Spider Man No Way Home
Spider Man No Way Home is a 2021 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
The film was directed by Jon Watts and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man alongside Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire.
In the film, Parker asks Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) to use magic to make his identity as Spider-Man a secret again after it was revealed to the world at the end of Far From Home. When the spell goes wrong because of Parker’s actions, the multiverse is broken open and several visitors from alternate realities are brought into Parker’s universe.
A third MCU Spider-Man film was planned during the production of Homecoming in 2017. Negotiations between Sony and Marvel Studios to alter their deal—in which they produce the Spider-Man films together—ended with Marvel Studios leaving the project in August 2019, but a negative fan reaction led to a new deal between the companies a month later.
Watts, McKenna, Sommers, and Holland were set to return, and filming took place from October 2020 to March 2021 in New York City and Atlanta. No Way Home serves as a crossover between the MCU and the previous Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi and Marc Webb.
Several actors reprise their roles from those films, including previous Spider-Man actors Maguire and Garfield. The pair’s involvement was the subject of wide speculation and numerous leaks despite Sony, Marvel, and the cast’s efforts to conceal their involvement until the film’s release.
Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered at the Fox Village Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on December 13, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 17, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $1.921 billion worldwide, surpassing its predecessor as the highest-grossing film released by Sony Pictures.
It became the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film at the time of its release, the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, and set several other box office records, including those for films released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The film received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 94th Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. An extended version of the film, subtitled The More Fun Stuff Version, had a global theatrical release in September 2022. A sequel, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is scheduled for release on July 31, 2026.
Plot
After Quentin Beck frames Peter Parker for his murder and reveals that Peter is Spider-Man,[a] the Department of Damage Control arrests Peter; his girlfriend, Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson; his best friend, Ned Leeds; and his aunt, May Parker. Lawyer Matt Murdock gets Peter’s charges dropped, but the group grapples with negative publicity. After Peter’s, MJ’s, and Ned’s MIT applications are rejected, Peter goes to the New York Sanctum to ask Dr. Stephen Strange for help.
Strange starts casting a spell that would make everyone forget Peter is Spider-Man, but it is corrupted when Peter repeatedly requests alterations to let his loved ones retain their memories. Strange contains the corrupted spell.
At Strange’s suggestion, Peter tries to convince an MIT administrator to reconsider MJ’s and Ned’s applications. He is attacked by Otto Octavius, who rips nanotechnology from Peter’s Iron Spider suit. This bonds with Octavius’s mechanical tentacles and allows Peter to control them.
As Norman Osborn arrives and attacks, Strange teleports Peter back to the Sanctum and locks Octavius in a cell next to Curt Connors. Strange explains that the corrupted spell summoned people from other universes within the multiverse who know Spider-Man’s identity. He orders Peter, MJ, and Ned to find and capture the others; they locate and retrieve Max Dillon and Flint Marko at a military research facility.
Osborn reclaims control of himself from his split Green Goblin personality and destroys the Goblin mask. He gets help from May until Peter retrieves him. While discussing their battles with Spider-Man, Osborn, Octavius, and Dillon realize they were pulled from their universes just before their deaths.
Strange prepares to reverse the contained spell and send the villains back to their respective universes, but Peter argues that they should first help each villain to possibly change their fates upon their return. When Strange refuses, Peter steals the spell, traps Strange in the Mirror Dimension, and takes the villains to Happy Hogan’s apartment. He uses Stark Industries technology to cure Octavius.
Before Peter can cure anyone else, the Goblin persona retakes control of Osborn. The Goblin convinces the other villains to betray Peter and fatally wounds May as Dillon, Marko, and Connors escape; before she dies, May tells Peter that “with great power, there must also come great responsibility”.
Ned discovers that he can create portals using Strange’s sling ring, which he and MJ use to try to locate Peter. They instead find “Peter-Two” and “Peter-Three”, alternate versions of Peter who were also summoned from the villains’ universes by Strange’s spell. The group finds this universe’s Peter (“Peter-One”), who is mourning May and ready to send the villains home to die.
The alternate Peters share stories of losing loved ones and encourage Peter-One to fight in May’s honor. The three Peters develop cures for the villains and lure them to the Statue of Liberty. Peter-One and Peter-Two cure Connors and Marko while Octavius helps cure Dillon. Ned accidentally frees Strange from the Mirror Dimension.
