulture, the main villain in Homecoming, appears in the Morbius trailer.

What happens to Spider-Man after No Way Home ?

The title of the film does not bode well for Peter’s future in the MCU. Sony wants its own cinematic universe to compete with Marvel’s and continuing to lend Disney its most popular character undermines that goal.

But Sony will definitely want to keep the character, or some iteration of him, around for future movies. In the meantime, Venom: Let There Be Carnage , Morbius and a Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse sequel are all on their way to theaters to build out the Spider-Man multiverse.

What happens to Doctor Strange after No Way Home?

The upcoming movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be helmed by Sam Raimi, the beloved director of all three Maguire Spider-Man movies, so the plot of that film will likely be directly tied to No Way Home . Marvel has confirmed that Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) will also star in that film, though it’s unclear if she’ll play a hero or a villain. The end of WandaVision suggests she could turn good or evil.

If someone has to piece the multiverse back together, it’ll likely be Strange or Wanda or both, considering they are the only two magic users and two of the strongest Avengers. Whether No Way Home ends with a happy resolution or with the multiverse in chaos, all signs point toward Doctor Strange playing a major role in the next phase of the MCU.

Read More: Here’s What’s Next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at [email protected]

How ‘Don’t Look Up’ and ‘Spider-Man’ mix tone and action through editing

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“Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Don’t Look Up” share more than massive popularity. The box-office and Netflix-viewership-dominating releases, respectively, are each packed with big actors and tonal gymnastics, from constant comedy to world-shattering drama.

Finding a crowd-pleasing balance of elements is the job of film editors, those folks who don’t just determine a movie’s pacing but often decide what is emphasized, how and when.

“Don’t Look Up” director Adam McKay went to Hank Corwin — previously nominated for editing McKay’s “Vice” and “The Big Short” — to make sense of his wide-ranging sociopolitical satire about a comet aiming to destroy Earth.

For his third “Spider-Man” film, which in the emerging Marvel Multiverse style incorporates villains and heroes from two earlier Sony Webslinger iterations, director Jon Watts tapped veteran “Avengers” montage man Jeffrey Ford and a previous collaborator, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” editor Leigh Folsom Boyd, to keep all of the story’s interdimensional mayhem and multiple Spideys straight.

Both films’ apparent chaos demanded precision cutting. It was crucial for the early “Spider-Man” sequence where Tom Holland’s Peter Parker keeps interrupting Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange while he’s casting a spell, thus disrupting several universes.

“There’s a balance of the comedy, his world turning upside down in that moment and then coming back to the reality of what just happened,” Boyd tells The Envelope. “There is definitely a challenge to make it cohesive, so that the audience understands this is a jumping-off point for what comes after in the film. The language in that had to be very specific, so what follows makes sense.”

“The spell goes wrong, characters [from earlier Spider-film series] start dropping in,” adds Ford, who divided editing consecutive groupings of scenes with Boyd to enhance overall flow. “That’s something that we worked really hard on pacing. The audience gets a sense of apparent velocity of how many introductions are occurring and they can anticipate the next one. It’s sort of a wave.”

Corwin also had a formidable roster of supers — stars, that is — to allot screen time in “Don’t Look Up’s” SAG Award-nominated cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Ariana Grande and Tyler Perry among them.

“Especially when you have people with this much horsepower, it’s easy to get blinded by their luminescence,” acknowledges Corwin, who mixed anamorphic 35 mm film, vintage Ikegami vidcam, cellphone footage and other media for the film.

Avoiding star-blindness required a focus change during the editing process. The initial strategy of lengthy character inquiry was replaced with a funnier, more observational and faster-paced approach. An Oval Office scene, in which DiCaprio and Lawrence’s alarmed scientists try to get Streep’s calculating president and her chief of staff son (Hill) to take the impending extinction-level event seriously, reveals personalities with quick cuts between fashion choices, attitude poses and snarky interplay.

But as the situation deteriorates, Corwin changes his shot choices to evoke gravitas, while also adding depth to DiCaprio’s scientist.

