movie review of spider man no way home

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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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Film credits.

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’: film review.

Tom Holland’s webslinger fights a bunch of familiar faces in Jon Watts’ third outing as Spider-director.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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The heroes who went clobberin’ through the pages of Marvel Comics in the 1980s were still relative kids when the mythology over at rival publisher DC started creaking under its own weight. Superman and Batman had started fighting crime in the late ’30s, for Pete’s sake, and the many iterations of their stories, not to mention those of less revered characters, had piled up in confusing or contradictory ways. The solution was a series called Crisis on Infinite Earths , envisioning a collision of alternate realities in which some characters died, others had their stories straightened out, and many (though far from all) overly literal fanboys were allowed to stop fretting if next month’s adventure contradicted one they read 15 years ago.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Release date: December 17 Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei Director: Jon Watts Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers

Was the problem “there’s not enough fan service in Marvel movies”? Certainly, this outing is a textbook example of that phenomenon, in which little moments of pandering (be the moments loving or cynical) make inside jokes, throw in gratuitous cameos, or bring intergalactic bounty hunters back to life because there just aren’t enough Star Wars products out there yet for Disney to sell.

Some of the fan service plays fairly well here; some is unsubtle enough you expect an actor to look into the camera and wink at you after delivering his line. But in the end, No Way Home does use its multiversal mayhem to address the only real problem with the Holland-era web-slinger: the Iron Man-ification of the character, in which his already amazing powers keep getting overshadowed by the gadgets given to him by billionaire jerk-hero Tony Stark. This is the least fun of the Watts/Holland pictures by a wide margin (intentionally so, to some extent), but it’s a hell of a lot better than the last Spidey threequel, Sam Raimi’s overstuffed and ill-conceived Spider-Man 3 .

The story begins with the scene that closed the last film: Spidey is perched outside Penn Station when J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) exposes his secret identity. Soon, the whole world knows it’s Peter Parker under that mask, and hordes believe Jameson’s bizarre claim that Spider-Man is a war criminal. (This iteration of Daily Bugle editor Jameson is obviously modeled on real-life idiocy-promoter Alex Jones; but as is often the case these days, intended satire pales in comparison to the stupidity of the real thing.)

Life gets hard for our hero and his pals Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ ( Zendaya ), who have to deal with constant media attention and uncomfortable scenes at school. Somehow (just don’t question it), this notoriety even prevents the three brainiacs from getting into any of the colleges they apply to. So Peter Parker heads to Greenwich Village, hoping Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) can cast a spell and make his identity a secret again.

Several moments of poor judgment later, Strange has had to quash his own out-of-control magic, which threatens to summon to our planet every person, on every alternate Earth out there, who knows the name Peter Parker. But the cat’s partly out of the bag, and any viewer who has seen a trailer knows at least some of the characters who are coming to play — first, and most enjoyably, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus.

As the old villains reappear, we’re reminded that practically every one of them is a good soul gone wrong — some made monstrous by the same kind of dumb luck that made Peter a hero. So when Strange prepares to send them back to their own timelines (where, we may recall, most of them perish spectacularly), Peter balks. Urged on by his fiercely moral Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, the only woman in the multiverse who can get away with the godawful outfits these movies give her), he insists on trying to heal the villains before sending them home. Arguments between Avengers being what they are, Spidey and Strange duke it out in a magical realm where the scenery goes all Inception- y on them, then Spidey steals a magic doodad and sets off to cure the bad guys.

Rather than spoil any of the surprises the plot may have in store, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Who thought it was a great idea to tackle this material so soon after practically the same thing happened in 2018’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ? That rollicking, eye-popping adventure was so fresh, funny and exciting that No Way Home can really only look stodgy in comparison, relying on the novelty of faces we haven’t seen in a while and building up to the kind of operatic emotional moments the previous Watts films tended to avoid.

Yes, Peter suffers here, losing so much he’s at risk of also losing the spirit that has made Holland’s Peter Parker so winning onscreen since swinging into Captain America: Civil War . At moments, the anguish feels like the paint-by-numbers routine of superhero franchise-building: more of the same, despite the unusual circumstances.

But there’s a lightness to the movie’s final scene that makes one hopeful. What if all this colliding-multiverse stuff freed Peter from attachments, not only to his former incarnations, but to some of his more grandiose present-tense buddies as well? Would it be so bad if he were allowed to be a “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” for a while, with no obligation to fight aliens and giant monsters every other year? Let Doctor Strange explore the mystic depths for a while, and let Spidey swing.

Full credits

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Production companIes: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei Director: Jon Watts Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers Producers: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal Executive Producers: Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, JoAnn Perritano, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach Director of photography: Mauro Fiore Production designer: Darren Gilford Costume designer: Sanja Milkovic Hays Editors: Jeffrey Ford, Leigh Folsom Boyd Composer: Michael Giacchino Casting directors: Sarah Finn, Chris Zaragoza

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Review: Listen Bud, No Spoilers Here

In the latest installment of the “Spider-Man” series, Tom Holland faces the past and a very secure franchise future.

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By Manohla Dargis

The biggest villain in Marvel-wood isn’t Thanos: It’s your friendly, sometimes cranky neighborhood film critic. She’s also the puniest, and that’s OK. Her powers are irrelevant.

Marvel, with its armies of true believers and domination of both movie theaters and a click-baiting media, rendered its product line critic proof long ago. Its movies open, they crush and regenerate (repeat). Now, with “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” it has a movie that’s also review proof. Your critic can toss out adjectives — lively! amusing! corny!— but can’t say all that much about what happens.

The idea is that saying too much would, as the spoiler police insist, ruin the fun here. It wouldn’t, of course. The trailer and the advance publicity have already spilled plenty, and Marvel’s movies cater to their fans so insistently that there’s rarely room for any real surprises. So, spoiler alert: Spider-Man wins. And, once again, Tom Holland, the best of the franchise’s live-action leads, has suited up to play Peter Parker, the eternal teenager who doubles as Spider-Man. With his compact size and bright, easy smile, Holland still looks and sounds more like a kid than an adult, and he radiates the same sweet, earnest decency that has helped make Peter and Spider-Man an enduring twin act.

Peter’s boyish good nature has always been his most productive weapon, even more so than his super-ability to spin webs and swing by a thread. He’s always been a nice, cute boy with the nicest, loveliest girls, too (Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone). But Holland is also the most persuasive of the other moist-eyed boy-men (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield) who’ve played Spidey. His love interest is now MJ, played by Zendaya, who was paired with another of this year’s adolescent saviors in “Dune .” Her casting as MJ and her expanded role in the series continue to pay off, and Zendaya’s charisma and gift for selling emotions (and silly dialogue) helps give the new movie a soft, steady glow that centers it like a heartbeat as the story takes off in different directions.

Returning for duty is the director Jon Watts, who has proved a good fit for the material, partly because he gets that Peter is a teenager, if one who retains a curious holy-virgin quality. (Part brand extension, part celebrity roast, the script is by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.) Peter and MJ nuzzle and lock lips, but their relationship vibes more cozy than carnal, no doubt as a concession to the younger members of the movie’s target demographic. (In one scene, Watts splits the screen to show Peter and MJ on their phones in separate bedrooms, a technique that was used to reinforce, if also teasingly to cast doubt, on the chastity of Doris Day and Rock Hudson ’s romance back in the day.)

As for the story, well, there is one, though what this “Spider-Man” movie really has is a clever setup that tightens the sprawl of Marvel’s universe with the aid of one of its MVPs, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). It opens with a busy bang and the revelation of Peter’s secret identity, which changes his life and instigates a series of reunions, fight sequences and emotionally charged moments. Spider-Man racks up a great deal of mileage over the course of the movie for the simple reason that, like almost every Marvel production, this one is too long and, at two and a half hours, overstays its welcome. But before that, the movie nicely snaps and pops.

It does so largely because of the sprawling lineup of performers — including Marisa Tomei (as Peter’s Aunt May) and Jacob Batalon (Peter’s best friend, Ned) — who fill in the spaces between the fights with feeling and discernible personality. As in every successful franchise, the casting in the Spider-Man movies has often been as, or more, crucial than the generic elements. Even at their chilliest and PG-13 meanest, great actors like Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina, two of a number of series veterans making return appearances, can warm up industrial material just by virtue of their presence. They soften rough edges, sell jokes, break hearts and add to the movie’s tonal coherence.

It would be nice to see what Watts could do if he weren’t constricted by Marvel’s rigid template, which gives the studio’s movies their clearly defined genre identity but also means that they’re more alike than not. (For complicated business reasons, the Spider-Man cycle that started with Maguire in the role were not part of the Marvel movie world until the first to star Holland.) Among other things, it would be novel to see a more complex Peter. After all, the world is a complete mess, and it would be super swell if Peter’s great power and keen sense of responsibility could be harnessed for other, greater fights, like the one against climate change. Greta Thunberg can’t do it alone.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Rated PG-13 for comic-book violence. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis has been the co-chief film critic since 2004. She started writing about movies professionally in 1987 while earning her M.A. in cinema studies at New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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Spider-Man: No Way Home Reviews

Marvel Studios has ensured that its latest and best release of the year, Spiderman No Way Home, is the feature film with the most surprises for fans. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Dec 5, 2023

Director Jon Watts has spun a near-perfect cinematic web with this third effort in the Spider-Man franchise.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 10, 2023

A once-in-a-lifetime movie event that still manages to cap off Tom Holland's Spider-Man trilogy in an exciting way.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2023

Spider-Man: No Way Home is not just the most epic and surprising of Jon Watts’ Spider-Man movies, but it’s also one of the most complex and enjoyable superhero films we’ve seen this decade.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 3, 2023

A celebration of Spider-Man that I wanted… I cried, I laughed, & GOD I wanted to jump/scream to the high heavens. Nothing can prepare you for the BRUTAL action sequences that are at the top of Spider-Man films. But the ending? PERFECTION I LOVED IT

Full Review | Jul 26, 2023

A heartfelt, nostalgic homage to the Spider-Man legacy that fans will rewatch countless times, laughing and crying along for many more years to come. A memorable, passionate, once-in-a-lifetime cinematic experience.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 25, 2023

Spider-Man: No Way Home is about chosen families, and it’s about crystalizing the fact that though it’s dark today, these people are the reason why no one in the universe will ever be lacking love.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2023

Spider-Man: No Way Home completely moved me by the amount of heart that was put into the final installment of the trilogy by its entire cast, and the desire to please fans who cared not only about the MCU, but the character Spider-Man, in particular.

Full Review | Jul 19, 2023

Spider-Man: No Way Home is truly an open love letter to the Spider-Man franchise crafted with such thoughtful care.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 23, 2023

It does have some shoehorned elements in for the sake of fan service, but overall I think that its positives far outweigh any faults it may have.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 6, 2023

Unfortunately, Marvel and director Jon Watts, with the third official entry from Spider-Man in the MCU, fail to learn a key lesson from the issues of previous Spider-Man franchises — sometimes less is more.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 6, 2023

It hits hard, gets emotional, it's darker than the others, for good reason. It makes you think deeply about the meaning of Spider-Man. It doesn't need to be light & fun...

Full Review | Original Score: 9.5/10 | Dec 30, 2022

The most ambitious, action-packed and emotionally satisfying live action Spider-Man movie ever made.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 12, 2022

Much of the charm from the prior MCU web-slinging efforts remains intact.

Full Review | Sep 8, 2022

By the end, the direction of both the story and the MCU was murkier than before. But at some point all you can do is let the brains at the MCU hive-mind figure it out and then hope they’re able to bring it all together. It’s the best approach.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2022

The spontaneous cheers in the cinema for Spider-Man: No Way Home were well worth it.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 15, 2022

"The one of the main things that I did like about this film is that some of the questions and the issues people had with the previous iterations were address and/or fixed in this film." - Naturally Na

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 28, 2022

Spider-Man: No Way Home is almost a psycho-study of the two-decade-long Spider-Man phenomenon.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2022

This spider-sequel is always happiest when it's trying to catch the audience's claps and cheers just like flies.

Full Review | Jul 8, 2022

With half-baked conversations and inconclusive ideas, [the film] gets distracted halfway through a sequence as if it's trying to prevent its own progression because, in fact, it's actually searching for its offshoot. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 28, 2022

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Review: Tom Holland Cleans Out the Cobwebs of Sprawling Franchise With Multiverse Super-Battle

Convoluted as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten, Holland's latest opus spins two decades and three iterations of the Spidey brand into a satisfying meta-adventure.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains spoilers.

What do you call the opposite of a reboot? The “system overload” of “Spider-Man” movies, Sony’s ninth (and almost certainly not last) feature-length riff on the friendly neighborhood superhero, “ Spider-Man: No Way Home ” seeks to connect Tom Holland ’s spin on the web-slinger with the previous live-action versions of the character by first reassembling a rogue’s gallery of all the villains Peter Parker has vanquished to date. Returning director Jon Watts — whose bright, slightly dorky touch lends a welcome continuity to this latest trilogy — wrangles the unwieldy premise into a consistently entertaining superhero entry, tying up two decades of loose ends in the process.

