Buttery popcorn? Ready. Large soda? Filled to the brim. We are seated and excited for the long-anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home. Since 2019, when fans crowded theatres for the second Tom Holland Spider-Man movie, we have been waiting for the next film to release.  

Although there has been a long-standing debate about who the best Spider-Man actor is, the consensus is that Marvel fans are stoked about No Way Home, with the Sony and Marvel movie debuting at $600.8 million worldwide. 

Despite the ongoing pandemic and the new Omicron variant, Spider-Man: No Way Home broke various box office records:  

• The third-biggest worldwide opening of all time. 
• Biggest worldwide opening of all time for Sony’s Columbia Pictures. 
• Second-biggest domestic debut of all time. 
• Biggest December opening of all time. 
• Fourth live-action superhero film to receive an A+ Cinema Score.  

Not to mention, it may have also been the best multiverse crossover of all time. It has been two years since the last movie was released, and viewers were on the edge of their seats as the opening sequence played. This long-awaited movie shocked viewers as it lived up to the rumors and exciting speculation that surrounded production. 

Spoilers ahead.   

The movie begins with Peter Parker, who the whole world now knows as Spiderman. Peter and his friends MJ and Ned are mobbed by fans and haters at school, critiqued by the media, and devastatingly rejected by their dream school MIT. Guilty about his friends’ college rejections, Peter asks Doctor Strange to erase him from everyone’s memories, thinking that this spell will reverse the damage he has had on his friends’ lives. 

This spell opens a dimension of problems — the multiverse. A relatively new concept to Marvel movies, the multiverse introduced in No Way Home opens a dangerous and unexplored territory.  

Villains from previous Spider-Man movies starring Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield, such as Dr. Otto Octavious, Electro, and Dr. Osborne, appear and wreak havoc. Peter listens to Dr. Strange and begins to capture them one by one, in hopes of sending them back to their respective universes but recalls his Aunt May’s advice to help others as a true Super-Hero, delivering the famous line: “With great power, comes great responsibility.”  

As Peter begins to help the “villains,” they rebel from his power-dampening treatments, and Green Goblin murders Aunt May in the process. The murder of Aunt May shocks the audience, as moviegoers shed a tear over the death of Spiderman’s only family member.  

“[Her death was] pretty sad, but I think that it was very impactful to Peter Parker’s development,” Jordan Mccray (‘24) said. 

“It is very unfortunate that she died but it ties in with the other two spiderman movies where the parental figure for Peter Parker passes away,” said Nathan Silva, student services coordinator. “It shows that Spiderman needs to figure how to be an adult without that figure, and it’s hard to do, but he has to learn.” 

The movie’s biggest highlight is arguably when all three Spidermen — Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland — fight the villains together and win the battle. This crossover was emotional, powerful, and exciting for viewers who had enjoyed the characters separately.  

Unlike the past Tom Holland Spiderman movies, this one sheds light on his responsibilities as a superhero and his ability to harness this power while resisting temptation. In the last fight scene, Peter has a chance to kill the Green Goblin but chooses not to. 

The bittersweet film ends with everyone in Peter’s world forgetting his identity, including MJ and Ned. He walks into the coffee shop and sees the familiarity of his old life. Although he is tempted to tell MJ everything like he promised, he pulls back and decides to let them be. Some things are better left unsaid. Perhaps it is Peter’s selflessness that makes him the superhero everyone loves, not his powers.  

“I was upset about the ending,” Jeremy Tolmochow (‘24) said. “Spiderman worked for everything just to lose it all.”  

Like any Marvel movie, No Way Home ended with two easter eggs, a mid-credits scene featuring Venom, and an end-credits scene previewing Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.  

“I’m excited for what’s next,’ Mr. Silva said. “There are so many ways that the Marvel cinematic universe can twist this, and my personal spoiler [prediction] is that Ned will turn into Venom the next movie if you watched the end credits scenes.” 

“However, it is so sad going from Peter Parker’s side of things. There is this weird hollow feeling knowing everything you have done is left forgotten. It reminds me of the quote, ‘If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ Does it even matter what happened if no one remembers it?” 

Looking forward, the Dr. Strange easter egg at the end of No Way Home tells us that we can expect the Marvel universe to introduce more of the multiverse, its complicity, and its dangers. We hope to see you at the theatre for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness later this year, where we’ll enjoy the latest addition to the expanding Phase Four of the multiverse.