“When Leonardo goes into his TV rant, I deliberately got in almost claustrophobically tight,” he says. “Not only were you right there with Leonardo, you felt his plight acutely. From that point on, the movie pretty much slowed down. It became much quieter and more intimate, with almost no jokes. What did Bertolt Brecht say? ‘He who laughs has not yet heard the bad news.’”

Comic relief is endemic to the MCU, and while its editors strove to keep “No Way Home’s” core drama — Holland/Parker’s traumatic transformation from boy to man, coupled with his concern for friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) — prominent, they also knew humor would enhance the self-reflexive film’s money moment.

“The comedic conceit involves Ned’s grandmother,” Ford says about when former Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield first appear. “It’s a really pivotal scene, but the interesting thing about it is that you’d expect it to play in a very specific way, then you introduce this new character who has no understanding of what’s going on. It was hard to balance because the scene takes twists from totally absurdist comedy to absolute total drama, back to craziness to more heartfelt emotion — I mean, it is taking left turns like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Don’t Look Up” goes similarly all over the place, which is a pretty good trick for a film shot under COVID restrictions. Corwin added scope with montages of worldwide impact and nature inserts, not so much to underscore the story’s climate change metaphor, but to represent irreducible truth in a scenario steeped in the misinformation of our age.

Unruly as it looks, each shot was carefully considered; even the glimpse of crew members that McKay has defended online had purpose.

“I loved it!” Corwin says, when he found the skateboard party “goof.” “Maybe this was pretentious of me, but if this movie lasts 50 years, I wanted to show a time capsule of people wearing masks and visors and gloves. Having that frame being really messy was exactly what I wanted. So don’t take it from McKay, take it from the editor: I did that very deliberately.”

More to Read

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The art of film editing: ‘Try things out and see what works emotionally’

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Behind the scenes of the biggest effects in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

‘No Way Home’s’ VFX supervisor on crafting the Mirrorverse, orchestrating 3 different Spideys, and whether they could access any old 3D models from the past films (hint: no).

With Spider-Man: No Way Home , not only was production visual effects supervisor Kelly Port tasked with overseeing a dazzling array of complex VFX sequences—moments like the Mirrorverse, a freeway battle between Spider-Man and Doc Ock, a fight atop the Statue of Liberty involving several super-heroes, and many more—Port also had to navigate the fact that of course a number of beloved characters previously crafted with the aid of visual effects would be returning to the screen in some form or another.

In this interview with befores & afters , Port, who was supported by visual effects producer Julia Neighly and a bevy of VFX studios, including Digital Domain, Imageworks, Framestore, Luma Pictures, Crafty Apes, Cinesite, Folks VFX, Mr. X, SSVFX, MARZ, Secret Lab, Perception and more, talks about how the VFX teams made those returns and elaborate sequences possible.

b&a: First up, I wanted to say I really loved the transitions between live action actors and CG swinging digi-doubles, especially at the beginning where Peter and MJ are swinging around trying to get away from the spotlight. Was there anything new you felt you were doing there with those kinds of shots?

Kelly Port : Well, it’s really just attention to the detail of it all. For example, when they first come out of the manhole cover and walk and then kind of run and then jump, normally, we would need a digi-double when we can’t use the live action anymore. But in order to blend seamlessly into that CG digi-double for both MJ and Peter, sometimes we would need to get into the live action part of it earlier. So, they’re actually digi-doubles quite a bit sooner, I think, than you would think. We’ll have to change their cadence a little bit before the jump up to get the right weight. We are actually changing some of the animation leading up into it.

b&a: On these big films, of course, the lead actors and often the secondary actors are scanned and photographed and textured for stunt doubles and also close-up work. What was your methodology here?

Kelly Port : We scanned everything and everybody, high-resolution, proxy-resolution, props, actors, background extras. Because we had a scanning booth on set, we just took advantage of it throughout the course of the production. We ended up processing a lot, but we scanned literally everything.

b&a: Obviously, someone like Tom Holland, he’s there without his mask and with mask sometimes. Does that mean you’d scan him in normal clothing, and then on-set suit as well?