The mind-bending plot hinges on a convenient comic book device called the multiverse, which allows infinite iterations of Spider-Man/mineral/vegetable to exist in their own parallel dimensions. That’s a radically different strategy from the one Sony has been peddling till now, whereby the studio simply recast the character every few years (lest the rights revert back to Marvel), without offering much in the way of closure to fans of Tobey Maguire’s or Andrew Garfield’s earlier outings.

Granted, the idea should be familiar to anyone who saw 2018’s animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which introduced the thrilling possibility that virtually anyone could be Spidey. But whereas that toon suggested infinite paths for the character going forward, “No Way Home” serves to wrap up what has come before, starting by reviving Spidey’s past adversaries, forcing Holland’s Peter Parker to face off against five of the villains pulled in from the movies that preceded him.

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It all happens because Peter’s life has been turned upside down by Mysterio (the bad guy he vanquished at the end of “Far From Home” two years ago), who managed to unmask Spidey before biting the dust. Desperate to protect his family and friends, Peter appeals to all-powerful wizard Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that will make everyone forget his identity. Instead, the plan backfires, calling everyone who ever knew that Peter was Spider-Man out of their dimension and into his.

To make things a little easier for the movie to manage, it’s really only the villains who answer Strange’s calling — which is impressive enough, considering that means enlisting Alfred Molina (Doc Ock), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin), Jamie Fox (Electro), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Rhys Ifans (The Lizard) to reprise their roles. Meanwhile, to make things easier for Spider-Man to manage, none is even remotely as intimidating as we remember them.

“No Way Home” keeps the surprises coming up to (and even through) the end credits, but perhaps the most unexpected is Peter’s decision — together with girlfriend MJ ( Zendaya ) and best bud Ned (Jacob Batalon) — not to defeat these villains the way his predecessors did. Instead, Peter hopes to “cure” the goons of the mutations that are making them unhappy, even if it means defying Doctor Strange (one of several characters on loan from the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which Holland’s Spider-Man has been making now-regular appearances).

Peter’s empathy seems perfectly fitting for a movie that targets a fresh wave of idealistic teens very much engaged with questioning everything Western civilization thought it knew about crime and punishment, power and privilege. As a critic who grew up on movies in which the bad guys were routinely impaled (Tony Goldywn in “Ghost”), decapitated (Dennis Hopper in “Speed”) or otherwise made to pay dearly for their sins, it’s fascinating to encounter an escapist Hollywood offering that seeks to understand the root of these characters’ megalomaniacal behavior.

The reason, as Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers’ screenplay tries to explain, is that this version of Peter is still dealing with Mysterio’s death. In that reaction, we see the franchise trying to make the character more fully dimensional and dare I say “realistic” — much as 21st-century Bond “Casino Royale” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” did in recognizing the physical toll saving the world had on their respective protagonists.

For my money, Holland has been the least interesting of the three big-screen Spider-Men, coming across younger and less mature than Maguire or Garfield. Until now. This simple plot development makes him more than just an acrobat in spandex, juggling awkward high school experiences with flashy visual effects battles — although both elements carry through to this film, in which college acceptance carries equal weight with a big CG showdown at the Statue of Liberty. He’s further disrupting the Marvel-movie formula (which already got a massive upset with the “Infinity War”-ending “snap” and inevitable time-travel gimmick it took to reverse it) and even going so far as to redefine audiences’ collective notion of heroism in the process.

As complicated as it all sounds, “No Way Home” sticks to a relatively straightforward idea of the multiverse, taking extra care to walk us through the logical loop-de-loops its plot requires. Whenever Doctor Strange shows up in a Marvel movie, audiences ought to be prepared for some magical monkey business — the kind of rule-bending that essentially makes anything possible. Superhero movies are only as good as their villains, and it’s a thrill to be reunited with Doc Ock and Green Goblin. Though the other three baddies were relatively disappointing in their original incarnations, this film focuses on the tragic dimension of their characters and their capacity for redemption.

It’s not quite so successful at identifying the rage building in Peter Parker, whose good intentions directly result in an irreversible loss. While incendiary news reports — from conspiracy-monger J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), an unlikely constant across the multiverse — paint him as a menace, Spidey is torn between the instinct to help his adversaries and a much darker impulse to seek revenge (a watered-down version of the Jedi-Sith tug-of-war we’ve seen in “Star Wars” protagonists). Though Holland looks too much like an eager Boy Scout for us to believe he’ll go rogue, that conflict serves as a promising setup for the movie’s obvious midpoint twist — one that trailers have hidden, but reviews really ought to unpack. Be warned that spoilers will follow.

If villains can make the dimensional leap, it stands to reason that other Spider-Men can too, and sure enough, first Garfield and then Maguire show up seemingly up-to-speed on Peter’s villain-infestation problem. Because they’ve all faced variations on the same challenges — from losing loved ones to reconciling their romantic interests with a demanding day job — the movie balances easy-target comedy with more profound life lessons. What could easily have felt like one of those tacky Disneyland parades, where all the princesses are assembled to do fan service, instead finds a strong emotional foundation.

Garfield, so good in this year’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” radiates more charisma here than he ever did in his two Spider-Man installments. And the older-and-wiser Maguire, who’d gotten soft and lazy between his second and third Spider-Man movies, reminds audiences who haven’t seen him on screen in years why we found him so appealing in the first place. There’s something fundamentally worrisome about dissolving the barriers between these separate iterations of the franchise, and yet, the entire creative team seems committed to treating the multiverse not as a stunt or a crass corporate ploy (it does conveniently repair a rift in the MCU), but as an opportunity to more fully explore what Peter Parker stands for.

“No Way Home” doesn’t pretend that the earlier films were perfect, poking fun at elements we can all agree were weaknesses while also leaving room for the villains and Spider-Men alike to do some much-needed healing. The movie can be ungainly at times, and it’s much too committed to setting up even more craziness to play out in upcoming Marvel product (these aren’t stand-alone films so much as overloaded episodes, after all), but it provides enough resolution for the past two decades of Spider-Man adventures that audiences who’ve tuned out along the way will be rewarded for giving this one a shot.

Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 148 MIN.

Production: A Columbia Pictures release and presentation of a Pascal Pictures, Marvel Studios production. Producers: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal. Executive producers: Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, JoAnn Perritano, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach. Co-producers: Mitch Bell, Chris Buongiorno.
Crew: Director: Jon Watts. Screenplay: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko. Camera: Mauro Fiore. Editors: Jeffrey Ford, Leigh Folsom Boyd. Music: Michael Giacchino.
With: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home Is Aggressively Mediocre

The one good idea that the Tom Holland–starring Spider-Man films had was a simple, obvious one: They really did make Peter Parker a kid. Tobey Maguire had been 27 at the time of his first turn as the high-school-age superhero, while Andrew Garfield had been 29. It’s not so much that those actors were too old for the material; it’s that the material could never fully utilize the character’s youth and inexperience because we as humans have a visceral resistance to watching people who clearly aren’t kids making childish decisions. Holland, by contrast, was 21 when Spider-Man: Homecoming premiered in 2017, and he looked even younger. As a result, the filmmakers for this latest Spidey cycle, including director Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, have been able to sell us on some of Peter’s dodgier choices. They’ve also managed to mine the age gap between him and other characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for humor as well as one meme-worthy moment of genuine pathos. (“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.”)

But in most other respects, Watts’s Spider-Man films have been black holes of imagination. (The first entry featured a huge set piece at the Washington Monument — an inspired idea on paper — and did absolutely nothing interesting with it. The setting might as well have been an office building in suburban Atlanta. It probably was at some point.) This is a particular shame when it comes to Spider-Man, since previous attempts at the character, even at their worst, have often been visually spectacular. It does take a unique brand of corporate cynicism to drain any and all grandeur from the sight of Spidey swinging through the canyons of Manhattan; trapping the most cinematic of all superheroes in nondescript swirls of CGI sludge feels like its own act of villainy.

In other respects, too, these movies’ Spider shtick is starting to get old. They continue to treat Peter Parker as a child, and the ultrabuff, grown-up Holland now looks increasingly out of place. The new film begins with Peter Parker unmasked and publicly castigated and shamed for killing the previous entry’s villain, Mysterio. Among the real-life consequences of Parker’s cancellation is MIT’s rejection of his and his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned’s (Jacob Batalon) college applications. Determined to fix this problem, Parker goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks him — I am not making this up — to cast a spell making the rest of the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man so that his friends can get into the college of their choice. And Doctor Strange — again, I am not making this up — agrees to do so. Holland is a fine actor, but I’m not sure any actor could survive the sheer idiocy of this character’s decisions here. Peter might be a teenager, but I don’t recall him ever being this stupid, either in the comics or the movies. Anyway, hocus-pocus, things go wrong, portal into other dimensions, flashing lights, blah, blah, blah. The magic goes awry, and Potter Peter finds himself face-to-face with a whole new set of problems. It’s all so pro forma that even Cumberbatch’s Strange, called on to convey rage at how his young colleague’s dumb request has prompted him to tear a hole in the fabric of the universe, merely musters some mild annoyance.

The initial big revelations of the new film have already been shown in trailers, so I’ll discuss those first. When Strange’s magic opens a gateway to different realities, once-dead villains from previous Spidey movies suddenly return, including Spider-Man ’s Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Spider-Man 2 ’s Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ’s Electro (Jamie Foxx). Again, a potentially promising idea. And judging from the cheers these veteran bad guys’ mere emergence got at my screening, perhaps it was of secondary importance that they be given, you know, something interesting to do . But aside from Dafoe, who once again gets to have some modest fun with his character’s divided self, there’s not much going on here. Why bring back an actor like Molina, who brought so much heartbreak and sneering rage to Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2 , only to give him no sense of inner life or any good lines? The same goes for Foxx’s Electro, whose transformation from oddball engineer to blustery supervillain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was one of that (admittedly dreadful) film’s few highlights. Here, he’s just a tired wisecrack machine. That the action scenes involving these characters are so insipid just adds insult to injury: Watching Doctor Octopus dutifully toss weightless, computer-generated concrete pipes at our hero, it’s hard not to think back on Sam Raimi’s eye-poppingly imaginative action sequences in Spider-Man 2 featuring these same two characters and maybe even shed a tear for what has been lost.

It’s not just the action and the magic that flop. Even the film’s more intimate moments fall flat. One early domestic comedy scene involving Peter, MJ, Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, mostly wasted here), and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) has the camera whip-panning and roaming the spaces of their apartment in a pastiche of handheld indie filmmaking, but none of the humor feels organic or earned or even all that funny. It doesn’t build or make any emotional sense. Like almost everything else in the movie, it’s just another put-on. Making Peter more of a child does allow you to play up his sincerity and naïveté, which should ideally be a breath of fresh air in a universe filled with cynical, world-weary superheroes. But for all their alleged earnestness, these last three Spider-Man films have never had any kind of identity to call their own.

And now for the heavy spoilers, which I’m not supposed to talk about … but forgive me, it’s impossible to discuss this picture’s highs and lows without doing so. So, fair warning. Seriously.

Here, I’ll even give you an extra paragraph break to click away before finding out what happens next in the movie. (Even if it’s destined to become common knowledge within a few days.)

As the infinitely superior Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse already taught us, opening up doors to the metaverse means that you might also discover other iterations of Spider-Man. So sure enough, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire return to the franchise that once helped make them stars, and the three Peters Parker now work together to try and handle this cavalcade of villains. And a film that was already engorged with fan service positively erupts with it.

That’s not such a bad thing, at least at first. It’s certainly nice to see Maguire again, and Garfield is a genuine delight. The latter’s previous turn as Spidey was a wildly uneven one. His slightly hapless, rom-com variation on Peter Parker made the first outing quite fun, but by the second entry, he had become twitchy, whiny, annoying. Here, almost as if he’s been given a second chance (a running theme in the film), he gets the goofiness just right. A scene where the denizens of this world ask Garfield’s Parker to prove he has Spider powers offers a charming bit of slapstick, and his uncertainty and insecurity pop up at opportune moments during the big climax. But this also reveals a bigger problem. Because as we watch Garfield act literal circles around everybody else, we are reminded of how lifeless and wanting the rest of the picture is. It’s like getting a new pair of glasses and realizing that your world has been a blur for the past few months. Except that whenever Garfield is off the screen, you’re forced to put your old glasses back on, which just makes everything look that much worse.

The Tom Holland Spider-Man films have been so eager to please that one does feel like a bit of a crank criticizing them. Nobody should enjoy kicking puppies. At the same time, along with the oft-rebooted Batman , Spider-Man is the one superhero franchise for which we do have proofs of concept for different approaches. And while the previous Holland films have been mediocre in modest ways, No Way Home feels downright aggressive in its mediocrity, bringing back better actors from better movies and calling back to an endlessly inventive and moving masterpiece like Spider-Verse . Is it an attempt to try and gain residual luster from associating with better work? Or is it something more cynical, an attempt to bring that better work under the big tent of its blandness? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that No Way Home was trying to make us forget that a better Spider-Man movie is possible.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home First Reviews: Ridiculous and Ridiculously Fun

Critics say tom holland's third solo outing as peter parker is as full of easter eggs as anticipated, but also surprisingly emotional and strengthened by an epic third act..

