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• Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Is a Love Letter to the Fans

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" isn’t just a movie; it’s an experience. It's one of the best superhero movies thanks to the amazing writing, the fantastic performances from the actors, and a healthy helping of fan service.

Spider-Man: No Way Home isn’t just a movie; it’s an experience. Like Avengers: Endgame, it is a monumental moment in the MCU. It changes everything. This is the best superhero movie I’ve seen since Avengers: Endgame. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a top tier cinematic and comic book superhero movie thanks to the amazing writing, the fantastic performances from the actors all around, and, maybe most importantly, a healthy helping of fan service. This movie is littered with easter eggs and references that made my theater explode into cheers and applause. It’s an experience unrivaled, even nonexistent, among any other movie genre. As an avid Marvel fan who’s watched and enjoyed everything associated from the brand, this movie was so rewarding to watch. With that, let’s dive into what made this movie so incredible.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up right where Spider-Man: Far From Home left off. It makes you forget two years have passed between these two films. Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) identity has just been revealed. He scoops up his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) as she’s harassed by onlookers and they escape. Soon enough, the FBI is after Peter. They arrest him and his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), MJ, his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). The agents and Peter’s loved ones have some interesting debates about whether a minor should be a vigilante and how responsible his legal guardian is for his actions.

Peter and the gang then meet with Peter’s lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox)! My theater exploded in cheers when he showed up, which made me so happy because I had no idea Netflix’s Daredevil was so well known. That show is arguably the best superhero TV show of all time. The cameo is brief, but Charlie Cox portrays the character without missing a beat, as if he’d just stepped off set from Daredevil. I can’t wait to see more of him in the MCU.

Peter and May move to Happy’s apartment to lie low. Peter applies for college. However, he, MJ, and Ned all get rejected because of the controversy surrounding them. This leads Peter to visit Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and ask him to make everyone forget who Spider-Man is. Strange performs the spell, but Peter alters it by asking Strange to make his loved ones remember his identity. The spell becomes unstable and Strange contains it before sending Peter to plead his case to the vice chancellor of MIT.

Peter catches the chancellor on a bridge, but they’re interrupted by Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) from Spider-Man 2 2004.. Like Cox, Molina doesn’t skip a beat. He feels exactly like the same character, ripped right out of the original movie. He chases Peter before removing his mask and discovering that this Peter is not his Peter. Doctor Strange brings them both back to his basement.

Strange explains to Peter that his mistake caused people who knew Spider-Man’s identity in other universes to come to them. Strange has already caught the Lizard (Rhys Ifans) from The Amazing Spider-Man 2012. and entrapped Doc Ock. Now Peter has to find and capture the others. Peter finds Electro (Jamie Foxx) from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 2014. charging up. Electro has more charisma than in the original film. Foxx steals every scene he’s in with his booming voice, confidence, and a great new look.

Peter gets help from Sandman aka Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) from Spider-Man 3 2007.. They capture Electro before Sandman warily turns on Peter, who captures him, too. Back in the basement, the villains from the same universes recognize each other in a very meta moment that’s satisfying for anyone who’s watched any of these films. Peter gets a call from May that one of the villains is with her. He finds her with Norman Osborn aka Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) from Spider-Man 2002.. Dafoe’s duality is fantastic. He is just a scared, vulnerable man when Peter first finds him. May, who’s always drawn to help the disenfranchised, suggests to Peter that they try to rehabilitate these villains. I appreciated this more nuanced approach. Instead of making the villains one-dimensional, stereotypical "bad guys" who get killed in the end, May and Peter seek to help them change.

Peter suggests this to Strange back in the basement, but Strange refuses. He claims all these villains’ fate is to die fighting Spider-Man. Peter steals the spell and fights Strange in the mirror dimension. Peter wins using, of all things, geometry. I had a hard time believing Strange would lose so easily, but this is clearly a plot device to keep him occupied for most of the movie.

Peter brings the villains to Happy’s apartment where he works on a cure for each of them. He repairs Doc Ock’s chip. But as he works on another, his Spidey Sense goes off. This sequence is shot with muffled sound and an extremely intense look on Peter’s face, building tension to the reveal that Norman Osborn’s Goblin persona has taken over his mind. (Peter’s Spider Sense is portrayed better in this film than in previous ones.) A fight ensues. All the villains escape, but not before Osborn taunts Peter and throws a pumpkin bomb at May.

Peter helps May up and tells her how he regrets helping the villains. May then says a slightly altered version of the famous line: "With great power there must also come great responsibility." The line feels more powerful in Spider-Man: No Way Home than it did in other movies. While Uncle Ben was giving Peter advice in the older movies, May knows Peter’s identity as Spider-Man and understands the responsibility that comes with it. Peter holds her in his arms as she succumbs to her wounds while she’s unaware she’s dying. It’s heart-wrenching. May is the only family Peter has left. And she dies indirectly due to his choices.

Diversity is about representation. We define diversity with Incluvie. Read film reviews with a focus on representation. See the Incluvie score for a movies about diversity and inclusion.