Kelly Port : Yeah, we did. That’s another thing we could take advantage of; we would scan him and get high-resolution textures, polarized, non-polarized, you name it, in every single iteration of that costume, too. So with and without mask. We also scanned stunt doubles, because oftentimes you need to body track them and they have a slightly different body. So, if we’re tracking somebody who’s a stunt performer, we would need to swap out the Spidey for that guy’s scan, just to track it better. If it was using a slightly different body, it wouldn’t track.

b&a: One of the scenes I wanted to ask you about is the bridge attack with Doc Ock. I just thought that was a brilliant example, I assume, of shooting so much on some kind of backlot or set in Georgia and then implementing a New York environment. Tell me first about the planning for that sequence.

Kelly Port : Digital Domain was tasked with doing that sequence, which was a few hundred VFX shots. Also, the Digital Domain previs team did the previs for the whole movie, which was really cool, led by Matt McClurg. They just did such a great job. There’s so many cool iterations of that sequence that will never see the light of day. It was way longer. At one point in its longest iteration, it was 15 minutes long.

We shot in Atlanta at Trilith Studios, which was called Pinewood Atlanta. It was a backlot pad that was made specifically for us. We had 40-foot bluescreens on three sides of that pad, a little bit of roadway with the exit where the assistant vice chancellor was exiting and where most of the action took place. We’d redress the set for when Spidey first lands on a sign, and then he jumps off the sign and tumbles and he is looking for her. He goes through some traffic before he gets to her, so we would redress that same section for up until he gets to where she is. And then that became our main action set piece. But beyond that little piece of road section, Digital Domain built an entire, fully-CG digital environment around that that would include all the other surrounding bridges, the other side of the bridge that they’re on, all the city of Brooklyn and all the area around it, the river, and all the trees, the fall foliage. It just looked great.

b&a: When you were shooting that, what sort of rigs and other things helped? There’s some crazy stuff that happens with that, apart from just Doc Ock throwing cars around. There’s cars over the edge and with actors in them.

Kelly Port : Dan Sudick and his special effects team built a few specialized rigs. One was for when the assistant vice chancellor was inside the car, it would be able to tilt down 90 degrees, that is, go from flat to 90 degrees. And so when you see her expression, well, she was not a fan of that rig. I felt bad for her! But that was authentic fear in her. She was quite high up and it just basically tilted straight down.

We then put the environment in around her. Also, even though it was a live action car with her in it, we had to replace a lot of that exterior surface on the car to get all the proper reflections. One of my favorite shots is when Spidey swings down, upside down and then he turns around towards camera to see Ock, and I just love all the reflections in there and of that whole environment. And then of course, there’s those big, big explosions that Sudick is great with, like when Goblin throws the bombs. Those were some really big explosions that were fun to watch on set.

b&a: I feel like that’s quite bold to do real fiery and dirty explosions just on a bluescreen set like. I mean, I know that Dan has done a lot of that work before, but just as a compositing challenge for the VFX team. But I’m guessing, Kelly, you just head straight into this stuff, and just having it for real gives you the best results straight away.

Kelly Port : I couldn’t agree more. My rule of thumb is, if there’s any way possible to shoot something for real, something physical, then we do. We made an Iron Spider bust from chest to head and shoulders, which was just so, so helpful to get those bright pings for reference. We shot this outdoors, and so it was all about, how does this read on an Alexa camera if we were to actually shoot it Otherwise, you just don’t know. You just guess. And just actually having that there, having physical cars there, too, will help inform our digital cars.

Having a practical Iron Spider bust will help inform our fully-animated CG version. We also had pieces of Doc Ock’s claws and tentacles that we would bring out as reference. Anything physical would be super, super helpful. It’s the same thing with the explosions. I love the idea of tying physical elements into the digital world. It just always, always makes them look more believable.

b&a: When you had to do Doc Ock shots, I’m curious about the approach there. How were you filming Alfred Molina when he was live action, hovering, effectively?

Kelly Port : We had a couple different rigs. The one that we probably used the most was a platform rig. It was like a crane on a pivot, which meant he could rise or fall. It would enable him to be much freer with his upper body versus any wire work. He had that big coat on, too, so any kind of wire work where he would have to wear a big harness and it would pull the coat, we could tell almost right away that that really wasn’t going to work as well.

