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

Overview:

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” took place right after the events of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” wherein Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) exposed Spider-Man’s secret identity and revealed that he was Peter Parker (Tom Holland). The world was divided, trying to determine if Spider-Man was good or bad. Peter was filled with anxiety — not only about everyone knowing his identity, but also trying to get into the same college with his friends. Unfortunately, his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) were all rejected from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because of their involvement with Spider-Man. Peter asked Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help to make everyone forget that he was Spider-Man, but it went terribly wrong. Villains appeared from the universes of other Spider-Man film franchises, and Doctor Strange thought they should send the villains back to where they came from to die. However, Spider-Man disagreed, leaving him to find another way to safely transport his other-worldly foes without condemning them to death.

Cameos: 

Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) appeared as the same character from the Netflix original series “Daredevil” in a brief cameo as Peter’s lawyer.

Most notably, “No Way Home” featureed guest appearances from both previous Peter Parkers: Tobey Maguire (2002) and Andrew Garfield (2012). The two appeared as their own Spider-Man character from different universes, joining with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to expunge their collective foes.

Villains:

Instead of having another villain from Tom Holland’s universe for the movie, the Spider-Man writers spiced things up and went old school. Because Dr. Strange’s spell went wrong and opened up the doors to other universes, we saw villains from Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s previous Spider-Man films. Here are the villains who appeared in the movie, in order: 

Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina): As Peter tracked down the head of MIT to address his friends’ rejections, the one and only Dr. Octopus arrived and fought Spider-Man, assuming he was the one from Tobey Maguire’s universe. Later in the movie, he received a new inhibitor chip made using Stark Industries technology, turning him good. He eventually helped out to cure the other villains.

Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe): As Dr. Octopus and Spider-Man stopped fighting, Gobby threw a pumpkin bomb on a bridge and shows up in his 2002 original green suit. He stole the show in the movie with his scary look, traumatizing Peter after he killed Aunt May. Besides a suit upgrade near the end, the character doesn’t change at all from his version in the 2002 Spider-Man. A fun nod to the fans transpires when he said a quote from the 2002 Raimi film: “You know, I’m something of a scientist myself.” 

Lizard (Riz Ifans): He made his first appearance while Parker was in the basement of the Sanctum Sanctorum and Lizard was trying to escape from his cell. He doesn’t do much.

Electro (Jamie Foxx): Electro didn’t get the proper cinematic treatment in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” He’s much better in “No Way Home,” with a human body and yellow electricity instead of blue. His suit was also altered with an arc reactor from an old Iron Man suit depicted in “Iron Man 2.”

Sandman (Thomas Haden Church): He arrived during the battle between Spider-Man and Electro to help Spider-Man beat Electro. He didn’t trust anyone and was seemingly more reluctant to take part in the schemes of the other villains.

Our Reactions:

Mino: I am so happy that this movie turned out great from beginning to end. What made the film excellent was the other two Spider-Men showing up and working together. Tobey Magurie and Andrew Garfield had me freaking out once they came out of their portals. I do wish that they had utilized the entirety of the original themes from the other films, but you can’t have it all. This was both a happy and a sad film filled with emotions flying all over the place. It was very tragic yet inspiring to see Peter deal with all of this grief and isolation yet still rising to be the hero that fans all know and love. I can’t wait to see what Marvel does next with Spider-Man in future film outings. This movie deserves a rating of 10/10 – better than “Avengers: Endgame.”

Mac: I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was the best way that Marvel could have introduced the concept of the multiverse. The characters were fantastic in the movie. I loved seeing previous villains such as Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus. One of my favorite moments was when Spider-Man used his Stark Spider-Man suit to have four legs eject from his back. When this happened, he was fighting Dr. Octopus, and Dr. Octopus makes the joke, “Looks like we got a little competition.” The movie was extremely detailed and showed hardcore Marvel fans lots of old easter eggs from the previous Spider-Man movies. The fight scenes were intense and fun. Getting to watch Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield fight alongside each other was amazing to see. The Dr. Strange vs. Spider-Man tussle was crazy, and I thought it was funny seeing Spider-Man outwit the wizard himself. The comedy was there, just as you could expect with Marvel movies, and there were lots of teases as to what’s next to come (such as Ned’s ability to open portals, Electro believing there is a Black Spider-Man out there somewhere, and then the post-credit scene with a little piece of the venom symbiote remaining on Earth). The only negative thought I had was that the plot was a little bit unnecessary, it was just obvious that they wanted to introduce the Spider-Men characters from other universes to introduce the idea of the multiverse. So, this movie does not really affect the course of Marvel’s future besides some of the teases they threw at us and that the multiverse is going to be a main component of future Marvel movies.