Spider-Man: No Way home immediately follows the events of “Far From Home” where Peter Parker’s identity as the web-slinging hero has been outed and he has been accused of murdering false hero Mysterio. Now Peter and his friends MJ & Ned are forced to deal with the lifelong fallout. Feeling guilty for his effect of his family and friends Peter turns to Dr. Strange in order to correct his current turmoil through supernatural means. Naturally, things don’t exactly go according to plan. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a 2021 superhero film, it is produced by Columbia Pictures & Marvel Studios and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is currently out now globally in theaters. 

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home as well as potential spoilers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe & Sony’s Spider-Man Universe may be present within this review. 

Starting immediately from Far From Home, Peter Parker has been accused of murder set up by Mysterio. In addition to this, his identity as Spider-Man has also been outed. Peter attempts to correct his actions through magic but inadvertently worsens them as heroes and villains from other universes enters that of his own.

THE GOOD: The secret is out: Peter Parker is Spider-Man.  He’s also been set up for murder by Mysterio, his supposed victim.  Now a social pariah along with his family and friends Peter wants to at the very least save the former from scrutiny. He goes to Dr. Strange, former Sorcerer Supreme to help create a spell that will enable the world to forget he’s Spider-Man. Peter however continuously intervenes with the spell’s casting by increasing his desired effect of it. This results in the beginning of the merging of several universes including some which inhabit alternate versions of Spider-Man. The villains of said Spider-Men attack Peter on a bridge leading to him & Strange capturing them.

Strange explains to Peter that the villains were brought here through the botched spell and they need to be returned. Peter initially agrees until Strange informs them of their deaths. Peter tries to convince Strange to help cure them of their evil but fails leading to a battle. Peter wins by outsmarting Strange and trapping him into another dimension temporarily. Peter takes Strange’s device meant to reset the universes and vows to help cure the villains enlisting the help of Ned and MJ. Aunt May encounters Norman Osborn/Green Goblin who wants Peter’s help. Peter cures Doctor Octavius, but Osborn reverts back to his Green Goblin persona and helps free the remaining villains. This leads to the death of May much to Peter’s despair. Peter goes on the run after being surrounded by police and Ned realizing he has access to magic summons “Peter Parker”. However, it’s not their Peter, it’s Peter from the TASM-verse. Dubbed Peter-Two, he helps MJ & Ned try to summon their respective Peter, but once again brings an alt Peter Parker this time from the Sam Raimi-verse, dubbed Peter-three. 

They both go off looking for our Peter and find him mourning the loss of May. The two Peters explain their own losses and everything they’ve gone through as Spider-Man giving Peter-one a bit of renewed confidence. The three work on a cure for the villains and go after them. A battle ensues with the three Peters working together to face the villains curing them one by one. Octavius who had been pretending to be uncured helps them cure Dillon. Peter goes after Osborn seeking vengeance after nearly losing MJ (who is saved by Peter-two), but is stopped by Peter-three. Peter-one successfully cures Osborn, pleasantly surprising a returning Strange who fixes the universes. Peter has Strange cast a spell where everyone including MJ & Ned forget he’s Spider-Man as the former villains and Spider-Men depart for their universes. Peter rents out a new apartment and begins to slowly rebuild his relationships with Ned and MJ as he goes off on his own as a solo hero with a new suit paying homage to all three Spider-Men. In an end-credits, Venom & Eddie Brock are informed of everything that’s happened in the MCU including with Peter by a bar tender. Eddie wishes to help him, but Venom is against the idea. They’re suddenly sent somewhere else as a piece of the symbiote is left behind.

If you’re a Spider-Man fan or at the very least have been watching the films since he made his live-action debut back in 2002, then Spider-Man: No Way Home is the ultimate love letter. It delivers so much closure to both the heroes and villains of previous Spidey universes while also teaching Tom Holland’s Peter a valuable lesson, many in fact. The film also gives a strange desire for more Andrew Garfield as the web-slinger. Garfield’s performance was one of the highlights of the film and it is kind of sad how he never got a proper send off with his set of Spider-Man films. Considering the incredible success of No Way Home and the fan desire to see more Garfield odds are definitely looking to be in his favor. I enjoyed Sony wanting to give the Spider-Man films a darker edge following the release of No Way Home and I’m interested in seeing where the “first” fourth Spidey film will take them from here. 

THE BAD: The only thing I really don’t like about No Way Home is how it felt like they chickened out of including Venom in the MCU. It’s pretty obvious that the symbiote will officially be soon apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it likely won’t be Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock. At the very least not right now anyways.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Spider-Man: No Way Home is what Spider-Man fans want in a live-action adaptation. It has heart, a killer script, emotional weight, a much darker tone from previous films, and it oozes chemistry from top to bottom thanks to a quality cast. As it currently stands Spider-Man: No Way Home is the ultimate live-action film of the current count of eight. Otaku Dome gives Spider-Man: No Way Home a 95 out of 100.