TAGGED AS: Film , films , Marvel , marvel cinematic universe , marvel comics , Marvel Studios , movie , movies , spider-man , spider-verse , Superheroes

The eighth live-action solo Spider-Man movie and the third starring Tom Holland within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (of which it’s the 27th entry), Spider-Man: No Way Home promises to be a culmination of everything fans have seen before. Somewhat literally, as the Multiverse brings in characters from other runs of the Spidey franchise for a nostalgic mash-up of sorts.

Does it work? Considering the movie’s high Tomatometer score out of the gate, the answer seems to be yes. However, while some are calling it one of the best superhero movies of all time, others do see some problems in the storytelling. But hey, imperfection is part of what makes Spider-Man such a relatable fan favorite, right?

Here’s what critics are saying about Spider-Man: No Way Home :

Has Marvel done it again?

Spider-Man: No Way Home  isn’t just the best of the eight live-action Spider-Man films, it’s one of the superior films of the entire Marvel Studios franchise. – Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files

One of the best MCU films and easily ranks up there with the top Spider-Man films. – Jon Nguyen, Nerd Reactor

I not only loved Spider-Man: No Way Home but believe it to be the best Marvel movie of all time . – Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment

My favorite Marvel film thus far . – Diandra Reviews, diandrareviewsitall.com

Simply put, Spider-Man: No Way Home is the best film in the MCU. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

The best superhero movie of all time, and easily the best Marvel Cinematic Universe film yet… Easily the best live action Spider-Man movie . – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Zendaya and Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home

(Photo by Columbia Pictures)

How does it compare to the last two Spidey movies?

It is a definite improvement from the last film . – RAchel Wagner, rachelsreviews.net

No Way Home feels more like a Spider-Man movie. It’s a bit corny yet endearing, heartfelt and incredibly fun — which is as it should be . – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

While not quite as utterly delightful as Spider-Man: Homecoming , it matches and often exceeds the already strong Spider-Man: Far From Home . – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

From a visual standpoint, it’s the biggest of the three. From an actual story perspective, it’s the weakest . – Luke Y. Thompson, SuperHeroHype

Will hardcore Spider-Man fans be happy?

These filmmakers really understand Spider-Man . – Matt Singer, ScreenCrush

Spider-Man: No Way Home is everything we can wish for in a Spider-Man film . – Jon Nguyen, Nerd Reactor

This film brilliantly pays homage to the legacy of Spider-Man . – Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment

No Way Home is a reminder that Marvel Studios undeniably gets the Marvel Comics characters down to the core . – Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files

Will you need to have seen the other Spider-Man movies?

Director Jon Watts makes sure that viewers who have only followed Holland’s Spider-Man films aren’t lost . – Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files

Spider-Man: No Way Home is an epic superhero feast for fans, but it should not be the first Spider-Man movie that people should see . – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

The connection and understanding of the previous movies’ plots are essential . – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

This film does base a lot of humor and emotional beats around the idea of audiences connecting with what’s happening based on previous films . – Aaron Neuwirth, We Live Entertainment

Spider-Man: No Way Home is at its best and its worst when it's recalling other movies. – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

Is there a lot of fan service?

While there is a lot of nostalgia and fan service, the film doesn’t rely solely on that . – Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment

There’s a ton of callbacks and plenty of fan service but it’s always in service of the story at hand . – Sean Mulvihill, FanboyNation

Fan service doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing, especially when it services a larger thematic purpose: grappling with Spider-Man’s legacy . – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

Even those uninterested in the film’s White-House-lawn–sized supply of Easter eggs can enjoy Holland and Zendaya’s teen-romance chemistry and Holland and Batalon’s buddy-comedy banter . – Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

Sadly the film trades real storytelling for crowd-pleasing Easter Eggs . – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Does it feel like a live-action version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ?

The film is a celebration of the character on the screen, like a live action Into the Spider-Verse , though not quite as overwhelmingly stunning . – Sean Mulvihill, FanboyNation

No Way Home feels like a live-action retread and reworking that’s nowhere near as successful or inventive . – Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist

Is it all that different from 2018’s Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ? The difference I see comes through in the filmmaking . – Aaron Neuwirth, We Live Entertainment

It often plays like if Into the Spider-Verse cared more about the cameos than about Miles Morales . – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

How is it to see the old villains again?

It is such an amazing reminder of how good the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies were to see Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina in their roles . – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

These characters are not back just to put fans in seats, they are actually used incredibly well in the story. Every one of them has a story, a plot point, and an arc in this movie . – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

What would have made the film stronger, however, is Peter getting his own villain rather than solely having to fight the ones from the past (as good as it is to see them back) . – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

Are there too many villains?

It never quite crosses that threshold… It always manages to bring the focus back to Peter Parker and his problems . – Matt Singer, ScreenCrush

While this creates an interesting juggling act for the film, much of what is impressive about it is both how it handles all of them, and how it puts the story in a position to reflect on the totality of the character’s big screen legacy . – Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

Multiple villains invariably do water down the central conflict. When everyone’s a compelling movie star, and the story has to find screen time for all. – Luke Y. Thompson, SuperHeroHype

How is the script?

Director Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers performed a miracle here juggling the drama, humor, action, and emotional elements of the story. – Lupe Rodriguez, Haas CineMovie.tv

Peter makes one bad decision after another… But that’s Spider-Man in a nutshell. – Matt Singer, ScreenCrush

When the film dares to ask heady questions about fate and humanity – debating whether these things are immutable – it falters, providing superficial answers akin to a Magic 8 Ball . – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

If you poke too many holes in the narrative, Spider-Man: No Way Home starts to become undone . – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

Does the movie get emotional?

The film will have you reaching for tissue paper . – Lupe Rodriguez, Haas CineMovie.tv

The most somber story we’ve seen yet centering on Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. The threats are more extreme than anything he’s previously faced alone, but also amped way up are the emotional stakes and maturity . – Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

Certain moments are very emotional, and I was surprised by how powerful those scenes were . – Scott Menzel, We Live Entertainment

Does it take a while to get going?

The first half of the movie really weighs things down and not in a good way . – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

For much of the first 20 minutes of the film, No Way Home is astonishingly low stakes . – Hoai-Tran Bui, Slashfilm

There also is a lot of time in this movie with people in rooms talking . – Rachel Wagner, rachelsreviews.net

But does the third act redeem that slow start?

The first and second acts are very messy, but the third act pulls it together to pack one hell of an emotional punch . – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

The final act [is] one of the more breathtaking of any recent superhero film . – Jeffrey Lyles, Lyles’ Movie Files

The final act of Spider-Man: No Way Home is joyful in the best ways, dark in other ways, and overall the most fun the MCU has in years. For many, this third act will stand as the best in the franchises’ history, and they wouldn’t be wrong . – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

How is the action?

The battle scenes are MASSIVE… There are several big action scenes, and they just get bigger and bigger as the film goes on. Each one topping the previous one, which feels impossible, trust me . – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

The action of Spider-Man: No Way Home is often quite dazzling . – Sean Mulvihill, FanboyNation

Some of the best Spider-Man action we’ve ever seen . – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

A lengthy part of the movie that takes place on the Statue of Liberty will be talked about by fans for years . – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

The action is more brutal than ever before, trading some of the fantastical web-slinging action to more hand-to-hand combat and bloody brawls . – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

Are there any issues?

As for the CG fest, it feels more awkward than usual at times. Certain scenes look as if they utilized blue-screening solely so the actors on set wouldn’t even know what was happening . – Luke Y. Thompson, SuperHeroHype

They are presenting a perfect world… where nobody is evil or bad and everyone can be redeemed or “cured” of their sociopathic or evil tendencies. That’s just not reality . – Rachel Wagner, rachelsreviews.net

The only major stumbles are in the mid-credit and post-credit scenes, when the franchise overlords have to impose their corporate will to whet appetites for the next movie while we’re still digesting the one we just saw . – Sean P. Means, Movie Cricket

Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: No Way Home

Is the movie worth seeing in spite of its flaws?

There is only 50% of an excellent movie here, but that 50% is worth showing up for . – Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool

Spider-Man: No Wy Home is a mixed bag… Equal parts fantastic and frustrating . – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

Spider-Man: No Way Home will probably be a “love it or hate it” film . – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the very definition of the sum being less than its parts . – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

While the whole may not exceed the sum of its parts, some of those parts are great indeed . – Luke Y. Thompson, SuperHeroHype

Will it leave us wanting more Tom Holland Spider-Man movies?

It sets the stage for a promising second trilogy that brings the character back to his cinematic roots and builds upon the foundations set forth today . – Diego Andaluz, AwardsWatch

If they’re handing off the baton to other filmmakers to continue Spidey stories this is a good way to do it. There’s closure and surprises galore here, but also a clear avenue for further adventures . – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

If it is the end of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, I am OK with that. I don’t want that to happen, but it gives fans a closure . – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters on December 17, 2021.

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Entertainment

Spider-Man: No Way Home swings big on two decades of fan payoff

a big, satisfying, and occasionally messy conclusion.

By Chaim Gartenberg

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Spider-Man: No Way Home is a film meant to do a lot of things. It’s the third film in the Jon Watts-directed MCU trilogy of Spider-Man films, concluding a storyline for Tom Holland’s incarnation of Peter Parker. It’s a direct sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home , picking up where the cliffhanger credit scene of the 2019 film left off. It’s the continuation of the overarching Marvel Cinematic Universe and its “Phase Four” story arc. And it’s a tribute to the past 20 years of Spider-Man movies.

That’s a lot of balls to juggle. And the fact that No Way Home succeeds in pulling off as many of them as it does is impressive, especially when it comes to the fan service — but much like Peter Parker, this movie can’t have everything.

Spoiler warning: this review will reference basic plot details of the movie as revealed in the existing Spider-Man: No Way Home trailers, in addition to spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home.

If you want to go in fully unaware, skip this review for now.

Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up right where its predecessor, Far From Home , left off. Peter Parker’s secret identity as Spider-Man has been revealed to the world through one last trick of Mysterio, and now everyone blames the webslinger for the villain’s rampage through London.

No Way Home doesn’t let Peter get off easy here, at least for the first third of the film, which eschews heroics for grinding down the costumed hero. Half the world hates Peter and thinks he murdered Mysterio. He’s got no idea how to pay for college. (As an aside, given that it’s the third time this plot point has come up in an MCU project this year: did none of the Avengers get paid? Come on, Tony.) Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is forced to move after her apartment is besieged by reporters and protestors. And his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon) and his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), get soundly rejected from every college they apply to just for being associated with Peter.

No Way Home doesn’t let Peter get off easy

So in an effort to protect his loved ones, Peter goes to his fellow Avenger Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks him to magic away the problem. Naturally, things go awry. The spell cracks open the multiverse and spills out villains from Sony’s previous five Spider-Man movies spanning almost two decades: Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe, reprising his role from Spider-Man ), Doc Ock (Alfred Molina, Spider-Man 2 ), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church, Spider-Man 3 ), Lizard (Rhys Ifan, The Amazing Spider-Man ), and Electro (Jamie Foxx, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ). Each bad guy has been snatched up from their moment right before their web-slinging comeuppance and given a fresh chance for revenge on (another) Spider-Man, who has to find them and send them back from whence they came.

No Way Home revels in bringing back these characters. Each villain gets his moment in the sun (some briefer than others), and long-time Spider-Man fans will get a thrill of getting to see Doc Ock smash his way through a highway of cars, a devilishly grinning Green Goblin cackling his way from scene to scene, or Jamie Foxx’s Electro not having to be a blue CGI Doctor Manhattan knock off. Dafoe leads the charge, bouncing between his feral and friendly personalities without missing a beat in the intervening 19 years, while Molina’s tortured scientist struggles to control his out-of-control creation. The core cast of Watts’ trilogy is also back. Holland’s take on Peter is his best yet: still fresh-faced and quipping his way through fights while dealing with the increasing weight of actually having to be Spider-Man. MJ and Ned are more divorced from the action, although Aunt May gets the spotlight in some of the film’s quieter moments to great effect.

It’s all extremely fun but harkens back to the same issue all of Holland’s films have had: the smorgasbord of bad guys are once again other character’s foes that Peter just happens to be dealing with, much in the same way that Homecoming and Far From Home had him cleaning up Tony Stark’s messes. Peter’s Inception -esque mirror dimension duel with Doctor Strange almost has more weight than some of the villain fights — at least there, Peter knows his opponent’s name.

In fact, nearly all of the film’s biggest emotional beats rely on viewer’s knowledge of the previous five Spider-movies, attempting to tie a bow on each villain’s story in addition to offering closure for the characters in the Tom Holland trilogy that No Way Home ostensibly is intended to wrap up. There’s a lot going on.

Pure payoff for two decades of Spider-Man films

Still, once No Way Home hits its stride, it’s hard to care too much about any of that. Characters and cameos abound in scenes that feel engineered to have fans cheering in theaters. There are big reveals, catchphrases are dutifully recited, and the last hour is basically just pure payoff for two decades of Spider-Man films, handled with a surprising amount of humor and heart despite some darker swings halfway through. Whether you’re a fan of the Sam Raimi, the Marc Webb, or the Jon Watts movies, No Way Home does its best to please. (Although you’ll definitely get the most mileage if you’ve seen all seven preceding Spider-Man flicks, of course.) It’s all very satisfying for fans, though at times it can feel like the movie is as much about the competing studio interests of Sony and Disney as it is about Spidey himself.