The Goblin unleashes the contained spell, breaking the barriers between universes and pulling in countless others who know Peter’s identity. Strange attempts to hold them off while an enraged Peter-One tries to kill the Goblin. Peter-Two stops him and Peter-Three helps Peter-One inject the Goblin with his cure, restoring Osborn’s sanity.
Peter-One realizes that the only way to protect the multiverse is to erase himself from everyone’s memory and requests Strange do so while promising MJ and Ned that he will find them and remind them who he is. Strange reluctantly casts the spell, and everyone returns to their respective universes—including Eddie Brock, who unknowingly leaves behind a piece of the Venom symbiote.
Two weeks later, Peter visits MJ to reintroduce himself to her and Ned, but decides against it. While mourning at May’s grave, he has a conversation with Hogan and is inspired to carry on, making a new Spider-Man suit and resuming his vigilantism.
Cast
Credit – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_No_Way_Home#Cast
- Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man:
A teenager and Avenger who received spider-like abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider.[4] The film explores the fallout of Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s (2019) mid-credits scene, in which Parker’s identity as Spider-Man is exposed,[5] and Parker is more pessimistic in contrast to previous Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. Holland said Parker feels defeated and insecure and was excited to explore the darker side of the character.[6] The adjustment back to portraying Parker, including raising his voice pitch and returning to the mindset of a “naïve, charming teenager”, was strange for Holland after taking on more mature roles such as in Cherry (2021).[7] - Zendaya as Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson:
Parker’s classmate and girlfriend.[8][9][10] The character’s full name is revealed in the film, having previously just been known as Michelle Jones, bringing her closer to the comics counterpart Mary Jane Watson.[9] - Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange:
A neurosurgeon who became a Master of the Mystic Arts following a career-ending car accident.[11][12] Holland felt Strange was not a mentor to Parker, unlike Tony Stark in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), but instead saw them as colleagues and noted their relationship breaks down throughout the course of the film.[13] Cumberbatch felt there was a close relationship between Strange and Parker because both are neighborhood superheroes with a shared history.[14] Co-writer Chris McKenna described Strange as the voice of reason in the film.[15] - Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds: Parker’s best friend.[16][9] Batalon lost 102 pounds (46 kg) for his role in this film.[17]
- Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan: The head of security for Stark Industries and former driver and bodyguard of Tony Stark, who looks after Parker.[18]
- Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon / Electro:
An Oscorp electrical engineer from an alternate reality who gained electric powers after an accident involving genetically modified electric eels.[16][19] The character was redesigned for No Way Home, forgoing his original blue Ultimate Marvel-based design from Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) in favor of a yellow one more similar to his mainstream comic book appearance.[20] - Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin:
A scientist and the CEO of Oscorp from an alternate reality who tested an unstable strength enhancer on himself. He developed an insane split personality as a result and uses advanced Oscorp armor and equipment.[21] Dafoe felt Green Goblin had advanced from his portrayal in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man (2002) and had “a few more tricks up [his] sleeves” in this film.[22] Dafoe was digitally de-aged for the role,[23] and the character also obtains upgrades to his costume to make him more closely resemble his comic book counterpart.[22] - Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus:
A scientist from an alternate reality with four artificially intelligent mechanical tentacles fused to his body after an accident.[24] The film continues from the character’s story prior to his death in Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004). Molina was surprised by this approach because he had aged in the years since he made that film; digital de-aging was also used to make him look physically the same as in Spider-Man 2.[25] The mechanical tentacles were created completely through CGI, rather than blending them with puppetry as in Spider-Man 2.[26][23] - Benedict Wong as Wong: Strange’s mentor and friend who became the new Sorcerer Supreme during Strange’s absence in the Blip.[27][18]
- Tony Revolori as Eugene “Flash” Thompson: Parker’s classmate and former rival.[28]
- Marisa Tomei as May Parker:
Parker’s aunt.[29] While developing the story, the writers realized that May would play a role similar to Uncle Ben‘s role in other incarnations of Spider-Man. As such, the thematic and often-paraphrasingly-quoted idiom “with great power, there must also come great responsibility” is said by May, since she has been the “moral guide” for Parker in the MCU.[30] - Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man:
