Charlotte Smith
WARNING: Major spoilers ahead!
Following the recent holiday release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the box office has seen record breaking stats since the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the film industry, and we can see totally why that’s the case with our childhood dreams met in this movie.
Jon Watts, director of the third Spider-Man franchise, alongside stars Tom Holland, Zendaya and Benedict Cumberbatch, the film has officially topped the global box office with over 1 billion dollars.
During release week, from the 15th of December in the UK, Sony achieved their largest ever box office opening weekend of all time, due to the consistent hype of the film from Marvel fans and the amazing work of Watts and the cast.
The Amazing Plot
Tom Holland continues the Spider-Man timeline precisely where it was left off by director Jon Watts with No Way Home. The beginning of the plot reveals Spider-Mans identity as Tom’s character ‘Peter Parker’ to the public following Mysterio’s death in Spider-Man: Far From Home, released in 2019. Quickly re-introduced into the plot is Marvel hero, Dr Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who mistakenly opens the multi-verse when Peter Parker calls for his help, which we internally thank him for as our childhood dreams are unleashed.
Following the multiverse being exposed, old villains dating all the way back to the original 2002 Spider-Man film, make their return into actor Tom Holland’s life. Starring in Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3, villains Dr Octavius played by Alfred Molina and the infamous Green Goblin played by Willem Dafoe returned to our screens in hopes of getting revenge on their Peter Parker, known as Tobey Maguire. The hype didn’t stop there, as villains such as Sandman, Electro and Dr Connors from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ movies starring Andrew Garfield also appeared from the multiverse to fight off Spider-Man.
“With great power comes great responsibility”
The heartbreaking death of Aunt May also allowed us to see character development for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and really showcased his acting skills through his utter anguish. This moment also made a key link to Uncle Ben in the original Spider-Man with the famous quote, ‘With great power comes great responsibility, leading to many of us speculating in moments Maguire and Garfield would be returning to our screens.
If our expectations couldn’t get any better, Ned, Tom Holland’s best friend and ‘man in the chair’, opened up an entire other universe of nostalgia through time portals with the help of Dr Strange’s ‘sling ring’. In this comedic and history breaking scene fans screamed – yes literally – at the star appearances of previous Spider-Man Toby Maguire and 2012 Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield. It was incredibly nostalgic seeing all three actors of Spider-Man interact with each other, especially seeing the captivating relationship between Maguire and Garfield.
To top their star appearances off, director Jon Watts insured our greatest desires were met in Andrew Garfield’s performance catching character MJ, when Tom Holland is swept away by Green Goblin. This tearjerker really hit hard throughout the cinematic audience due to the ending of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at the death of Garfield’s love interest Gwen. This moment was also followed by cheers reportedly louder than in the 2019 release of Avengers Endgame.
In addition, the real Marvel fans who stayed for the post-film credits also witnessed another look into the potential MCU multiverse. Excitement was aroused through the teaser of actor Tom Hardy playing Eddie Brock in Venom entering the multiverse, followed by the trailer for Marvel’s new upcoming film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Speculations have already begun from Marvel fans about who will turn up in Marvel’s new release in May 2022.
Overall, it’s definitely fair to say that Jon Watt’s production of Spider-Man: No Way Home certainly delivered what fans wanted from the MCU.
Featured image courtesy of Joey Nicotra on Unsplash. Image licence found here. No changes have been made to this image.