The platform would work great for some of the shots where you just had to deal with above the waist kind of framing. For the wider shots, where we used that, we would have to replace his legs of course because they would be dangling.

Essentially, we would use what we could from the live action. Most of the time, it would just be his head, though, but we’d try to keep his performance. If we had to roto-mate his performance, we did so. But especially if he’s moving quite a bit or there’s an explosion next to him or something like that, we’d have to add cloth simulation and things like that to get him into that world better.

b&a: For Spider-Man 2, when we see Doc Ock, that was such a breakthrough for Imageworks in terms of digital humans back then. Obviously this film has Doc Ock, and the past Spider-Men—was there any asset retrieval that could occur?

Kelly Port : Absolutely not [laughs]. None of those digital assets, as far as we were able to find, just simply don’t exist anymore. They’ve vanished from the world, I think. But we did have physical assets that we were able to access and I think were really helpful, like a portion of Doc Ock’s claw and tentacles. We actually based our tentacles and claws on those. We were able to take those out of the physical archive and do a tonne of great reference photos for those.

VFX Futures: VFX supervisor Scott Stokdyk looks back on the digital human breakthroughs in ‘Spider-Man 2’

And then we scanned the Goblin’s costume. It wasn’t in very good shape, but we scanned that and modified that a little bit. But none, really, were digital assets that we could retrieve because they just don’t exist. A lot of that wouldn’t have been very useful anyway because systems that were used then, in terms of look development or shaders, they would all be different by now, anyway.

b&a: When it came time to feature Tobey and Andrew and Tom’s Spider-Men together in scenes, I’m really curious about whether you did feel there needed to be very different looks to their suits to match their films, but also different behaviors and movement, like particular poses or anything? I felt like there were and it was really nice to see those subtle differences.

Kelly Port : Well, we did. And in fact, the suits are different. In the end battle, there’s a lot of passing and things like that. Editorially, we did everything we could to just make sure that it was as clear as possible, whether through handovers, meaning you saw more than one Spidey in a frame handing something off and tossing something to somebody else, so that you know who’s who for the most part, in addition to what the different suits look like.

And, as you mentioned, stylistically, they each have their own kind of iconic poses. This is especially the case where after the sandstorm and regrouping, you get that amazing theme music where even the scores are intertwined. You get some of the Danny Elfman stuff in there, and it’s really, really cool, because each have their own themes.

When all three jumping onto the top of the statue head, backlit by the moon, you get those iconic poses as well in the air. We just took great pains to even get their running styles and the gaits and their iconic poses in the air and their swinging styles, things like that. We had a few animators, both at Imageworks and DD and I think a few other places, where a lot of those artists and animators had worked on those previous films, so it was fun to get their firsthand experience on that, too. We had animators animating Doc Ock walking who had done the original Doc Ock walking. So that was cool. Imageworks handled that end-sequence on the Statue of Liberty, with Cinesite doing the shield fight with Green Goblin.

b&a: Even the suits themselves, did they match the suits from those Tobey films and Andrew films?

Kelly Port : Well, we based our digital suits on what our costume department made. And I think for the most part, they based them on the original suits. However, there could be a little bit of variation in them. The fact that Tobey and Andrew came from a slightly later timeline, they’re older, so time has passed, and they’ve lived their lives and probably have changed their suits or augmented them a little bit.

b&a: I really liked Sandman in this film. There was something nice about the throw-back, but something new as well. How was he achieved?

Kelly Port : There were two parts to him, where he’s more humanoid and talking, and when he is in the sanctum. Digital Domain did a lot of that work. And then Luma did the sequence that we called the power line corridor, which is where Sandman is first introduced. And Electro is also introduced and they have that little battle before they all meet and then get sent to the sanctum. I have to say, if you’re able to see that in extended dynamic range, for both that sequence and the end battle, it really looks cool in that higher dynamic range. That electricity just pops.