An alternate version of Parker who is haunted by his failure to save his deceased girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, during the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.[31][30][32][33] The other Spider-Men refer to him as “Peter-Three”,[34] while Marvel’s official website named him “The Amazing Spider-Man”.[35] Garfield embraced his role as the middle brother of the group and was interested in exploring the idea of a tortured Parker following the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, including how lessons from those events could be passed to Holland’s character.[30] He was grateful for the chance to “tie up some loose ends” for his incarnation of Parker, and described working with Holland and Maguire as an opportunity to have “deeper conversations… about our experiences with the character”.[36] Parker ends up saving MJ during the climax in a similar way to how he fails to save Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2; McKenna and co-writer Erik Sommers credited director Jon Watts for coming up with the idea while they watched a pre-visualization reel showcasing ideas for the climactic battle.[15] - Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man:
An alternate version of Parker who uses organic webbing instead of web shooters like his alternate counterparts.[37][32][33] The other Spider-Men refer to him as “Peter-Two”,[34] while Marvel’s official website named him the “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”.[35] Maguire wanted the film to reveal only minimal details about what happened to his character after the events of Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 (2007).[30]
Rhys Ifans reprises his role as Dr. Curt Connors / Lizard, an Oscorp scientist from Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) who transformed into a large reptilian monster while trying to regrow his missing arm. Thomas Haden Church reprises his role as Flint Marko / Sandman, a small-time thief from Spider-Man 3 who received an ability to transform into sand.[21] Both Ifans and Church returned to voice the characters, though footage at the end of the film when they revert to their human forms was archival footage from The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3, respectively.[38]
Watts served as a stand-in for Church on-set by providing motion-capture reference to the uncredited body double who physically replaced Church in the role.[39] Charlie Cox reprises his role as Matt Murdock from Marvel Television‘s Netflix series,[40] and Tom Hardy reprises his roles as Eddie Brock / Venom from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) in an uncredited cameo appearance in the mid-credits scene.[41]
Reprising their roles from previous MCU Spider-Man films are Angourie Rice as Betty Brant, Parker’s classmate and Ned’s ex-girlfriend;[42] Hannibal Buress as Coach Wilson, Midtown School of Science and Technology‘s gym teacher;[43] Martin Starr as Roger Harrington, Parker’s academic decathlon teacher;[44] J. B. Smoove as Julius Dell, Parker’s teacher;[45] J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the host of The Daily Bugle;[46][47] and Gary Weeks as Department of Damage Control (DODC) agent Foster.[48]
Jake Gyllenhaal appears as Quentin Beck / Mysterio via archival footage from Far From Home.[49] Also appearing in the film are Paula Newsome as an MIT administrator,[44] Arian Moayed as DODC agent Cleary,[49] Mary Rivera as Ned’s grandmother,[44] and Cristo Fernández as a bartender serving Brock.[41] Tom Holland’s brother Harry Holland was set to make a cameo as a thief, but his scenes were cut from the original theatrical release.[50] Lexi Rabe, who portrayed Stark’s daughter Morgan in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), also had an appearance that was not included in the theatrical release.[51]
Our General Review
Alright, buckle up, web-heads, because I’m about to sling you through a wild review of Spider-Man: No Way Home—the movie that’s less a film and more a multiversal piñata exploding with nostalgia, feels, and enough Spider-Men to start a boy band. This is gonna be a long one, so grab your Aunt May’s wheatcakes and let’s swing into it with all the grace of Peter Parker trying to dance in Spider-Man 3. Spoiler alert: I’ll keep it vague enough to dodge ruining the big surprises, but if you haven’t seen it yet, what are you doing? Living in the Negative Zone?
The Setup: Peter Parker’s Life Is Stickier Than a Web in a Hurricane
No Way Home picks up right where Far From Home left us hanging—Peter Parker (Tom Holland, aka the human equivalent of a golden retriever) is in deep doo-doo. His secret identity’s been yeeted into the public eye by a certain loudmouth with a fishbowl fetish (no names, but his initials are Mysterio). Now, Peter’s life is a circus, and not the fun kind with clowns—more like the kind where everyone’s throwing tomatoes at him, including the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson, who’s basically a human Reddit thread with a mustache.
Desperate to fix his mess, Peter does what any teenager with zero impulse control would: he asks a wizard for help. Enter Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, serving cheekbones and sarcasm), who’s like, “Sure, kid, I’ll cast a spell to make everyone forget you’re Spider-Man, but don’t mess it up.” Spoiler: Peter messes it up. Hard. The spell goes wonky, and suddenly the multiverse rips open like a cheap Walmart backpack, spilling out villains from Spider-Man movies we haven’t thought about since flip phones were cool. It’s chaos, it’s glorious, and it’s like Marvel said, “Let’s throw every Spider-Man idea into a blender and hit purée.”
The Good: This Movie Is a Love Letter to Spider-Fans (and It’s Got Jokes!)