And, as is practically Marvel tradition, No Way Home doesn’t let its characters rest, slamming the reset button and sowing the seeds for future sequels, with the now-traditional post-credit scenes setting up more adventures for Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.

Still, Holland’s incarnation of the character is said to be sticking around for another few movies, and No Way Home ’s ending hints at shedding some of Peter’s accrued MCU baggage for a friendlier, more neighborly Spider-Man. So it’s at least possible that future entries will finally let the character soar through the city on his own strengths, instead of just standing on specters of movies past.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home review: Welcome to the multiverse

Oh, what a tangled meta-web he weaves.

In 2018, a movie called Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse floated the idea that there could be an infinity of Spideys: an Afro-Latino teen from Brooklyn or a small Japanese girl, one all in monochrome and another made of ham. It went on to win an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature, and spawned a pile of sequels and spinoffs.

Meanwhile, either in some other dimension or just down the hall, the other Spider-Man carried on, confined in this mortal coil (or at least for three films now) to the body of Tom Holland . But if moviegoers have learned anything in the last two decades at the multiplex it's that no Peter Parker is fixed forever, and in Spider-Man: No Way Home (in theaters Friday) the glue that puts the uni- in universe has come unstuck.

That's less breezy to do without the magic wand of animation, and No Way Home struggles early on to put the pieces in place and find its storyline. At the end of 2019's Far From Home , Holland's Peter was "unmasked" by Jake Gyllenhaal' s malevolent Mysterio — railroaded for crimes he hadn't committed and recast as a dangerous teenage menace in the public's mind. He'd like to shrug it off, but the reveal has also cast a pall on the people that love him: His Aunt May ( Marisa Tomei ), his loyal girlfriend M.J. ( Zendaya ) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), even his cheerful bachelor-uncle benefactor, Happy ( Jon Favreau ).

If they've all become outcasts because of him — even MIT decides it doesn't want to see M.J. and Ned on its incoming-freshman rolls — how can he get their good names back? An irritable wizard several Manhattan zip codes away might know; and in fact Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch , very much enjoying his snits) does have a few thoughts on how to fix it, including a forgetting spell that can, he promises, wipe Peter's slate clean. But a mid-spell intervention comes with side effects, and suddenly, portals are spitting out MCU ghosts like pinwheel sparklers on the 4th of July, long-dead villains and heroes emerging from the studio backlots that time forgot: 2014, 2007, even 2002. (It's no secret from the trailer at least that the resurrected-enemies list includes Jamie Foxx 's Electro, Alfred Molina 's Doctor Octopus, and Willem Dafoe 's Green Goblin).

Along with Holland, director Jon Watts is on his third installment, and the tone he brings to the franchise remains a kind of goofy, self-referential high-school sweetness; his previous two were like updated John Hughes movies that just happened to have agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The first chunk of No Way Home feels noticeably less cohesive than the ones before it, a hectic collision of convenient plot points and winky one-liners pinging off every available surface while the script scrambles to find its footing. (A major part of Peter's appeal has always been that he's a kind, guileless kid, the most human superhero — though this script makes a strong case that great power should be no 17-year-old's responsibility.)

The way that the movie eventually manages to bridge all those multiplicities and pull them into focus feels both obvious and ingenious, though pretty much everything that happens after the 40-minute mark is a spoiler that early title cards and even a recorded pre-show entreaty from the cast beg you not to share. At just under two and a half hours, that leaves a lot on the table. So it's safer maybe just to say that what seems at first like pure fan service turns out to be some of the best and by far the most meta stuff Marvel has done, tender and funny and a little bit devastating. (There were audible sobs in the theater at an industry screening.) It's also Holland's last time in the suit (unless it isn't ); if and when Peter finds his way home, maybe this bigger, broader Spider-Verse will find a new way — or a new form altogether — to take him there. Grade: B+

Spider-Man: No Way Home review – a fun, more-is-more return to the multiverse

Tom Holland’s third outing as the puppyish web-slinger is endearing and chock-full of eye-popping spectacle

T he greatest hits approach to this climactic episode of Tom Holland ’s incarnation as the web-slinger delivers an overflowing, funnel-web cornucopia of treats for Spider-fans. But amid numerous references to Spideys past, the key influence is the one that is most likely to shape the future of the franchise, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse . While that thrillingly inventive animation remains the standout film from the Spider-canon – it’s a sleek, conceptually elegant thing compared to No Way Home ’s cluttered, more-is-more approach – here, director Jon Watts harnesses the idea of the “multiverse” (an infinite number of parallel universes, each with their own Spider-Man) and satisfyingly puts it to work in the service of a live-action version of the spider saga. It’s all very meta and self-referential; screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers hoover up memorable lines from past movies and serve them with a flourish and an exaggerated wink to the audience. It’s also a good deal of fun.

The story starts immediately after the events at the conclusion of 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home ; the dying Mysterio has leaked the identity of the boy beneath the lycra. And thanks to social media-stoked suspicion and conspiracy theories, Peter Parker’s name is mud. He seeks out the help of Doctor Strange , and discovers that although Benedict Cumberbatch’s character may be able to perform magic, sarcasm remains his superpower. Meanwhile, Parker’s appeal continues to be his endearing, puppyish enthusiasm. And for all the Avengers: Endgame -style onslaught of effects and action here, it’s Spidey’s sweetness that is the USP.

Spider-Man: No Way Home
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‘No Way Home’ is a joyous valentine to Spider-Man movies and their fans

Spider-Man holds a woman as they jump off a bridge with New York City behind them.

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The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials .

The plot of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is set in motion by a threatened bout of collective amnesia, which is fitting because I could barely remember anything that happened in the last of these movies. That’s odd, because I definitely saw it. ( I’m pretty sure I reviewed it. ) Fortunately, like most installments of endless cinematic franchises, this latest Spidey adventure seldom stops explaining itself or referencing its predecessors (more on that in a bit). Within moments you are helpfully reminded of how 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” ended, with that belligerent hack journalist J. Jonah Jameson (Spidey mainstay J.K. Simmons) exposing the famous webslinger’s true identity to the entire world. And most thoughtlessly of all, he didn’t even think to preface it with a spoiler warning.

The people at Sony Pictures, by contrast, have taken their usual care to warn journalists not to spill the secrets of “No Way Home,” expecting us to behave with more scrupulousness and care than some of their own marketing materials. I’ll proceed as cautiously as I can, with the caveat that your spoiler sense may tingle differently from my spoiler sense.

If you’re that concerned about plot details, I implore you: Put down this review and read something else. Read the sports section. Read a Thackeray novel. (Do not read Twitter.) And yeah, sure, see the movie first if you must. If “West Side Story” hasn’t already sated your appetite for impetuous teenagers leaping acrobatically around New York, this one might do the trick.

A man in a green suit surrounded by a vortex of dust

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ tried to hide its lineup of villains. One leak upended a Marvel-ous strategy

The cast and creatives of Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ discuss spoilers, returning villains and the Marvel multiverse at the film’s premiere.

Dec. 14, 2021

Or you could just plunge ahead and read on, especially if, like me, you harbor some skepticism about the way studios use the promise of jaw-dropping, game-changing twists to preempt criticism and sell material that’s actually fairly predictable at its core. Really, given the months of speculative hype that have preceded “No Way Home,” the most surprising thing about it is how … unsurprisingly much of it plays out.

If you’ve had your ear even remotely to the ground, you know what’s up: Due to unprecedented ruptures in the multiverse, characters from the first two Spider-Man series make appearances in this one. To discuss who those characters are and what they do would apparently be a crime on par with leaking the nuclear codes, so let’s just swing around them, Spidey-like, as gracefully as possible.

A man with mechanical tentacles wearing sunglasses

The narrative pretext for all these series-blending shenanigans is charming enough, in a low-stakes teen-movie kind of way. Due to an accompanying whiff of scandal, being outed as Spider-Man hasn’t exactly done wonders for Peter Parker (the excellent Tom Holland). Nor has it boosted the reputations of his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), whose associations with Peter have gotten them rejected from MIT. With bricks flying through the window of the Queens apartment he shares with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, winning as ever), Peter calls on his old friend Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), asking him to cast a spell that will cause the entire world to forget that he’s Spider-Man. Much digitally confected spectacle and human error ensue, and rather than erasing the world’s memory, Doctor Strange winds up accidentally jogging ours.

And so a caper becomes a point of convergence, a nearly 2½-hour reunion special. Amid a jumble of clashing timelines and multiplying meta-paradoxes plotted out by screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (who also wrote “Far From Home”), the familiar faces include a handful of villains from the Tobey Maguire-starring, Sam Raimi-directed trilogy of “Spider-Man” (2002), “Spider-Man 2” (2004) and “Spider-Man 3” (2007), as well as the less fondly remembered Andrew Garfield-starring, Marc Webb-directed duo of “The Amazing Spider-Man” (2012) and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014).

I doubt anyone will be shocked when Willem Dafoe’s snarling Green Goblin arrives, or when Alfred Molina’s metal-tentacled Doc Ock turns up, daring Spider-Man to beat him to a bloody poulpe. My own surprise was entirely genuine when Jamie Foxx resurfaced as Electro, a super-baddie I had completely forgotten about from the misleadingly titled “Amazing Spider-Man 2.”

As I was saying: amnesia. But “No Way Home,” directed by Jon Watts (who also steered “Far From Home” and 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming”), does strive to pull off something memorable, and largely succeeds. It’s rare to see such surreally elaborate narrative gymnastics arise from what is basically a long-running game of corporate tug-of-war. The Spidey custody battle that has ensnared Sony, Disney and Marvel Studios over the years is too tedious to rehash here, but there is something admittedly disarming about the solution that “No Way Home” hits upon. Without saying too much — OK, without saying anything at all — three parallel Spider-Man universes that once were forced to stand apart now get to belatedly salute each other, in a warm, even reconciliatory spirit.

Spider-Man crouches, with metallic spider legs extended.

This exercise — call it the Spidey Variations — may be fan service on a maximalist scale. And it doesn’t have quite the delirious invention of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the 2018 animated feature that made the most of its multiverse-collapsing conceit. Still, it’s nice to feel a persistent human touch amid the otherwise mechanical sound and fury of “No Way Home,” especially during its wobbly, draggy midsection. Bridges rumble and scaffolding crumbles; the Statue of Liberty really should file for hazard pay. Comic relief arrives on cue (hello, Jon Favreau); tragedy strikes without warning. It’s a Spider-Man movie, in other words, and also a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

But while the action ultimately turns as murky as in any Avengers epic, the smug, depersonalized air that often mars those glorified cinematic frat parties is notably absent. And for all “No Way Home’s” vertiginous heights and precipitous drops, few things here shake you more fully than the anguished closeups of Holland, in which Peter’s genetically modified strength — and his all-too-human vulnerability — are on tear-soaked, grime-smudged display.

Holland was only 19 when he landed this role (he made his scene-stealing first appearance in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War”). And while his Peter has always seemed younger than predecessors Maguire and Garfield, what united the three of them was a fundamental sweetness, an immutable sense of decency. The movies weren’t always great or even particularly good, but the actors kept you watching. Maguire put the most distinctive stamp on the character, his awkward, wide-eyed charm aided by the freshness and pop energy of Raimi’s direction. Garfield had a rougher time of it, being the standout element of a rudderless middle-child cycle that felt more commercially motivated than any of its brethren, and that’s saying a lot.

Holland’s task hasn’t been much easier. Like his predecessors, he’s an enormously likable screen presence, which has been crucial to making this third go-round with Spider-Man feel like more than just another retread. That’s no small thing, since every Spidey cycle must essentially trace the same arc, hit the same beats and rites of passage: the loneliness and isolation of superheroism, the all-too-relatable challenges of teenagerdom, the bittersweet ache of young love, the pain of sudden, irreversible loss. When someone here intones, “With great power comes great responsibility,” it’s with a wry awareness of how often those words have been spoken before, and how often they’ll likely be spoken again. The poignant (and ultimately spoiler-proof) achievement of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is that, for the moment at least, it leaves you considering that prospect with more affection than fatigue.

****EXCLUSIVE**DO NOT USE-HOLIDAY SNEAKS 2021-Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures' SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME.

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Review: 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' is a refreshing blast of visiting baddies and second chances

It’s not just jampacked “Avengers” movies that get to be dimension-hopping, mega-action epics with tons of surprise characters. Now fans can expect that in films featuring the Marvel Cinematic Universe ’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

No matter if he’s fighting a street-level foe like the Vulture or a cosmic villain such as Thanos , Tom Holland ’s teenage superhero always finds a way to be the ideal underdog, and that happens again in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (★★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters now) as the craziest obstacles get thrown in his direction. (And considering he joined the Avengers and was blipped out of existence for five years, that’s saying something.) Director Jon Watts’ third Spidey film is a rousing entry that doubles as a love letter to the comic book character, a film very much about second chances and a cleverly crafted reminder of that famous adage: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

'Spider-Man': Tom Holland talks 'No Way Home,' FaceTiming Zendaya and his 'interesting life'

“No Way Home” opens by paying off the cliffhanger from 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” : After a climactic fight ends with the death of illusionist Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), 17-year-old high schooler Peter Parker’s secret identity as Spider-Man is revealed to the world by DailyBugle.net Internet conspiracy theorist J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, again in the role he was born to play). Almost immediately, the lives of Peter, his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) are upended by pesky media swarming his Queens apartment, authorities threatening charges and JJJ’s public propaganda machine labeling Peter a “web-headed war criminal.”

