Keira Cooney, Opinions Editor
@keiraccourant
WARNING: Not only will this piece reveal my own embarrassing, almost too-vast knowledge about Spider-Man, it will also contain spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. I implore you, please go watch the film first. Not to read and understand my gabble, but to satisfy a superior requirement of experiencing one of the most revolutionary and impactful Marvel films to date.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a miracle. There is no reason why a film balancing this many characters, plot elements, villains, and Spider-Men, should have worked this well – but here we are. Even as theatres continue to face the effects of 2 year-long shutdowns, “No Way Home” saw box office numbers of up to $1.53B worldwide. At the core of this success is a film celebrating not just Spider-man’s history as a franchise concerning its audience, but a film celebrating Peter Parker as a character (and not just one Peter Parker… but we’ll get there).
Movie after movie, show after show, and year after year, Marvel has continued to deliver fun and visually outstanding films for audiences and critics alike. But as time has passed, it’s hard to deny that Marvel’s sentimental ability has begun to wane. Blockbuster finales give off the visual impression of significance, but the smart effects and epic scale have begun to feel like window dressing. This franchise appears more directed by market research and narrative longevity, rather than being a purely created vision for superheroes.
The first two solo movies for Spider-man in the MCU revealed how this formula can suffocate a character. Holland’s younger Spider-Man has felt more immature, protective, and stagnant in his development when compared to the other portrayals of Spider-Man. It felt like his version of the character frequently escaped from problems with few repercussions, backed by the Avengers. Even the suit he wears, crafted with the finest Stark technology, exemplifies this level of advantage and comfort Peter has been afforded in the MCU.
But, as a character, Spider-Man is supposed to feel more human and smaller than the other superheroes. For him, fighting super villains could be just as demanding as taking care of his Aunt May or making enough cash to cover his rent payments. That ability to relate and humanity of the character are what has made the friendly-neighborhood Spider-man so universally adored. That aspect has felt missing in this technology-driven and often consequence-less MCU.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Marvel’s shared cinematic universe. There’s nothing quite like witnessing a big grape-colored alien looking to solve the problem of overpopulation with straight-up murder. But it felt like Fiege and company have been holding back the emotional substance a great Spider-man story requires, in favor of a more versatile Marvel hero.
One of the core aspects of Spider-Man, which we’ve seen from countless stories, is the idea that by doing the right thing, Peter Parker is the one who suffers. With great power comes great responsibility, yadda-yadda-yadda; you get the drill. But at the risk of sounding like a villain myself, I had yet to see Peter truly suffer for his heroism. And then I saw “No Way Home.”
The film picks up right after the previous film, “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) revealed Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) identity to the world — and not in a positive light. Our friendly-neighborhood Spider-man is framed for murder, and Peter is interrogated along with his friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya).
Because of their association with Peter (or the ‘Masked Menace’ as the Daily Bugle would call him…), Ned and MJ are rejected from all the colleges they applied to. Feeling guilty, Peter goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to make the world forget that he’s Spider-Man. But, alas, the spell goes awry and instead opens up the multiverse. Big whoops.
Bad news for Pete, great news for us. With an open multiverse in our sights following the Disney Plus shows Wandavision and Loki, Holland’s Parker is set to fight Spider-Man villains from previous movies outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, the real complication comes with Peter’s realization that by sending these villains back to their home universes, he’s also sending them to their deaths. Peter Parker, at his core, is a selfless person. He’s anchored to this responsibility to help others, which makes this movie’s core conflict so great. Even though these are villains, he still feels obligated to help them. This is pure Peter Parker.
Though he starts to succeed in helping these villains, it all goes awry, leading to his Aunt May’s tragic death at the hands of the Green Goblin. She was the one who imbued this sense of responsibility into Peter, pushed him to recognize that the right thing to do was help the villains. Now she’s gone, and Peter has to try and honor her memory by saving the very person who murdered her. Rough.
This brings us to how the movie ultimately celebrates Peter Parker in the absolute best way possible; With the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, the first and second portrayals of Spider-man on film, respectively.
I won’t lie, guys; as cool as the idea of seeing all the live-action Spider-man web-slinging together seemed, I was nervous. These are three drastically different portrayals of Peter Parker from three very different actors. But these previous Peter Parkers positively did not feel like they were just included for fan service. The writers paid close attention to the characters’ journeys in their own films and created a natural continuation for them in NWH.
Tobey Maguire completely melts back into the role with an added sense of maturity, revealing a vague, hopeful sentiment about how life is going for him in his own universe. Andrew Garfield truly stole the show, as his background as a trained British theatre actor gives him this incredible range of sweeping emotional scenes, paired with witty and fast-paced punchlines. NWH was total redemption for Garfield, who unfortunately missed out on completing his own trilogy.
The climax of the fight with these villains is, in my opinion, a real stroke of genius and the final cementing of MCU Peter Parker’s character. After all three Peters work together and cure their rivals, the MCU Peter goes toe-to-toe (or claw?) with the Green Goblin. In this spectacular culmination of every Spider-man movie ever, you’ve got your shiny new Spidey facing off against the grizzled, weathered old villain that literally started it all. Holland’s Peter wants to kill the Green Goblin. Tobey’s Peter stops him, and MCU Peter recognizes that he is betraying himself – and he realizes the type of hero he has to be. Peter knows that he has to be selfless and do the right thing, which perfectly ties into how the movie ends. He performs the ultimate selfless act to save the world, and allows Strange to carry out the spell that makes everyone who ever knew Peter Parker forget he ever existed.
I love this decision for Peter Parker because it fully realizes what makes Spider-man his own type of hero, in contrast to the other major players in the MCU. He’s not a billionaire mogul or a member of the Avengers – he’s just a kid from Queens, taking on the absolute greatest responsibility, doing the right thing, and being the hero the world needs without recognition. For Peter Parker, it was never about the spectacle of heroism; it was always about great responsibility.
WHY IT ALL STICKS: Superhero films have an unique power that draws in fans from all walks of life. Part of the reason why is their fantastical nature, which many use as a form of escapism. But, Spider-man provides a different experience. People don’t come to the theatre to see Spider-man, they come for Peter Parker. The public doesn’t have to fantasize about being him, because they very well could be. Here’s a guy that can be anybody behind the mask, defined only by his ability to do the right thing despite every obstacle that comes his way. That’s what makes the highschooler from Queens a hero. “No Way Home” leaves fans with the touching impact of understanding the heart of the beloved character that exceeded every expectation. Nobody is born a hero; it’s a choice one has to make every day to do what’s right. Or maybe it is a requirement to be bit by a radioactive spider, in which case I’m cool sticking to the sidelines.