Let’s start with the vibe. No Way Home is a rollercoaster that doesn’t just go up and down—it does loop-de-loops, barrel rolls, and somehow hands you a chimichanga mid-ride. Director Jon Watts deserves a medal for juggling more characters than a sitcom reunion special while keeping it coherent. The plot’s tighter than Spidey’s suit after Thanksgiving dinner, and the pacing? It’s like the movie chugged a Red Bull and said, “Let’s go save all the universes!”
Tom Holland is the heart and soul here, delivering a Peter Parker who’s equal parts adorkable and heartbreaking. This kid’s trying to save the world while dealing with problems that’d make most of us hide under a blanket—like, you know, multiversal invaders and the fact that his college applications are probably toast. Holland’s chemistry with Zendaya (MJ, aka the queen of deadpan) is so sweet it’ll give you cavities. Their scenes together are like watching two baby yodas try to figure out love while dodging falling buildings.
Then there’s the nostalgia factor. Oh boy, this movie doesn’t just tug at your heartstrings—it yanks them like a toddler with a new toy. Without spoiling, let’s just say No Way Home brings back faces that’ll make you scream, cry, and text your high school bestie like, “DUDE, REMEMBER 2002?!” The returning characters are handled with so much care it’s like Marvel hired a team of therapists to make sure everyone’s arcs get closure. And the villains? They’re not just here to cackle and blow stuff up (though they do that too). Each one gets a moment to shine, and some even make you go, “Wait, am I rooting for the guy with the mechanical tentacles now?”
The humor is peak Spider-Man. It’s quippy, it’s self-aware, and it’s got more zingers than a stand-up comedian at a roast. There’s a scene involving a certain lawyer that had me cackling so loud I scared my cat. And don’t get me started on Ned (Jacob Batalon), who’s basically a human meme factory. Every time he opens his mouth, it’s like the movie’s saying, “Here’s a joke to keep you from sobbing.” Spoiler: You’ll still sob.
The action? Chef’s kiss. The web-slinging’s never looked better, with fights that feel like a comic book punched you in the face (in a good way). There’s a sequence in a mirror dimension that’s so trippy, M.C. Escher would’ve been like, “Whoa, chill.” And the final act? It’s an emotional gut-punch wrapped in a fireworks show. Bring tissues. And maybe a helmet.
The Not-So-Good: Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Spidey?
Okay, I’ll throw Marvel a tiny bone of critique, because nobody’s perfect—not even a movie this fun. No Way Home is packed. Like, “I’m trying to stuff a week’s worth of groceries into one bag” packed. With so many characters and callbacks, it can feel like you’re speed-running a Spider-Man museum. If you’re not a diehard fan who’s seen every Spidey flick since the days of VHS, you might miss some of the “OH SNAP” moments. It’s not a dealbreaker, but casual viewers might be like, “Why’s everyone freaking out about that guy with the weird haircut?”
Also, Doctor Strange’s spell logic is… questionable. Like, I get it, magic’s not an exact science, but the rules are flimsier than a dollar-store umbrella. You’ll raise an eyebrow once or twice before shrugging and going, “Eh, it’s a comic book movie, roll with it.” And while the movie balances its tones well, it occasionally leans hard into the sads, which might leave you needing a hug and a Pixar marathon to recover.
The Verdict: No Way Home Is the Spider-Man Movie We Didn’t Know We Needed
Look, Spider-Man: No Way Home isn’t just a movie—it’s a cultural event, a therapy session, and a reminder that Spider-Man’s been our friendly neighborhood hero for decades for a reason. It’s got heart, humor, and enough surprises to make your jaw drop like you’re in a cartoon. Is it perfect? Nah, but it’s so dang close I’m willing to forgive it for making me ugly-cry in a theater full of strangers.
This flick’s a celebration of everything that makes Spider-Man great: the quips, the heart, the never-giving-up-even-when-the-universe-is-literally-breaking attitude. It’s a love letter to fans, a high-five to newbies, and a masterclass in how to make a blockbuster that doesn’t feel like it was churned out by a soulless algorithm. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be cheering, sobbing, and probably Googling “when’s the next one?”
So, final score? I’m giving No Way Home a 9.5 out of 10 web-shooters. It loses half a point for making me dehydrate myself with tears, but honestly, that’s a me problem. Go see it. Rewatch it. Then call your friends and yell about it. Just don’t try to explain the multiverse to your grandma—she’ll think you’re making it up.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to practice my web-slinging. Or at least trip over my shoelaces trying. Excelsior!