'Spider-Man: No Way Home' premiere: See Zendaya and Tom Holland rock the red carpet

Suffice it to say, Peter’s senior year could be starting off better, and going viral in the worst way now threatens Peter and his friends’ dreams of attending MIT together. The young hero seeks out magical bud Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ), who can conjure a spell to make everybody forget that Peter is a superhero. But when Peter realizes his loved ones won’t know he’s Spidey, he inadvertently tampers with the frazzled Strange’s conjuring mojo, resulting in supervillains from other universes showing up in Peter’s reality.

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Peter, MJ and Ned are tasked by Strange to “Scooby-Doo” the problem of guys like Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) from the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” movies as well as Electro (Jamie Foxx) from the Andrew Garfield “Amazing” Spider-era. The youngsters' ambitious plan unfolds with a lot of do-gooding, trippy magic, quirky humor, a little heartbreak and various clever ways of bringing together the larger Marvel universe.

But as sprawling as this thing gets, “No Way Home” satisfyingly concludes Watts’ trilogy that started with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Sure, there was the odd evil dad and summer trip gone wrong, yet the core of those movies was Peter trying to figure out how to be a kid and a superhero at the same time – and usually failing before learning a deeper lesson. Watts maintains that aspect as a constant in the new film, thereby grounding all of the grand MCU-ness in a relatable universality even as Spidey meets the business end of Doc Ock’s tentacles and has Pumpkin Bombs thrown at his head by Green Goblin.

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There are many welcome returns in “No Way Home” – most of which you need to see for yourself, true believers! – but watching Dafoe revel in having another chance as Spidey’s insane archenemy from the comics is a heavenly treat, while a second time’s undoubtedly the charm for Foxx’s Electro. The film’s heart and soul, though – as was the case for the past two movies – is Holland, who lends his dazzling enthusiasm to Spidey yet shows new grit and gravitas.

"No Way Home" turns out to be a bit of a Christmas movie as well, with an intriguing “It’s a Wonderful Life”-esque vibe giving new perspective to its central character. It's a quintessential Spider-Man film that pays homage to the past, checks off all the necessary Marvel boxes and still manages to spin together something refreshing.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home Review

15 Dec 2021

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Let's go back for a moment to a scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home . No, not the one where J. Jonah Jameson appears in the very-welcome form of J.K. Simmons . (Though that is obviously relevant.) But the scene where Mysterio talks about there being a multiverse, spinning a story about being a hero from another dimension. It was a tease, of course (Mysterio was bullshitting), but while it gave a sneaky wink to the spectacularly animated Into The Spider-Verse , it also deliberately sowed a seed.

One which sprouted to entertaining effect in the recent Loki TV series, before finally realising its full (Marvel) cinematic (Universe) potential here, in Far From Home ’s much hyped and rumour-laden sequel. Whether you've figured out what's coming, or are taken totally by surprise by some of its, er, surprises, we're happy to report that the result is crowd-pleasing in all the best possible ways.

As you'll know from the trailers, thanks to a spell-gone-sideways, No Way Home brings back almost all the villains from the pre-MCU movies. Which, with the help of Marvel's de-aging magic, solves the problem of how a new film would cast better than Willem Dafoe as Spider-Man ’s Green Goblin (who wisely ditches the Power Rangers mask early on), or the mighty Alfred Molina as Spider-Man 2 ’s Doctor Octopus. But, in keeping with the previous Jon Watts films, the joy of seeing them all returned is less felt in the action sequences — which occasionally become crowded and confusing with all the lightning and sand and pumpkin bombs — than it is in the sparky, snappy dialogue. At one point, it's almost like an above average SNL sketch: Spidey's various foes all gathering together to snipe and compare notes.

However, there is far more to the movie than wittily executed fan service. While it piles the villainy and jeopardy high, it doesn't neglect the series' heart: Tom Holland 's Peter, and his ongoing struggle to do the right thing by his friends and family, even though doing so invariably seems to make things worse. Holland has never been more affecting in the role, or guided Peter through such a battering, as the poor kid ping-pongs between finding solutions and creating problems — much to the annoyance of Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ), who doesn't so much step into Tony Stark's mentor shoes as play the exasperated foil. There are serious consequences, too. This isn't just a light-hearted knockabout. No Way Home has a massive emotional blow to deliver.

Crucially, this is a story about second chances. After Mysterio's parting revelation, Peter, MJ ( Zendaya ), Ned ( Jacob Batalon ) and May's ( Marisa Tomei ) lives are turned into a news-feed nightmare, and sweet Peter's efforts to fix that pop open the aforementioned can of baddie worms. It's here that the theme of second chances gets really interesting. Why should only our hero have a second chance? Why not also, Peter reasons, all these damaged "multiversal trespassers", driven to criminality by manufactured schizophrenia, errant mutagens, or crossed nanowires?

As crazy-meta as the narrative gets, it always keeps its characters up front.

Just below the surface, the idea is nudged a little further. With the dimensional doors opened to the older movies, the films themselves are almost given a second chance, too; an opportunity to do-over, or at least address, some of their plotting missteps.

No Way Home is, if you step back and think about it, a bloody weird and audacious movie. Yet as crazy-meta as the narrative gets, it always keeps its characters up front, with some dynamic and, at times, truly heart-warming interplay between the established players and their interdimensional guests.

Sure, the climactic showdown on the Statue of Liberty feels very familiar ( X-Men , anyone?), but it also serves up at least one punch-the-air moment that will have audiences whooping like they did when Thor rocked up at Wakanda in Infinity War , or Cap caught Mjolnir in Endgame . Indeed, No Way Home is the closest the MCU has come to the heights of those two films since Iron Man Snapped Thanos away. And for all its epic heft, it somehow stays neighbourhood and friendly. Which also helps make it, in a very real sense, the ultimate Spider-Man movie.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home review -- an impossible triumph

Tom Holland's latest Marvel romp will be hard to beat (until Across the Spider-Verse comes along next year).

Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards

Zendaya and Tom Holland swing into action in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

If you thought this was going to be the biggest Spider-Man movie ever, you might be right. With at least five villains, rumors of returning Spider-Men, a record-breaking trailer and the concept of the multiverse opening it all up, Spider-Man: No Way Home plays just about every trump card it has to claim the title of next Avengers: Endgame .

For the most part, everything works. Just make sure you've seen all the previous Spider-Man movies. Despite an inevitably tangled web of characters, backstories and motivations, No Way Home manages a surprisingly tidy plot if you understand where each player comes from. Watch Spider-Man's back-catalog and you'll be in the know as to why the people at the back of the theater are cheering at any given moment.

And if you're not intimately acquainted with two decades of previous Spider-Man films? If you're here for simply a well-oiled and entertaining Marvel (and Sony ) flick, you won't be disappointed. You might not fully appreciate the scale of what's essentially the live-action equivalent of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, aka the best (or second-best) Spider-Man movie ever . But you'll be treated to likeable heroes with relatable character development; slick, dynamic actions scenes; weird, wacky humor; high stakes; powerful emotional punches; and at least one incredible one-liner, delivered by Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) of all people.

Basically, this is the Tom Holland Spider-Man movie that feels most like the previous Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield installments. Director Jon Watts deals with real consequences, a darker tone in general and a recognizable New York setting (with a few Marvel Cinematic Universe touches). In other words, the third Holland entry truly makes up for the filler that was Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch)

The basic premise sees Peter Parker deal with the fallout of events right at the end of Far From Home. His secret identity is known to the public, combined with the small (fabricated) detail that he murdered Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Now, with a savage media after him, fronted by the glorious (but underused) J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), Peter must adjust to a difficult existence chased into the uncomfortable spotlight of the public eye.

If you gathered this plot point from the record-breaking trailer, you could argue it isn't reason enough to warrant Peter's next decision: going to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and requesting the sorcerer cast a spell that reverses everything back to normal. This idea begins as sweet hijinks in keeping with the John Hughes-influenced high school fun 'n' games of Holland's first two outings. But what follows is a surprising, expectations-toying spectacle with a deeper thematic heft.

Electro, Sandman and The Lizard.

Marvel advertised the inclusion of returning villains, including the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church) and The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). Maybe this was to warn you to study up on their backstories . Only one or two lines are provided to explain why each villain reacts in they way they do to a storyline that plunges them in a different universe.

Doctor Octopus.

The standouts are the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Thanks to Marvel's digital de-aging technology, Dafoe and Molina mostly look like they did nearly two decades ago when they appeared in Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man trilogy -- mostly, because sometimes it looks like an Instagram beauty filter has been placed strategically over certain parts of the screen.

The visual effects in general have been parceled out and tapered down, so that we don't have to sift through the effects-heavy murk-storm of Far From Home. The action scenes, featuring hand-to-hand combat, feel more practical and visceral. Grittier, sweatier, bloodier. A first-person perspective straps you in for a dizzying ride with Spider-Man swinging from A to B. Small details, such as Peter using his webs to grab things around Aunt May's apartment, add welcome charm and color. This time, Peter also exercises his Spidey senses, so that the often-joked-about "Peter tingle" is now a real asset -- one that we can finally feel too, via sound effects and a close-up on Holland's face.

A sequence with Doctor Strange is not only trippy and eye-popping, but it gives Peter a chance to use his other superpower: his brain. Holland's iteration, while younger than the previous two, rarely has the opportunities to utilize this less-flashy asset. A scientific prodigy in the comics , Holland's on-screen version verged on being painted as a frustratingly naive and gullible athlete. But this time around, he fares much better (though Spidey's trademark quips, apart from one scene with Doc Ock, are still sorely lacking).

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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, forcing Peter to discover what it trul... Read all 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, forcing Peter to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man. 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, forcing Peter to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

Chris McKenna
Erik Sommers
Tom Holland
Benedict Cumberbatch
6.1K User reviews
437 Critic reviews
71 Metascore
35 wins & 71 nominations total

Peter Parker …

Doctor Strange

Happy Hogan

Max Dillon …

Norman Osborn …

Dr. Otto Octavius …

Flash Thompson

Betty Brant

Agent Cleary

MIT Assistant Vice Chancellor

Coach Wilson

Mr. Harrington
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Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Trivia Benedict Cumberbatch admitted to not reading the full script, wanting to surprise himself with the final product.
Goofs (at around 13 mins) When Peter goes back to his high school and walks up the stairs, there is a mural behind him. Part of the mural contains a chemical structure, however, one of the carbons has five bonds. This is impossible as carbons cannot exceed four bonds.

Matt Murdock : You may have dodged your legal troubles but things will get much worse. There's still the court of public opinion.

[Matt catches a brick thrown through the window]

Peter Parker : How did you just do that?

Matt Murdock : I'm a really good lawyer.

Crazy credits SPOILER: There is a scene in the closing credits: Eddie Brock and Venom from the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters are talking with a bartender. When the multiverse is restored, Brock and Venom are re-transported back to their universe, leaving a bit of symbiote behind.
an introduction by Holland, Maguire, and Garfield
additional scenes of Parker and May being interrogated by the Department of Damage Control
the scene with Holland's brother Harry as a thief that was cut from the original release
additional scenes of Parker at school; Brant interviewing Parker, his teachers, and his classmates
Daily Bugle reports of Parker's first day back at school and the arrivals of Dillon and Marko
additional scenes in the basement of the New York Sanctum
a scene featuring May, Parker, and the villains in an elevator while on the way to Hogan's apartment
an additional scene with Murdock and Hogan
additional scenes of the three Parkers
new post-credits scene of showing how Peter Parker has been erased from history in a new edition of "Betty's Corner with Betty Brant" begins playing that recaps their high school years with all the footage and pictures missing Peter.
Connections Edited from Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Soundtracks I Zimbra Written by David Byrne and Brian Eno Performed by Talking Heads Courtesy of Sire Records By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 6.1K

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Dec 15, 2021
How long is Spider-Man: No Way Home? Powered by Alexa
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December 17, 2021 (United States)
United States
Official site
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Columbia Pictures
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$200,000,000 (estimated)
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$260,138,569
Dec 19, 2021
$1,921,847,111

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Movie Reviews

A review of 'spider-man: no way home' with as few spoilers as possible.

Bob Mondello

Marvel's latest superhero film, Spider-Man: No Way Home finds its hero battling foes he thought he'd already vanquished.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

If advance ticket sales are any indication, the film "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is about to have the biggest opening of any Hollywood film since before the pandemic. The Marvel superhero epic has been shrouded in secrecy, and our critic Bob Mondello has promised us he will not pierce that shroud in his review.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: It's not every superhero I'm inclined to feel sorry for, but Spidey has been through a lot. In his last movie, he went to London on a high school trip to get away from all the Avengers drama. And rather than just getting to hang out with his pal Ned and with MJ, the girl he's sweet on, he had a supervillain reveal something that, as this film begins, pretty much destroys his shot at a normal life.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME")

J K SIMMONS: (As J. Jonah Jameson) That's right, folks. Spider-Man is, in fact, Peter Parker.