Then Imageworks, for the end battle, they did the much bigger Sandman with big FX sims. There were a lot of big sims in the end battle, not only with Sandman, but for the shield falling and crashing through all the scaffolding and millions and millions of pieces all interacting with each other, the crane falling through Sandman’s head and all that good stuff. I remember when we were first interviewing companies, there’s a little bit of collective post-traumatic stress disorder with anyone who had previously worked on Sandman. And so I knew that going in, I had a feeling this was going to be challenging both technically and creatively, just to get that character looking right and behaving right. But I think we were successful in the end. I think it looked pretty cool.

b&a: Did you have the benefit of the actor for any facial cap for Sandman?

Kelly Port : Well, we had his voice. We weren’t able to get a lot of visuals on him, but we were able to get his voice for sure and we got scans and textures and things like that.

b&a: For that Mirrorverse sequence, I wanted to ask you about going from script or early concept to ‘how you’re going to shoot’.

Kelly Port : That sequence went through quite a few ideas and just different iterations as well. And again, a huge thanks to Matt McClurg and his team because they came up with a lot of those cool, fun ideas, those little action beats. Initially, it was mostly just a city and Dr. Strange/mirrorverse kind of New York, bending buildings, things like that. But we did want to try something new and fresh for that. Framestore did the visual effects for this scene.

Now, basically, this whole chase is meant to be Strange putting obstacles in Peter’s way. And Peter, being smart and adaptable, is just adapting to everything that he’s throwing at him. So Strange is continually getting frustrated and trying to do all sorts of weird and different things. You know, ‘Okay, now I’m going to turn the whole world upside down. Okay, if you’re sticking to buildings, I’m going to make it the Grand Canyon.’ And so we came up with this idea of doing some kind of a hybrid city/Grand Canyon, which ended up looking really cool, too.

And then you get into playing a lot with different portals. Because he’s basically throwing his arsenal of magic at Peter, and Peter’s, in a fun way, adapting to it all. So you get portals upon portals, and you end up in this ‘mirrors reflecting each other’ kind of situation where we would say, ‘Well, what would happen if that is the case?’

There was definitely a little bit of head scratching going on—‘So, what if you’re looking through a portal, how would…etc etc.’ You have to really figure out the physics of it all. If he webs that way into a portal but then there’s another portal here and then he would web his own foot. But how would he hold onto it, exactly? Well, if there’s enough mass, because it’s an infinite number of Spider-Men and webs, then maybe there’s just so much mass that even though they’re theoretically just hanging in the air, but there’s so much mass because it’s an infinite number of them. Sure. It’s, like, we can make sense of that.

b&a: What did the actors see on any kind of bluescreen set for this? Did they see the previs?

Kelly Port : Well, yes and no. When we shot most of it, it was a totally different thing. They saw ‘something’, but it wasn’t what ended up being there. When they’re in the canyon, they were on the train, so built a little top of a train, and that was it. They were on a little top of a train surrounded by bluescreens.

b&a: Well, there was just so much to talk about in the film. Congratulations again. I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait to watch it again.

Kelly Port : Fantastic. Good to see you, Ian.

issue #20 – Avatar: The Way of Water – the deep dive

issue #19 – invisible effects

issue #18 – big creature anim

issue #17 – what happens on set

• Digital Domain
• Luma Pictures
• Spider-Man: No Way Home

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

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Rent Spider-Man: No Way Home on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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A bigger, bolder Spider-Man sequel, No Way Home expands the franchise's scope and stakes without losing sight of its humor and heart.

Packed with action, emotion, and surprises, Spider-Man: No Way Home is franchise fan service at its finest.

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Available for pre-order on Spider-Man Day! Get these officially licensed, high-quality reproductions of Green Goblin's armor from Marvel Studios' 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man came back to the big screen! Grab your favorite Spider-Man merch from this collection of Marvel Must Haves!

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The answers to your biggest questions about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all in one book!

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Marvel Studios' Ryan Meinerding Shares New Look At SPIDER-MAN's Comic-Accurate Suit From NO WAY HOME

Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding has revealed a new look at Peter Parker's suit from Spider-Man: No Way Home has he stands proudly alongside his fellow MCU icons. Check it out!

In  Spider-Man: No Way Home 's closing moments, Peter Parker moved into a Manhattan apartment following the death of his Aunt May. The hero then swung through New York City's skyscrapers in a classic costume which appeared to ditch the many gadgets typically created for him by Tony Stark.

