This story will contain spoilers for the new movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, so please stop reading if you haven’t yet seen the film. Seriously, we’re about to give up the entire farm.
Spider-Man: No Way Home shouldn’t exist. There are so many moments in Jon Watts’ new sequel that had me shaking my head in disbelief, literally saying aloud, “How did they pull this off?” And it’s not just the casting coups, though there are several of those. Bringing back the classic Spider-Man villains that have been shown in the trailer, giving additional scenes to character actors like Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe, nearly 20 years after they contributed to the franchise, shouldn’t be possible, and yet, they fit into the story being told on screen here. It’s a marvelous feat.
And yet, even in the parade of impossible moments, there are a handful that we keep bringing up every time we run into a friend or family member who just saw the movie. And the nerd tears once again start to flow. These are the moments that we’ve dreamed about seeing on the big screen, either in a Spider-Man movie, or a larger Marvel story. These are the moments that will have us returning to theaters over the holiday season to see them play out again. These are mine. What are yours?
Peter Parker and Matt Murdock share the screen.
Two of Marvel’s most iconic New York characters have been in movies and television shows before. But this is the first time that our teenage wallcrawler and the Man Without Fear have appeared together in the same movie, and in the same scene. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is in legal trouble following the accusations that he killed Mysterio at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. It’d make sense that Marvel’s most famous attorney, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), would come to his aid. This scene matters because Cox is carrying over from the Marvel Netflix shows, as will his nemesis Wilson Fisk in the upcoming finale of Hawkeye. So the Daredevil corner of the MCU is developing rapidly, and now we need to know if it will be a Disney+ series, or another big-screen feature.
Tom Holland finally gets his Goblin.
Spider-Man’s chief nemesis is Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. There’s a reason why Sam Raimi started his franchise with the Goblin as his primary villain, as well as why Sony shoehorned more Goblin action into Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man saga. Like Batman needs the Joker, Spider-Man usually needs a Goblin. But establishing one in Tom Holland’s MCU would have taken too much time, so the Multiverse allowed the BEST version of Norman to appear… and DAMN, was it worth the wait! Willem Dafoe is the sneaky MVP of Spider-Man: No Way Home, terrifying Holland’s Peter Parker and bringing the full weight of loss on the hero’s shoulders. Their condo fight immediately goes down as one of the best on-screen Spider-Man battles in movie history.
The loose recreation of the ‘Spider-Man Pointing’ meme.
If you are going to bring all three existing Spider-Men to the screen, you better come up with some kind of way for them to playfully acknowledge the impact they have had on pop culture, and the pointing meme is a solid nod. The moment in No Way Home might be the movie’s funniest scene, as Ned (Jacob Batalon) calls across the science lab for “Peter,” and all three actors respond. But in addition to being incredibly funny, and an excellent reference to the meme, the science scene shows a side of Peter Parker that’s too often overlooked – his intellect – and allowed the three generations of Spider-Man to properly develop their characters as they reminisced about best friends, lost loves, and where Tobey’s webbing comes from. I love this scene so very much.
The Statue of Liberty money shot.
That being said, you can’t go through the best moments of Spider-Man: No Way Home and not discuss the moment when the three Spider-Men finally figure out how to trust their tingles, work together as a team, and take each villain off the board one at a time. Everything about this sequence is brilliant, from Andrew Garfield’s perfect delivery of “Peter three!” to the coordinated swing of the three heroes, culminating in their landing on the Statue of Liberty’s crown. That shot, of three posed Spider-Men, will be framed on the walls of fans around the world once this movie is available for us to own, and we can grab hi-res versions of that historic, cinematic frame.
Andrew Garfield’s emotional reaction to saving MJ.
The general consensus on Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man is that he was an excellent choice to play the hero, but handed less-than-stellar material. There are plenty of aspects of the two Amazing Spider-Man movies to appreciate, and Garfield’s heartfelt relationship with Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy was a huge component. So the moment in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Andrew is able to achieve closure regarding his failure to catch Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, ranks as the most emotional and celebratory scene in Jon Watts’ sequel. Garfield gets one shot to convey the hurt and triumph his Peter was feeling in that beat. And his face shows all of the pain yet joy that comes with being Peter Parker. Yes, being a hero is what these guys do. They have no other choice. But Garfield’s face as he holds MJ (Zendaya) in his arms perfectly captures the highs and lows of that Spider-Man life, and it’s pure gold.
The final swing, in the perfect suit.
The moment when I actually cried in the theater. Tom Holland’s Peter has sacrificed everything. He even went back and found Ned and MJ, as he promised. But he left them alone, knowing that if he pulled them back into his web, he’d only ruin their lives. So, he’s on his own. He moves into a dingy apartment. He has a police scanner on his phone. And he has a HOMEMADE costume, with the perfect blend of reds and blues for the very first time in the MCU. The “final swing” is a staple of most Spider-Man movies, dating back to Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man. None of them are better than the one at the end of No Way Home. Spidey swinging over Rockefeller Center at Christmastime in the most comic-accurate suit we’ve even seen? Can’t be topped. It only hurts that we now have to wait a few years to see Holland’s next movie, when this suit should be on full display. But it’s so beautiful and perfect, it will be worth that wait.