MONDELLO: Good luck with senior year after that, especially with this media troll weighing in.

SIMMONS: (As J. Jonah Jameson) People looked up to this boy and called him a hero. Well, I'll tell you what I call him - public enemy No. 1.

MONDELLO: And it's not just Spidey's problem. MJ and Ned are pulled in, too, just for being associated with him. What to do? Maybe seek help from wizard Doctor Strange.

TOM HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) When Mysterio revealed my identity, my entire life got screwed up. I was wondering if maybe you could make it so that he never did.

MONDELLO: Doctor Strange agrees. But as he starts to cast a spell, golden runes spinning in the air, Peter realizes what it is he's asked for.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: (As Doctor Strange) Nice knowing you, Spider-Man.

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) Excuse me.

MONDELLO: (As Doctor Strange) The entire world is about to forget that Peter Parker's Spider-Man.

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) Everyone. Can't some people still know?

CUMBERBATCH: (As Doctor Strange) That's not how the spell works.

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) So my girlfriend's just going to forget about everything we've been through. I mean, is she even going to be my girlfriend?

CUMBERBATCH: (As Doctor Strange) All right, fine. Everyone in the world is going to forget that you're Spider-Man except your girlfriend.

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) Thank you so much - oh, my God, Ned.

CUMBERBATCH: (As Doctor Strange) OK.

MONDELLO: You see where this is headed. He remembers Aunt May, and those golden runs that were spinning so prettily start sparking and shuddering. And though Strange thinks he's contained the damage, turns out not so much.

CUMBERBATCH: (As Doctor Strange) When you botched that spell where you wanted everyone to forget that Peter Parker's Spider-Man, we started getting some visitors from every universe.

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) The multiverse is real.

MONDELLO: Not the point, but yeah, which allows director John Watts to conjure up mirror dimension landscapes that don't have a lot to do with the three dimensions we're accustomed to as well as to take advantage of an odd wrinkle in the Spider-Verse - that the series has basically started over every time they recast the hero - first Tobey Maguire, then Andrew Garfield and now Tom Holland. So when multiverse portals open up, they can admit bad guys who've had beefs with the previous Spider-Men but that this Spider-Man has never encountered.

ALFRED MOLINA: (As Otto Octavius) Hello, Peter.

MONDELLO: Doc Ock, for instance.

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) Do I know you?

MOLINA: (As Otto Octavius) You're not Peter Parker.

MONDELLO: If I counted right, four other supervillains follow his lead, some of whom I confess I'd forgotten...

SIMMONS: (As J. Jonah Jameson) Was that a dinosaur?

MONDELLO: ...At which point the film gets seriously meta in ways that I can talk about - say, dealing with the weight of heroic choices - and also in entertaining ways that will make fans' Spidey senses tingle but that I cannot talk about without spoiling surprises. We can debate some other time the wisdom of studio-promoted spoiler avoidance, but happily, surprise isn't the only thing "No Way Home" has going for it. The writing's clever. The relatability that's long made Spider-Man movies a cut above is in overdrive. And some six years and five movies in...

HOLLAND: (As Peter Parker) Can we just, like, stay up here all day? It is so crazy down there.

MONDELLO: ...Tom Holland's Peter Parker still has a sweet vulnerability to him, his tear-streaked face an emotional special effect easily as powerful as the film's digital ones. What prompts the tears? That I can't talk about. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Review: Hero Wrestles with Place in Universe in Emotional, Unsteady Sequel

Kate erbland, editorial director.

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There’s little question that diving deep into the psyches of superheroes can render some dark finds (hell, Batman has turned that into a signature move over the course of numerous film franchises and television series, and that’s just one bat-eared dude), but the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s treatment of the state of young Spider-Man’s ( Tom Holland ) soul has continually added fresh dimension to an ever-expanding franchise. Spidey has always been an emotional dude — baseline biographical bits like “is just a teen when that damn spider bites him” and “is orphan” help that along with ease — but Holland’s appealingly wide-eyed superhero has spent a number of movies grounding wild action in a human frame. Being a superhero is both hard and lots of fun, and few MCU heroes have been able to quite so ably strike that balance in the midst of world-destroying action sequences.

Not so with this Peter Parker. The most believable on-screen Spidey — which is not to say that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield didn’t bring their own special sauce to their individual Spider-Man franchises, cough cough — Holland’s take on the webslinger has always felt like the most human, the most real, the most “holy wow, I’m a superhero!” version of this beloved character. Which also means we’ve seen this Peter Parker in some pretty tough spots — his bond with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man is some of the most darling stuff to pop up in the MCU, obviously its end was tear-streaked — and that we’re inevitably going to end up in some deep, dark places.

And that’s not where Jon Watts ‘ satisfying, emotional, and occasionally unsteady “ Spider-Man: No Way Home ” begins. The third film in the franchise picks up immediately after 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” and finds Holland at his grinning Peter Parker best: in love with a girl (Zendaya, continually a scene-stealer as the sarcastic MJ). Yeah, yeah, yeah, “Far from Home” might have ended with the death of a secret baddie (Jake Gyllenhaal, who appears in flashback footage) and forced Peter to really start grappling with his place in the world, but it also wrapped up with Peter and MJ both together and totally honest with each other. What could possibly go wrong now that the girl he loves knows who he is?

How about the whole world knowing who he is? As hinted at during the end of “Far from Home,” Peter’s identity is almost immediately disclosed at the start of “No Way Home” — big thanks to returning franchise star J.K. Simmons, who brings new life into a very current incarnation of loud-mouthed journalist J. Jonah Jameson, who he last played in the Tobey Maguire-starring Spidey films — turning his entire existence upside down in the process. And yet Watts somehow manages to keep this revelation feeling light, as Peter, MJ, Ned (Jacob Batalon), Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) soon band together to keep Peter’s life feeling, well, sort of normal. There’s even a scene in which he heads back to high school for his senior year, and an early focus on ensuring the Midtown High trio all get into college. (College! The stakes are college ! In a superhero movie!)

For far too long, the fate of the entire universe has dangled in the balance during Marvel’s many cinematic outings, and while “No Way Home” goes so far as to add in multiverses and the possibility that the very “fabric of reality” will forever tear, there’s still something charmingly small-scale about this film. It’s personal , and that’s a theme and an idea that is only further hammered home as the film zips through its first act, starts to slow down in its second, and completely nails the whole damn thing by its eye-popping final forty minutes.

Rumors about not just the content, but the actual cast of the film have long abounded, and while we won’t confirm or deny anything here, suffice it to say that the film is filled with both familiar faces and surprising additions. The real trick, however, is that even bits that might, in a lesser film, feel like stunt-casting here exist in true service to the story. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has rarely balked at throwing in a winking cameo whenever the chance arises, but “No Way Home” is the rare MCU film to actually make them count, baking them straight into the story at hand.

So, back to the college thing: Peter is dismayed to discover that his newly-ousted superhero personality is something of a liability, particularly as J. Jonah Jameson, a rumor-spewing internet talking head who has (sadly) many real world parallels, is hellbent on making people think that Spidey is the bad guy. All that attention isn’t so great for a trio of eggheads who want to get into MIT, and when Peter, MJ, and Ned are all rejected explicitly because of their Spidey-tivities, Peter comes up with a genius plan: he’ll just get Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast some kind of spell to make people forget that he’s Spider-Man.

But Peter is indeed still a kid, and an impulsive one at that, and even when he gets the sorcerer to agree to the wish, his last-minute caveats (wait, did he say he wants everyone to forget? no, not everyone! ) screw so badly with the spell that the whole thing has to be shut down. But magic is a weird thing, and so is the multiverse, and the nutty power cooked up by Doctor Strange works itself out in wacky, scary, and (sorry) strange new ways. Let’s put it this way: even with the spell cut short, ensuring that no one has forgotten that Peter is Spider-Man, its reach is wide enough to ensnare a special class of people, the kind of people who know few things as well as they know that Peter is Spider-Man.

Soon, Peter’s universe is overwhelmed with new friends and foes, including a few who have long been hinted at in marketing and interviews (hello, Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina, reprising roles as signature baddies from those other Spider-Man series), and a few pleasant surprises. And while that franchise-spanning combination has been what’s kept so many fans thrilled about what “No Way Home” might hold, things start to stall out a bit when Peter and his pals attempt to wrangle up the many ( many ) baddies he and his pals need to battle. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers’ script spends far too long dwelling on the machinations of people and plans we already know, throwing in some awkward misdirection and simply delaying the inevitable. The pacing suffers, and that wonderful lightness that kicked off the film soon swings between something still wackier and the kind of deep despair this particular Peter has already endured.

Similarly, the film’s many fighting sequences run the gamut, starting off with an overpass-set battle in broad daylight that’s awe-inspiring and a jaunt through the Mirror Universe with Doctor Strange that out-“Matrix”es “The Matrix,” before dipping into a messy series of battles — so very many of them set at night — that are bland and dark, even when Foxx’s Electro is there to literally light the place up. At least it all leads to the film’s final act, a truly joyful (and often funny and wise and emotional) tour de force that will delight fans, both new and old, of the varied adventures of their Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Somehow both self-reflexive (sometimes, even self-mocking) and deadly earnest, these final sections combine so much of what makes Spider-Man special, across movies and times and places and even universes .

It also lays the groundwork for more adventures to come, even if the very past itself will look very different by the time the credits roll. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not always willing to get really risky — particularly in standalone features that will undoubtedly impact the rest of the slate — but “No Way Home” isn’t scared of throwing down an entirely new gauntlet, with a truly reverential eye to the past, and hoping for a new future worth fighting for. The road to the closing moments of “No Way Home” — both warm-hearted and heartbreaking — might have hit a few bumps, but the darkness is worth it. After all, when was the last time the third film in a franchise got audiences truly thrilled for what comes next? Maybe there is no way home, but Holland, Watts, and company make a case for something else, something even better.

Sony will release “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in theaters on Friday, December 17.

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Spider-man: no way home, common sense media reviewers.

Fun, funny, touching Spidey sequel has comic book violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Core message comes from Aunt May, who believes tha

Spider-Man/Peter remains heroic and brave but impu

Main characters (and most characters) are White ma

Lots of comic book-style fighting and peril, with

Brief sex-related dialogue when Aunt May finds a s

A character says, "what the ffff." A few uses of "

Lego toys -- including Lego Star Wars toys -- show

In a scene during the end credits, a Marvel charac

Positive Messages

Core message comes from Aunt May, who believes that everyone deserves a second chance, that people who have means should help others who don't. Also argues that good deeds last forever because they inspire others. Theme about how revenge doesn't solve anything, only creating more bad feelings and regret. MJ's theory is "expect disappointment, and that way you won't be disappointed," but she learns to hope for the best. "With great power comes great responsibility" is here too, in a big way.

Positive Role Models

Spider-Man/Peter remains heroic and brave but impulsive, sometimes rushing into things without thinking them through and making mistakes along the way. Ned is a supportive, loyal best friend. Most female characters (Aunt May, MJ, Maria, Betty) remain in important but still supporting roles.

Diverse Representations

Main characters (and most characters) are White males, but cast has a wide range of diversity in supporting roles, with characters representing a wide range of cultures, backgrounds, and body types. Girls and women are important to the story and have agency but are not in lead roles.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Lots of comic book-style fighting and peril, with characters getting slammed and bashed around, falling from high places, etc. Punching, choking, kicking. Explosions. An important character dies. Heroes briefly attempt to kill villains. Destruction of property. Bloody cuts and scrapes. Brief guns and shooting. Brief jump scare.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Brief sex-related dialogue when Aunt May finds a shirtless Peter alone with MJ and assumes, wrongly, that they were preparing for sex. Kissing. A character is said to be "nekkid" after reverting from energy to human form, but he's only shown from the chest up.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A character says, "what the ffff." A few uses of "s--t," several uses of "ass" and "hell," uses of "damn," "butt." Exclamations "oh my God," "God," "goddamn," "good God" and "oh God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Lego toys -- including Lego Star Wars toys -- shown more than once. UPS truck briefly shown. M&Ms candies shown. Part of the vast MCU franchise, which has tons of off-screen product tie-ins and merchandise available.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

In a scene during the end credits, a Marvel character is seen at a bar, declaring that they are "drunk."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland and the 27th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It's fun, funny, exciting, suspenseful, surprising, and very moving and is sure to please Spidey fans. Violence includes a lot of comic book-style fighting and peril, with characters getting slammed and bashed around, falling from high places, etc. There's punching, choking, kicking, explosions, bloody cuts and scrapes, and brief guns and shooting. Characters die (one death is particularly sad), and lives are threatened. There's also brief sex-related dialogue, kissing, and nongraphic partial nudity. Language includes uses of "s--t" and "ass," and a character says "what the ffff." Characters learn from their mistakes and demonstrate perseverance, and messages revolve around the importance of second chances, helping those in need, the lasting impact of doing good deeds, and, of course, the connection between power and responsibility. Note: An extended cut of the film released as Spider-Man: No Way Home - The More Fun Stuff Version has content beyond what's covered by this review. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (64)
Kids say (315)

Based on 64 parent reviews

What's the Story?