It took three movies but, with that, the MCU finally had a Spider-Man more in line with his comic book counterpart.

The suit had only seconds of screentime but has since been added to the Spider-Man 2 video game and turned into action figures courtesy of companies like Hasbro and Hot Toys. 

Ryan Meinerding, Character Designer, Creative Director, and Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development, was at Comic-Con in San Diego this past weekend and hyped up his appearance with a gorgeous piece of artwork. 

Tom Holland's Spider-Man - in his new suit - is put front and centre alongside Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). While there was no Spider-Man 4 news in Hall H, we remain hopeful that the movie is still in the works and heading our way in the next couple of years. 

When that does eventually happen, here's hoping Peter Parker is still wearing this suit.

"Amy [Pascal] and I are working on it," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently said of Spider-Man 4 .  "We have writers who are going to be delivering us a draft relatively soon."

"We love [director] Jon [Watts]. Jon did three of the best Spider-Man films ever for us," he added in a separate interview. "He's got lots of things going on now. So we'll probably be looking for somebody else, just because he's busy."

Check out Meinerding's new MCU artwork below.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ryan Meinerding (@ryan_meinerding_art)

In  Spider-Man: No Way Home , for the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighbourhood hero's identity is revealed, bringing his superhero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk.

When he enlists Doctor Strange’s help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who’ve ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.

The movie stars Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, J. B. Smoove, Benedict Wong, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans.

Spider-Man: No Way Home  is now available to buy wherever you get your movies.

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Returned To Theaters Yesterday: Here's How Box Office Compared To Spidey's Past Movies

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Concept Art Reveals A Surprising New Design For A "Junkyard" Vulture

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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE Image Features New Look At SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Star Willem Dafoe As Wolf Jackson

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Screen Rant

Venom 3 fan trailer gives spider-man: no way home's crossover tease its due.

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I'm Still Upset There's No Sequel To Brad Pitt's $540M Horror That's Now Streaming On Netflix

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• A new fan trailer for Venom 3 imagines the Symbiote going up against all three live-action Spider-Men, generating excitement for the upcoming film.
• Venom 3 is expected to continue the multiverse aspect introduced in Spider-Man: No Way Home and may feature a crossover between Venom and Spider-Man.
• It remains to be seen if Venom 3 will be Tom Hardy's final appearance as Venom, but there is potential for him to continue appearing in Sony's Spider-Man Universe through TV shows.

While Eddie Brock didn't get to take part in Spider-Man: No Way Home in the way fans expected, a new Venom 3 fan trailer depicts the Symbiote against the web-crawler. The character who began Sony's Spider-Man Universe is less than a year away from finally returning as Venom 3 started production this year. Prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike going into effect, Tom Hardy's third film had commenced filming in Spain, with Kelly Marcel directing Venom 3 , after having written the first two installments.

Expectations for Venom 3 are particularly high, especially after Hardy had a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home , which many were left disappointed with as he didn't get to engage with any of the Spider-Men who appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure. However, as the world is trying to figure out what Venom 3 will focus on, Screen Culture released a new fan trailer, as a proof-of-concept for the 2024 movie.

Cleverly titled Venom 3: Along Came A Spider , the footage sees Eddie Brock and the Symbiote back in their world, after their shared cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home . The Venom 3: Along Came A Spider fan trailer imagines the antihero going after not one, but all three live-action Spider-Men, featuring Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire, respectively. In Holland's case, they also follow up on the cliffhanger in Spider-Man: No Way Home , where a piece of the Symbiote was left behind.

RELATED: Venom 3's Release Date Kicks Off A $1.5bn Marvel vs DC Box Office War In 2024

What Is Venom 3 Actually About?

Sony Pictures have been extremely vague about the actual storyline for Venom 3 , although a few clues have emerged thanks to Venom 3 set photos and videos. In one way or another, Venom 3 will seemingly take place directly after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home . When filming was still taking place, Hardy was spotted wearing the same clothes he had during his little scene in the Spider-Man: No Way Home post-credits scene before he was sent back to his universe.

