Spiderman-No Way Home

*Includes spoilers*

Anticipation and excitement has surrounded Spider-Man: No Way Home, delivering every possible element of surprise, nostalgia, and foreshadowing we all desperately crave. Standing at Sixth-Highest Grossing Movie in History, Spider-Man: No Way Home breaks domestic box office records with $1.5 billion dollars globally, surpassing ‘Titanic’ and ‘Jurassic World’ with a rapid increase of $688 million in ticket sales, officially smashing the pandemic record. Concluding the trilogy of movies beginning with ‘Spider-Man Homecoming,’ this outstanding film continues to live up to its hype with audience feedback of action, emotion, humor, and fulfillment of the fans’ fantasies.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has exceeded expectations, delivering fans with films centered around the theme of superheroes in a shared universe. Created by Stan Lee, these films are based on the characters in the Marvel Comics, in which common elements of plot, setting, and characters are crossed over between stories. In particular, the Spider-Man film franchise has expanded for over 20 years, emerging with ‘Spider-Man’ in 2002 starring Tobey Maguire as our very first Peter Parker. Maguire withheld this role as Peter Parker for ‘Spider-Man 2’ in 2004, and ‘Spider-Man 3’ in 2007. In the following years of 2012, Andrew Garfield took over the franchise, delivering us with “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” in 2014. In more recent years, Tom Holland has grasped a hold of the Marvel film industry, delivering fans with ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ in 2017, ‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ in 2019, and most recently, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ in 2021.’

Spider-Man: No Way Home leaves off from the ending of ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home,’ when Mysterio reveals Peter’s identity as Spider-Man to all of New York City. With Tom Holland portraying Peter Parker, we see the challenges Peter faces due to his new exposure, and how it not only impacts him, but the others present in his life, including his girlfriend MJ and his best friend Ned. Feeling stuck and nowhere left to turn, Peter approaches Doctor Strange in an attempt to make everyone in New York City forget that he is Spider-Man, though when the spell goes haywire, doors of the multiverse are opened and familiar faces emerge that we were never expecting. 

The arrival of familiar characters throughout the Spider-Man film franchise surprised the audience, beginning with the appearance of prominent villain Doc Ock, who was first introduced in Spider-Man 2 as Dr.Otto Octavius. While in battle with Peter, a major twist is uncovered in which Doc Ock knew who Peter Parker was, but not the one in this particular universe. Due to the doors of the multiverse being opened, Peter and Doctor Strange come to the revelation of other individuals from the multiverse entering the world they are currently residing in, for the sole purpose of destroying Spider-Man. 

In addition, Doctor Strange establishes that the only characters who could crossover would have to be characters that Peter Parker himself knew, or had encounters with in other realities, which leaves the door wide open for endless possibilities. Subsequently, familiar villains throughout the Spider-Man saga begin to make way in Peter’s universe, including the famous Green Goblin from the first Spider-Man film introduced as Norman Obsorn, the vicious Lizard seen in the Amazing Spider-Man introduced as Curt Connors, Electro introduced in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Max Dillon, and the almighty Sandman brought about in Spider-Man 3, each carrying the same weight of vengeance for Spider-Man, but maintaining  uncertainty for Peter Parker in this particular universe. The arrival of the popular villains left the audience glued to their seats, in anticipation of what else to expect, or exactly, who else to expect.

These key points foreshadow the ultimate climax of the movie, resulting in a wide build-up of characters, emotions, themes, and elements of nostalgia. A key turning point in the film is when Peter’s Aunt May dies due to injury inflicted upon by the Green Goblin. Blaming himself, a different representation of Peter is portrayed, in which vengeance, misery, and fury is painted across himself, opening a similar comparison between the various Peter Parker’s, leading to the ultimate reveal of the film. The long awaited crossover we have all been waiting for is finally revealed, in which both Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprise their roles as Peter Parker for one last time in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The audience reaction is unhinged, with fans screaming from the top of their lungs to everyone in the theater jumping from left to right. 

There truly will never be no reaction quite like the reaction provided in Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which the element of long awaited nostalgia is through the roof! A fan-favorite scene is when all 3 of the Spider-Men are webbing through New York city in one final battle against the common foes of the Spider-Man film series, evolving into an iconic scene that will go down forever in MCU history, delivering us with everything we wanted and more! The common elements of nostalgia throughout the film resemble each other, in which all of the Peter Parker’s have lost a family member, and someone they truly loved dearly. An important correlation is exhibited in which both MJ and Gwen from The Amazing Spider-Man fall from a building, only comparison is that(Andrew Garfield), catches MJ, but fails to grab a hold of Gwen, resulting in her death. This scene added immense emotion to the film, portraying all the nostalgic feelings and emotions the audience had towards the similar dynamics presented. 

A detail that I loved throughout the films was a message that each guardian said to Peter, tragically before they died, “With great power comes great responsibility.” This quote is very important to all of the Spider-Men, because with all of their abilities and power they have a responsibility to live by them with the choices and decisions they make, which can be seen through the conclusion of each of their stories. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home successfully concluded the trilogy of Spider-Man films, and will go down as being one of the most nostalgic movies in MCU  history, delivering us with everything we could’ve wanted for this film and more. I confidently recommend everyone to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, because you will have the most surreal experience a film could possibly offer, and can bear witness to the endless Spider-Man legacy.