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME picks up moments after the ending of Far from Home , in which J. Jonah Jameson ( J.K. Simmons ) revealed Spider-Man's secret identity to the world. This bombshell upends the lives of Peter Parker ( Tom Holland ), MJ ( Zendaya ), and Ned ( Jacob Batalon ), even resulting in their applications to MIT getting rejected. Peter decides to go see Doctor Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) and ask for a spell. There is one, but it will cause everyone to forget who Peter is; it would be as if he'd never existed. While they attempt to modify the spell to exclude Peter's loved ones, things spin out of control. Before long, supervillains from alternate universes descend upon Spider-Man's world, and his hands are full. He's going to need some help.

Is It Any Good?

This Spider-Man sequel has all the necessary ingredients for a top-notch superhero movie, including hilarity and heart, action and anxiousness, and some happy surprises. There's so much in Spider-Man: No Way Home to try not to spoil, but, given that the three Tom Holland Spidey movies all play on the word "home," even the title holds some clues. At its core, the movie is about families (including the "found families" we make along the way), doing the right thing, and helping out. Peter makes a most unusual decision in the story, steering away from what might be the "normal" choice in a comic book story and choosing something more unconventional, perhaps even uncinematic, because it's the right thing to do.

Yet the filmmakers don't let things get preachy or self-righteous. There's plenty of time for some of the funniest bits of dialogue in any of the Marvel movies so far, as well as moments of undeniable warmth between characters who've become so soothingly familiar. Unsurprisingly, Spider-Man: No Way Home is also technically superb, with exhilarating effects sequences, expert cinematography, and a breathless music score. (It's still a little untidy here and there and can't quite reach the dazzling perfection of the thematically similar Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , but what can?) Overall, this 27th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels in some way like part of a great Spider-Man TV show, built on characters we really care about, whose trials and tribulations are truly affecting.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Spider-Man: No Way Home 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Who are the role models in Spider-Man: No Way Home ? In addition to courage , what other character strengths do they display? What does Peter learn about himself and his role as a superhero?

Is it true that good deeds can live on and inspire others? Can you think of any examples?

How do you feel about the idea of the multiverse? If you could meet someone from an alternate universe, who would it be? What would you expect?

What would you want to see in another Spider-Man sequel? For those familiar with the previous Spider-Man installments: Which Spider-Man series is your favorite? How about which Spider-Man actor, and why?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 17, 2021
On DVD or streaming : April 12, 2022
Cast : Tom Holland , Zendaya , Benedict Cumberbatch
Director : Jon Watts
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors, Multiracial actors
Studios : Columbia Pictures , Sony Pictures Releasing
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Superheroes
Character Strengths : Courage
Run time : 148 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : sequences of action/violence, some language and brief suggestive
Award : Common Sense Selection
Last updated : January 30, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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THE MOVIE CULTURE

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Movie Review & Summary: A Mega Mashup of Colossal Events

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third instalment in the MCU Spider-Man saga, directed by Jon Watts. It follows Dr. Strange and Spider-Man who try to make the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Cast

Tom Holland as Peter Parker
Zendaya as MJ
Jacob Batalon as Ned
Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange

Spider-Man: No Way Home Plot

Spider-Man: No Way Home revolves around Peter Parker who struggles to confront the world when everyone is aware of his identity.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Review

Spider-Man: No Way Home is one mega mashup of colossal events which stitched the saga of this iconic superhero, through different universes, franchisees and talented actors. There’s no wonder that this was the most logical step for Marvel to go forward with, but even after all the speculation, build up, hype and god knows how many personal theories, this still very much feels like something truly out of the extraordinary.

It packs so much heart and soul, and even with all of these different Spider-Man Villains coming together, it never loses attention to the fact that the character they really need to focus on is Peter Parker (Played by Tom Holland). The movie is an exceptional attempt at pushing him back to his roots, snatching the out worldly glamour that MCU always showered the character with, and bringing back the gritty realism and humanity that the source material was always known and loved for.

Getting into the plot of this movie is like taking a walk on an extremely fragile ice sheet, and even when this movie has officially released worldwide today, there’s so much that still can’t be talked about, not until the vast majority of the world has gotten a chance to experience it. So like the usual gimmick, I will ramble about the trailer and the colossal amount of villains it introduced from all the live-action universes.

It’s so beautiful to see antagonists like Otto Octavious, Green Goblin & Electro be back on screen with an actual depth to their character. This was a prevalent fear in my mind that their introductions were going to play out as mere cameos, but the fact that each of the villains actually goes through significant development throughout the course of the movie is so refreshing.

Spider-Man: No Way Home also takes the huge risk of bringing back some of the lesser-known villains of this universe, and I say that is a risk because of how it could have potentially brought down some of the key iconic moments. But that’s where the prioritization of the script takes a hold and Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus takes the cake in terms of screen time and arc.

Peter Parker and his entire character in the MCU was always the embodiment of this messy teenager who upheld his moral standards while also making mistakes from time to time. But the maturity of every decision he takes this time feels like it has major consequences.

The movie has been called dark many times, but I wouldn’t nearly call it as dark as the Amazing Spider-Man series. And that honestly works so well. With each villain comes consequences which were purely the actions of Peter Parker. He wanted everyone to forget that he is Spider-Man but it’s his inability that paves way for this huge amalgam of fan service moments.

Yes, this Spider-Man No Way Home has the most blatant fanservice moments I have seen in a long long time. It’s clearly not trying to put any of those moments in a way which feels subtle which did feel a bit forced a lotta times. But the fact that they were able to accomplish something this big, with so much scope is in itself such a big feat that a lot of these inconsistencies don’t hinder the experience at all.

From Green Goblin wooing the audience with a fan favourite dialogue, to a hilariously ridiculous and heartwarming “chiropractor” session, I was in awe, unable to believe all that was going in front of me. It all felt like a fever dream and honestly, everyone in the audience were just glad that they are getting to experience this in their lifetime of loving and caring about the web slinger.

To Summarise in the most non-spoilery way possible, its a grand summation of events which makes us feel rewarded for the patience and affection we poured into this character, his friends, his struggles and his morals. It is no doubt tragic and it pushes our Spider-Man back to what he always did the best, being the friendly neighbourhood superhero.

The Movie Culture Synopsis

I am, for the first time in a long time, genuinely excited to see where he goes from here and I can only hope Marvel does find a way to continue his adventures, especially after they have induced so much potential in this franchise by familiarizing us with a version of Spider-Man which is more mature than he ever was.

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Spider-man: no way home totally changes 5 mcu villain stories.

Spider-Man: No Way Home brought five past villains to the MCU, and it not only changed their stories in their universes but also in the MCU.

Spider-Man: No Way Home integrated 5 villain stories, changing their fates for the better.
Holland's Spider-Man now knows the villains' secret identities, giving him new insights.
The MCU should explore the potential of the cured villains and their dynamics with Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: No Way Home was a major game-changer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , more so in Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) history, and it changed five villain stories, which could make for some interesting storylines in the near future. After some obstacles with the character’s rights, the MCU was finally able to make Peter Parker/Spider-Man part of its universe thanks to a deal with Sony, which also lets him be part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Spider-Man is now one of the MCU’s most popular characters, and he was at the front and center of a multiversal adventure in Spider-Man: No Way Home .

In a desperate effort to regain some anonymity and for his friends and family’s protection, Peter asked Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell, but it opened the gates of the multiverse. This allowed five villains from past Spider-Man movies to cross over into the MCU, and at the end of No Way Home , Peter had no option but to ask Strange to cast a spell that would make everyone forget him. All the attention is now on Peter’s future as no one remembers him, but No Way Home did so much more, like changing the stories of five villains.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Redefines MCU Post-Credits Scenes

Spider-man: no way home changes how holland's hero looks at 5 mcu heroes, holland’s spider-man met 5 popular villains in no way home.

Tom Holland’s Peter got to know these villains quite well, which obviously includes learning their secret identities.

Spider-Man: No Way Home confirmed that Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man movies are part of the MCU’s multiverse, and it did so with the presence of five villains. Thanks to Strange’s botched spell, the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and Lizard (Rhys Ifans) arrived at the MCU ready to confront Spider-Man, and were surprised to see he wasn’t the Peter Parker they knew. However, instead of fighting them, Holland’s Spider-Man decided to find a cure for all of them .

Peter first succeeded with Doctor Octopus, but the Green Goblin triggered chaos that Peter was only able to contain with the help of his variants, Peter-Two (Tobey Maguire) and Peter-Three (Andrew Garfield). By the end of No Way Home , all these villains had been cured and were sent back to their respective universes completely restored. Throughout this process, Holland’s Peter got to know these villains quite well, which obviously includes learning their secret identities. By curing them, Peter changed their stories in their respective universes, but also how he would see them if he met them in the MCU.

The MCU Can Flip How Spider-Man Approaches Many Of His Biggest Villains

No way home made way for many opportunities for spider-man.

Spider-Man would now have enough information on these villains to know their origins, real identities, and motivations.

By curing these villains in No Way Home , Holland’s Peter surely saved most, if not all of them, from their tragic fates as seen in their respective movies, but the MCU also changed how Peter would approach these characters. As mentioned above, Peter now knows who they are, what they did before their villainous transformations, what triggered their turn into villains, and how their stories originally ended. This completely changes the way Holland's Spider-Man would interact with them if he were to meet them in the MCU.

Unlike when he faced Vulture, Thanos, and Mysterio, Spider-Man would now have enough information on these villains to know their origins, real identities, and motivations, and that they have a chance at redemption, as he has cured them before. Peter could even try to help them one more time , though this time without the help of Peter-Two and Peter-Three, or, at least, he would have enough knowledge and experience with these villains to know how to handle them and defeat them if he couldn’t help them redeem themselves.

Why The MCU Should Still Have No Way Home's Alternate Universe Villains In The Main Timeline

The mcu can give them a new chance.

The MCU is a completely different context from Raimi’s trilogy and Webb’s movies, so in a way, they would be getting a fresh start.

Having the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro, and Lizard back in the MCU might feel repetitive after No Way Home , but the MCU should still give them a chance. All these villains had a lot more to offer, but their stories were cut short in their respective movies, but the MCU could give them a new chance. The MCU is a completely different context from Raimi’s trilogy and Webb’s movies, so in a way, they would be getting a fresh start despite having already spent some time there in No Way Home .

No Way Home ’s villains could return post-cure and ally with Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU, thus exploring a completely different side of them that their movies could never and offering Spider-Man a different perspective on whatever they work on together. The villains could also return pre-cure one more time , and instead of allying with Spider-Man, they could aid whatever villain Spider-Man faces, thus continuing the villainous path they started in their original movies. The MCU could still do a lot with Spider-Man: No Way Home ’s villains from alternate universes, but their future is currently unclear.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the trials and tribulations of being a superhero. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asks for help from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) when his identity becomes a problem for the ones he loves. Unfortunately, when the spell goes wrong, Spider-Man will now have to face off with villains such as Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) as Peter finally comes to terms that he can't run from being Spider-Man. Supported by his close friends and help from an unexpected place (or multiverse), Spider-Man will go toe-to-toe with some of the most legendary foes in his storied history.

Tom Holland Says 'We Have a Legacy to Protect' in Brief Spider-Man 4 Update

Swing and a miss..

Movie star Tom Holland has issued a brief update on the will it-won’t it happen Spider-Man 4, insisting everyone involved has “a legacy to protect.”

Speaking to Deadline , Holland said “the best in the business” are working on the story, but suggested nothing will happen “until we’ve cracked it.”

Based on Holland’s comments, the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero actor sounds protective over the Spider-Man films, and with good reason. As he admits: “I owe my life and career to Spider-Man.” The sticking point, it seems, is working out a way to come up with something new, something that isn’t simply a repeat of what’s gone before.

Tom Holland. Image credit: Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic.

Here’s Tom Holland’s quote on Spider-Man 4 in full:

“The simple answer is that I’ll always want to do Spider-Man films. I owe my life and career to Spider-Man. So the simple answer is yes. I’ll always want to do more.

“We have the best in the business working toward whatever the story might be. But until we’ve cracked it, we have a legacy to protect. The third movie was so special in so many ways that we need to make sure we do the right thing.

“This is the first time in this process that I’ve been part of the creative so early. It’s just a process where I’m watching and learning. It’s just a really fun stage for me. Like I said, everyone wants it to happen. But we want to make sure we’re not overdoing the same things.”

Holland’s latest comments echo those he made in November, when he said he won't make another Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man film just for the sake of it . Given the enormous success of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home , which is the seventh highest-grossing film of all time with an incredible $1.922 billion box office, it seems likely that the powers that be will want to push forward with another Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, and co. But it seems fans will have quite the wait before seeing anything on screen.

Until then, perhaps Venom 3 , starring Tom Hardy, will tide fans over. In March, Hardy shared a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of the upcoming sequel , which some took to indicate that the movie picks up immediately after Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Image credit: Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].