Given how Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse visited Earth-688, which was revealed to be Sony's Spider-Man Universe, it is possible that the multiverse aspect will continue in Venom 3 to some degree. Given that this will be the trilogy finale for Hardy, it wouldn't be shocking if the 2024 installment ends up being the film where Venom somehow crosses paths with Spider-Man. Whether that ends up being Holland's version from Earth-199999 or Garfield - who many believe is the Spider-Man of this universe - remains to be seen, but Venom 3 would be the perfect time to have that crossover once and for all.

What is more intriguing is whether or not Hardy is fully done with Sony's Spider-Man Universe after the events of Venom 3 . Given that Sony is working on multiple live-action Spider-Man TV shows , that may or may not be tied to their films, having Hardy appear as Venom again on any of those series would be an interesting next chapter. But for now, time will tell what Venom 3 will be and if this will serve as Hardy's conclusion playing the iconic Marvel antihero.

Source: Screen Culture /YouTube

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MARVEL Legends Series Green Goblin Premium Roleplay Helmet, Spider-Man: No Way Home Adult Collectible Roleplay Gear

• MARVEL STUDIOS’ SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME: This Green Goblin premium roleplay item is inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home
• PREMIUM DECO: This officially licensed helmet character-inspired design makes a great gift for collectors and adult fans
• PREMIUM DESIGN: Imagine chasing after Spider-Man at Liberty Island in this 1:1 scale helmet with a detailed sculpt
• INCLUDES STAND: Display your MCU fandom pride on your shelf with the included stand
• LOOK FOR OTHER MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES PREMIUM ROLEPLAY ITEMS: Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can look for other premium movie- and series-inspired Marvel gear. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.)

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Product information

Product Dimensions	21 x 9.25 x 10.25 inches
Item Weight	7.1 ounces
ASIN	B0CQJ2CBHD
Item model number	F9111
Manufacturer recommended age	14 years and up
Release date	January 1, 2025
Language	English
Manufacturer	Hasbro

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Marvel Legends proudly presents this high-quality reproduction of Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin helmet as it appears in the epic third film in the Spider-Man franchise. With movie-accurate sculpting and detailing, this is the next essential Marvel Legends Roleplay item for your Marvel gear collection. (Additional products each sold separately. Subject to availability.) Copyright 2024 MARVEL. HASBRO and all related trademarks and logos are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc

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Warning: Choking Hazard – Small parts may be generated. Not for children under 3 years.

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Marvel Legends Series | Green Goblin Premium Roleplay Helmet

MARVEL STUDIOS’ SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

This Green Goblin premium roleplay item is inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Product Features:

Assemble the ears, adjust interior padding, and pull out the hinged rear neck piece to don the helmet and gear up for battle!	Display or wear this premium helmet featuring a smooth, sleek green finish.	Look upon your enemies with the premium character-inspired eye lens detail.

One of Spider-Man's greatest foes, the Green Goblin returns with the original Goblin armor -- glider and all -- and a few lethal upgrades.	From Iron Spider’s helmet to Captain Carter’s shield, build out your Marvel Cinematic Universe roleplay collection to build a multiverse of collectibles on your shelf!	Display your helmet in or out of box with closed-box packaging featuring smoky green package design.

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Become Green Goblin With New ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Cosplay Mask and Electronic Pumpkin Bomb

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The Big Picture

• Marvel fans can finally become Green Goblin with Hasbro's new cosplay set, including a helmet and an electronic pumpkin bomb.
• The legacy of Sam Raimi's 'Spider-Man' continues to impact the superhero genre with timeless themes and iconic performances.
• Most Spider-Man films, including Raimi's trilogy, are available to stream on Disney+ while 'No Way Home' can be rented on VOD services.

When it comes to comic book movie villains, there are few as iconic as Willem Dafoe ’s Green Goblin from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man . Dafoe portrayed the classic Spidey villain throughout that beloved trilogy and recently reprised the role in the multiverse epic Spider-Man: No Way Home . The character has received many action figures based on his cinematic appearances over the years. However, now Marvel fans can become Green Goblin with a new sinister cosplay set.

