“Spider-Man: No Way Home” could perhaps be the most anticipated movie of this century. The web-swinging, wall-crawling, friendly neighborhood hero will return to the big screen in less than a month, and the excitement from fans is nearly unfathomable. With the release of the new trailer, storyline and villains of the movie, the internet exploded with joy and theories. Spider-Man has captured the hearts of people from every corner of planet Earth since his introduction to the world in 1962.
Even before he had a single movie about him, Spider-Man brightened the childhoods of millions of people around the globe and became one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture. Now, every modern live-action film made about him is being combined into one big bang of an exhilarating climax. While the rewards of the movie will certainly outweigh its flaws, there are still some questions worth asking alongside all the things audiences are looking forward to.
The excitement for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is deserved. It’s the most popular character in history within the most popular movie franchise in history taking a dive into the multiverse to battle some of the most iconic villains in history. Absolutely no one can deny how awesome of an experience it will be. However, the level of expectation for the movie may perhaps be clouding the minds of some fans. There are viable concerns about the storyline and how all of these characters fit into the equation of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Sometimes it’s even difficult to remember that this is Holland’s movie — the film is meant to conclude his character’s arc and trilogy.
The first concern involves the villains of this film. Why and how are they there, and why do some of them suddenly hate Spider-Man again? In the recently released trailer, Doctor Strange can clearly be heard telling Spider-Man that the villains breached through the multiverse and into the main timeline, and their fate is to die battling Spider-Man. This is not even relatively true, which would warrant a lot more explaining from the movie. The villains introduced include Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man rogue’s galleries. Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro and The Lizard will be the formidable opponents to Holland’s Spider-Man. Yet, only two of them abide by what Doctor Strange said.
Doc Ock redeems himself at the end of “Spider-Man 2” by sacrificing himself to stop his invention from destroying New York City. Sandman was never really a villain and eventually reconciled with Peter Parker at the end of “Spider-Man 3.”The Lizard transformed back into Dr. Curt Connors at the conclusion of “The Amazing Spider-Man” and felt remorse for his actions. Green Goblin and Electro are the only two that arguably died in a battle with Spider-Man. Electro overcharged until he disintegrated at the end of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” and Green Goblin fell victim to his own glider in “Spider-Man.”
The motive that Strange gave for these villains holds little to no truth. This surrounds the presence of these characters with even more mystery because it must be more fleshed out than that. There must be some sort of end goal to these villains’ interaction with Spider-Man. What exactly do they want from this universe? What will Spider-Man be getting in the way of? These questions come to mind during the sneak previews, and hopefully, the movie will touch upon them. As cool as it’ll be to see all these heroes and villains, the only way they could mess up the crossover is with a nonsensical story that relies too heavily on the audience’s nostalgia.
It is the worst-kept secret in the history of humanity that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire will be reprising their roles as Spider-Men from their respective universes. While the moment they return will certainly make a grown man shed a tear, it’s worth wondering where they’ve been since their last appearances. Will their return pick up from the exact last moment in which we saw them, or will these Spider-Men have years of untold experiences and stories when they come back to the big screen? Perhaps some of these characters can remain in this universe, at least for a short time.
This is only the beginning of the multiverse phenomenon, and the concept seems to be what Marvel is using to lead future plots. Next year, “Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness” will hit theaters. It’s safe to say that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” certainly won’t be the end of the battle against other universes.
Spider-Man is a very particular character, one made by Stan Lee to be relatable and inspiring to every person, regardless of their walk of life. Sadly, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s vision of the character took a more modernized route in expressing who he is. While sending high school student Peter Parker into the multiverse isn’t exactly the best way to re-establish his grounding, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will absolutely garner worldwide praise and unimaginable popularity. Hopefully, in the next set of Spider-Man movies, they make a return to doing justice to the character and what he’s meant to be. For now, we can only question what to make of all the hype, the trailers and the rumors circulating around the movie.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” will be iconic, but hopefully it seeks to achieve more by doing justice to its respective characters, answering all the fans’ questions and letting Holland complete his Spider-Man arc. All the fans will surely be in for quite a few surprises as well. All we can do now is wonder about the emotion this movie will provide, and we can wander in the speculation and excitement that it brings.