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Tom Holland Confirms Spider-Man 4 but Admits It’s Tough To Follow No Way Home

By Vansh Mehra

Spider-Man 4 is on its way, with Tom Holland returning to lead. But Sony and Marvel are taking their time to come up with a perfect story as following Spider-Man: No Way Home with another successful entry is admittedly a tough ask, as per Holland.

Tom Holland says Spider-Man 4 needs to not overdo ‘the same things’

During the third annual Sands International Film Festival, Tom Holland opened up about Spider-Man in an interview with Deadline . When asked if he would be returning as the Web-Slinger, the Cherry actor said, “The simple answer is yes.”

But he also gave a more “complicated answer,” stating that the legacy of No Way Home needs to be protected. About moving forward with Spider-Man 4, he said:

“We have the best in the business working toward whatever the story might be. But until we’ve cracked it, we have a legacy to protect. The third movie was so special in so many ways that we need to make sure we do the right thing.”

The Homecoming star continued:

“This is the first time in this process that I’ve been part of the creative so early. It’s just a process where I’m watching and learning. It’s just a really fun stage for me. Like I said, everyone wants it to happen. But we want to make sure we’re not overdoing the same things.”

With that said, the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield may not be confirmed for Spider-Man 4, as Marvel could be looking to come up with a grounded take on the character next.

The release date and plot of Spider-Man 4 continue to be a mystery. But instead of bringing the other Spider-Men back, other setups from No Way Home could be used. One of those could be an appearance from Daredevil , while the other could be an extension of the Venom-centric post-credits scene.

Vansh is an SEO Contributing Writer for ComingSoon. His passion for cinema and the superhero genre is what turned him into a movie/series analyst. In his spare time, Vansh can be found screaming at his screen while watching cricket matches or binging all sorts of streaming content to brush up on his entertainment knowledge.

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Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man Co-Star Recalls The Whirlwind Of Getting No Way Home Questions When Rumors Swirled Around The Movie

Dane DeHaan recalled when he was asked if he’d return in No Way Home.

When Spider-Man: No Way Home ’s trailer showed the return of fan-favorite villains like Green Goblin, Doc Ock and Electro, the question we had in mind following the promo was whether or not Andrew Garfield would return. He played the web-slinging hero in Marc Webb ’s Amazing Spider-Man movies, but a third movie was scrapped when the Marvel hero moved to the MCU to join the Avengers crew. As we saw the British actor make his return to No Way Home, his Amazing Spider-Man co-star, Dane DeHaan, recalls when he also got a whirlwind of questions if he’d come back too.

As we know Garfield said yes to returning as Spider-Man for No Way Home , there were rumors on if we’d see the return of his nemesis too. Dane DeHaan , who played Harry Osborn/The Green Goblin, spoke to ScreenRant about being given a whirlwind of questions from fans who were making their own theories about his return:

I have no idea what's going on over there. When Andrew was making the latest Spider-Man, I didn't know it was happening, and people kept asking me like, ‘Are you in the Spider-Man movie?’ I was like, ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’

So much happened at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 that was left unfinished. Peter lost the love of his life, and his nemesis Harry Osborn, who'd been jailed at the Ravenscroft Institute, revealed he was forming a new team, which we know as The Sinister Six. But with a third Amazing Spider-Man movie canceled, we had no idea what was to come of Andrew Garfield’s Peter or Harry Osborn for that matter.

When looking back at all of the Spider-Man: No Way Home returning character rumors , we weren’t exactly crossing our fingers with hope that DeHaan’s Green Goblin would return. While the Oppenheimer actor gave a very convincing performance playing Peter’s old friend-turned-foe character, we didn’t have much time with the character for him to feel iconic.

When No Way Home ’s trailer revealed Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin , this was a real treat for fans of the Sam Raimi movies. Norman Osborn performance as Green Goblin makes Spider-Man one of Dafoe’s best movies , and he had a memorable presence in the trilogy as the villain we loved to hate. With Dane DeHaan’s Goblin, he would have needed more movies and development to anticipate his character’s return.

But, there’s no need to feel bad for Dane DeHaan not being asked to reprise the Green Goblin. He actually expressed a disinterest in bringing Harry back . While the Chronicle actor said he would have been open to doing more Amazing Spider-Man movies if the Marc Webb series continued with its original plan, he felt that it’s been a long time since he played the villainous role that he’d want to try something new. As the 38-year-old actor’s newest movies have been biopics like Oppenheimer and Dumb Money, I’d say he’s come a long way since the superhero flick.

With so many iconic characters from the Spider-Man movies making their way into MCU’s No Way Home, Dane DeHaan remembers being flabbergasted when asked if he was coming back as Green Goblin. It seems like Andrew Garfield’s co-star has been completely out of the loop on Marvel news and wasn’t approached about the possibility of returning. On the other hand, it appears like DeHaan is ready to move on to other projects compared to reappearing in the superhero realm again. Y

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Sam Raimi Rumored To Direct Spider-Man: No Way Home Sequel

Director of the original Spider-Man trilogy Sam Raimi is rumored to be in talks to helm the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home sequel. However, there is no official information about when development on the project will start.

According to World of Reel , Raimi is the top contender to direct the next Sony/Marvel Spider-Man movie. Other names in the running include John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein ( Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons ), as well as Jon Favreau ( Iron Man ). Drew Goddard, who directed the 2011 horror comedy Cabin in the Woods, and Justin Lin, who helmed five movies in the Fast and Furious franchise, were previously mentioned but have since signed up for other projects.

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Fans were hoping that Raimi would return for a follow-up to his Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man 3 . However, the director poured cold water on those hopes at WonderCon. "Well, I haven't heard about that yet," he said when asked about teaming up with Maguire for a fourth installment. "I did read that, but I'm not actually working on it yet. I mean, Marvel and Columbia are so successful with current Spider-Man [movies], and the track there, and I don't know that they're going to go back to me."

Raimi Wants To Work With Marvel Again

In a separate interview, Raimi expressed his interest in working with Marvel again, with a strong interest in directing Secret Wars , the seventh installment of the Avengers film series. "I love 90% of the Marvel heroes that I've read in the great Stan Lee Marvel Universe comic books. I would love to work with Marvel again," he said. "They haven't reasonably asked me to. I hope they had a good experience with me. They haven't asked me yet. I hope they do."

I Don't Think We Need That: Kirsten Dunst Responds to Spider-Man 4 Rumors

Spider-Man: No Way Home was a huge commercial success, earning $1.9 billion at the global box office. Discussions about a follow-up began soon after its release. However, Sony's Tom Rothman and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige were rumored to have disagreed about the direction of the plot. Feige wanted to scale back the Multiverse elements to focus on a more grounded story, while Rothman wanted to bring back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective web crawlers.

Although Tom Holland is believed to be "growing wary" of playing Spider-Man, his version of Peter Parker/ Spider-Man has been praised since his first appearance in 2016's Captain America: Civil War . Released in 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Peter Parker completely alone after saving his friends and the multiverse. The actor is expected to reprise his role in the fourth installment alongside Zendaya as MJ .

Source: World of Reel

Marvel's Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books, and has since gone on to appear in multiple movies, television series and video games.

Created by Stan Lee

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Video Game(s) Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man, Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Amazing Spider-Man

Sam Raimi Rumored To Direct Spider-Man: No Way Home Sequel

SPIDER-MAN Director Sam Raimi Rumored To Be In Talks To Helm NO WAY HOME Sequel

Sam Raimi, who helmed the original Spider-Man trilogy, is rumored to be one of the filmmakers in contention to helm Marvel and Sony's No Way Home sequel...

Could the director of the original Spider-Man trilogy return to helm the sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home ?

Sony/Marvel have yet to make an official announcement regarding Spider-Man 4 (as in, the fourth solo movie featuring Tom Holland's take on the wall-crawler), but we know the project is in development, and we now have some more names to add to the list of filmmakers that might be in the mix to take over from Jon Watts.

According to World Of Reel , Sam Raimi ( Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ) is in contention to direct the next Spider-Man movie, and the site has also heard that John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein ( Game Night, Dungeons & Dragons ) and Jon Favreau ( Iron Man ) may be possibilities.

Some fans were hoping Raimi would return to direct a follow-up to his Spider-Man 3 starring Tobey Maguire, so if there is any truth to this and he does sign on, it'll be interesting to see how the news will be received.

Justin Lin - who helmed five of the Fast and Furious movies as well as Star Trek Beyond - and Drew Goddard ( Cabin in the Woods ) were previously mentioned as possible contenders, but they have both boarded other projects since.

Sony's Tom Rothman and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige are rumored to have had some disagreements when it comes to the overall plot, with the latter hoping to scale the Multiverse elements back for a smaller-scale story. Rothman, meanwhile, is said to want to capitalize on No Way Home 's success by bringing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back as their respective takes on Peter Parker.

Holland will, of course, be back as the MCU's Spidey, but the actor is believed to be "growing wary" of playing the iconic hero, so this could be his final time in the red and blue suit.

No Way Home scribes Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are currently working on the script, but we still don't know which of the Wall-Crawler's fearsome foes will be causing problems for Peter and co. Most of Spidey's major bad guys have already been utilized in previous films (Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, etc), but a recent rumor claimed that the still untitled sequel will feature a villain we haven't seen in live-action yet.

What do you make of this rumor? Would you like to see Sam Raimi step behind the camera for Spider-Man 4 - but not his Spider-Man 4? Drop us a comment down below.

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‘Spider-Man’s Re-Release Swings Into Domestic Box Office With Impressive Haul

Every live-action 'Spider-Man' movie is getting a theatrical re-release across eight weeks.

The Big Picture

Spider-Man 's re-release outperformed Shrek 2 on Monday, earning the highest per-theater average of any film currently in theaters.
The 2002 Spider-Man film was a cultural touchstone, grossing over $400 million domestically, making it the second-biggest in the live-action series.
Sony plans to release several Spider-Man films, including the 2002 original, as part of their "Spider-Mondays" festival in the coming weeks.

In a rather unusual turn of events, a couple of two-decade-old blockbusters found spots in the top 10 of the domestic box office charts on Monday. After DreamWorks’ Shrek 2 posted a solid three-day haul in its 20th anniversary re-release last weekend, Sony’s Spider-Man performed even better on Monday. The superhero classic was re-released in a third of Shrek 2 ’s screens, but posted a significantly better per-theater average. Released as a part of Sony’s “Spider-Mondays” program , the film actually took the number three spot on the Monday box office chart , behind only Civil War — featuring Spider-Man star Kirsten Dunst — and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire .

Spider-Man grossed $681,364 from 466 theaters nationwide on Monday , for a per-theater average of nearly $1,500 — the highest of any film currently in release . By comparison, Shrek 2 generated $1.3 million over the last weekend from over 1,500 screens, for a per-theater average of nearly $1,000. On Monday, the animated classic took the ninth spot on the domestic chart, three places behind fellow DreamWorks hit Kung Fu Panda 4 . Not a single Kung Fu Panda movie existed when Shrek 2 was released to staggering box office success back in 2004. Incidentally, the movie had the second-biggest domestic debut of all time, behind none other than Spider-Man .

Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire as the titular superhero, the first Spider-Man was something of a cultural touchstone , launching an entire era of superhero cinema that lasted two decades. Not only was it the first film in history to gross more than $100 million in its opening weekend, it went on to become the third-biggest hit of 2002 with nearly $821 million worldwide , and scored two Oscar nominations. The film’s current domestic haul, including the re-release figures, stands at just over $404 million, making it the 44th-biggest film in history, and the second-biggest in the live-action Spider-Man film series .

How Have All of the 'Spider-Man' Films Performed?

Raimi and Maguire returned for two more Spider-Man adventures, and were scheduled to make a fourth film together, but plans were ultimately scuttled in favor of a reboot. Directed by Marc Webb with Andrew Garfield taking over the titular role, the reboot series was axed after two installments — The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 . Since 2016, Tom Holland has played the character in three solo movies and a handful of team-up films as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A couple of years ago, Maguire and Garfield reprized their roles alongside Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home — the most successful installment of the Spidey live-action series. Raimi, on the other hand, recently directed the MCU hit Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness .

Sony will also release Spider-Man 2 , Spider-Man 3 , The Amazing Spider-Man , The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , Spider-Man: Homecoming , Spider-Man: Far From Home , and Spider-Man: No Way Home in theaters across the next few weeks as a part of the “Spider-Mondays” festival. You can grab tickets here , and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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.

IMAGES

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Newest Spider-Man: No Way Home Poster Shatters the Marvel Multiverse
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Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) posters
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Spider-Man: No Way Home Reveals First Official Poster With All 3 Spider-Men

COMMENTS

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Review: Tom Holland Cleans Out the Cobwebs of Sprawling Franchise With Multiverse Super-Battle

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Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 148 MIN.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home Is Aggressively Mediocre

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Spider-Man: No Way Home First Reviews: Ridiculous and Ridiculously Fun

Has Marvel done it again?

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Will hardcore Spider-Man fans be happy?

Will you need to have seen the other Spider-Man movies?

Is there a lot of fan service?

Does it feel like a live-action version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ?

How is it to see the old villains again?

Are there too many villains?

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Does the movie get emotional?

Does it take a while to get going?

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