Featured in Hasbro ’s Marvel Legends line, the two items included in the collection are the Green Goblin Roleplay Helmet and an Electronic Pumpkin Bomb . The 1:1 scale helmet comes with a display stand, so you can go slowly mad like Norman Osborn talking to it, while the pumpkin bomb’s center button activates the piece’s light-up effect. If you press the button twice, a light and sound sequence commences with the added bonus of hearing Goblin’s eerie laugh. If you roll the bomb, it starts a countdown to end the effect. For display, if you hold the bottom for three seconds, it will commence a one-minute timed light show. Both are based on Green Goblin’s appearance in No Way Home .

The Legacy of Sam Raimi’s 'Spider-Man'

While comic book films are a dime a dozen these days, when Spider-Man was released in 2002, the genre was still trying to figure out its place in the modern age. Blade and X-Men , showed that superheroes can work on the big screen beyond the usual suspects like Batman and Superman. However, Spider-Man was the film that put the genre firmly back into the blockbuster space. A place it hasn’t left since. There are so many reasons why the film holds up well. The practical mix of old-school filmmaking and CGI is still awe-inspiring, the story is rich with timeless coming-of-age themes and the performances from Tobey Maguire and Dafoe are web-tastic perfection. Dafoe’s Green Goblin was also such a scary villain . He fits into Raimi's campy world perfectly, but the director's horror roots can be seen throughout the character . If you were a kid watching Spider-Man in theaters when it originally came out, there’s a good chance you were traumatized by the imagery tied to Green Goblin. One particular transition jump scare is the kind of genre blending that hasn’t been seen before or since. Dafoe’s Goblin has a ton of memorable lines, moments of fear-inducing dread and an iconic look that Hasbro has expertly captured with this new collection.

Where’s ‘Spider-Man’ Streaming?

Most of Spider-Man ’s big screen adventures, including Raimi’s trilogy, can currently be streamed on Disney+ . Spider-Man: No Way Home can be rented on all major VOD services. Before you start your next Spider-Man marathon, you can pre-order Green Goblin’s cosplay helmet and pumpkin bomb on Hasbro’s website . The helmet is $124.99 USD and the pumpkin bomb is $39.99.

Spider-Man (2002)

After being bitten by a genetically-modified spider, a shy teenager gains spider-like abilities that he uses to fight injustice as a masked superhero and face a vengeful enemy.

• Spider-Man No Way Home
• Willem Dafoe

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‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Reverses Marvel’s Box Office Slump

The superhero sequel was on pace to collect about $200 million at North American theaters over the weekend, a record opening for an R-rated movie.

By Brooks Barnes

Reporting from Los Angeles

Marvel Studios, trying to move past a pair of box office humiliations, deployed two of its most popular characters over the weekend and hit a mother lode.

The potty-mouthed Deadpool and hard-drinking Wolverine — packaged together for the first time on movie screens — were on pace to sell roughly $205 million in tickets in the United States and Canada, box office analysts said on Sunday. “Deadpool & Wolverine” will easily set a record for the largest R-rated movie opening in Hollywood history, even when adjusting for inflation. The current record-holder, “Deadpool” (2016), arrived to more than $175 million in today’s dollars.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” was expected to collect an additional $233 million overseas, for a global total after only three and a half days of play of roughly $438 million — a start on par with Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022), which went on to sell about $1 billion in tickets.

Directed by Shawn Levy, “Deadpool & Wolverine” cost an estimated $320 million to make and market worldwide.

Marvel badly needed a win. Two of its releases last year, “ The Marvels ” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” disappointed at the box office, ending an unbroken 15-year winning streak for the boutique studio and beginning a period of intense Wall Street scrutiny. Marvel’s weakness played a role in proxy battles for Disney board seats earlier this year. (In the end, Disney fended off the activist investors, including Nelson Peltz, a founder of Trian Partners, and Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment.)

Superheroes are not the sure things they used to be. DC Studios, part of Warner Bros. Discovery, is working on its fourth reboot strategy in eight years following disappointments like “The Flash,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” and “Blue Beetle.” Sony has struggled with “Spider-Man” spinoffs like “Madame Web” and “Morbius.” The problem is that the movie and television marketplace is awash in the characters, and some of the most popular ones have already been fully exploited (at least for now).

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