It's time to really multiverse this shit, baby.
— An excerpt from the author's summary
Where the Sunlight Ends
is a Slice of Life crossover fanfiction between the Spider-Man Trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man Series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, written by thelostcolony.
Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker (One) is entirely alone. With a nonexistent past, unstable present, and uncertain future, he decides to fall back on the only thing he really knows: being Spider-Man, no matter the cost.
Meanwhile, Peter Parker (Two) returns to a world he no longer fully recognizes, with the desire to help his counterparts, even though they are worlds away.
Finally, Peter Parker (Three) decides he's not quite ready to let go of his brothers. So he throws on his lab coat, hunkers down, and (with the help of a few new friends) gets to work on finding a way to see them again.
But, as is often the case with any Peter Parker, life doesn’t often go to plan…
The story is on hiatus, with the last update being on March 5th, 2022.
Where the Sunlight Ends contains examples of:
- Adaptational Expansion: Peter Three's universe incorporates both Bobby Drake and Hank Pym as Oscorp employees and researchers, respectively.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Taking inspiration from Andrew Garfield's ideas about where the character could go, Peter Three is openly bisexual, sharing a kiss with Bobby and briefly discussing their respective sexualities with him in Chapter 11.
- Air-Vent Passageway: Subverted; the air-vent that Peter One sleeps in during the time between the climax of No Way Home and that film's epilogue is cramped and uncomfortable, so Peter doesn't plan to use it for anything other than storage and sleep while he hunts for an apartment.
- Back from the Dead: Thanks to Peter One's persistence, as well as the butterfly effect, Norman, Otto, Harry, and Max end up surviving to the present day in their respective universes.
- Call-Back: Both to No Way Home and Spider-Man 2, when Otto reveals the arc reactor, which he has been "saving for a special occasion":The power of the sun.I'm coming, Peter thinks, determined and elated and sure, and extends the palm of his hand.
- Canon Foreigner: Marilyn Juárez seems to have been created specifically for this fic. However, Peter Three's Spider-Sense flares up to a low level whenever he sees her, so her exact identity is up in the air.
- Chekhov's Gun: The arc reactor that Otto took back to the Raimiverse in No Way Home comes back into play here, serving as a potential energy source for his and Peter Two’s portal.
- Deconstruction Fic: This fic serves as a mild one, diving into both the multiversal and personal consequences after the events of No Way Home.
- Peter Two, upon returning to his own universe, immediately feels like an impostor because of how differently the other Peter's life has gone. Thankfully, both Harry and Mary Jane disabuse him of that notion.
- Catching Michelle at the Statue of Liberty serves as a Superficial Solution for all of Peter Three's issues — he is still hesitant to trust people upon returning home and refuses to make long-term friends for fear of hurting them. Bobby manages to break through this wall through sheer persistence.
- Even though Norman Osborn has been redeemed, the PTSD of facing the Green Goblin during the events of both the first Spider-Man and No Way Home still lingers in Peter Two and occasionally manifests in near-uncontrollable flashes of panic and rage. One chapter opens with Peter Two attempting to remind (and convince) himself that Norman Osborn isn't the Green Goblin any more, and later has him attempting exposure therapy. While this ends up going well, Mary Jane and Peter still have contingencies for if it doesn't.
- How We Got Here: The first nine chapters dovetail neatly into the ending of No Way Home, with Peter One moving into his apartment and constructing his new suit before swinging off into the night.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Despite Norman being cured in No Way Home, Harry still adopts the New Goblin persona, albeit as a full-blown superhero.
- In Peter Three's universe, Gwen Stacy is still dead, which weighs heavily on Peter Three.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The setup for this fic requires one to have knowledge of No Way Home's ending in order to understand all three Peters' individual situations, as well as Otto Octavius, Norman Osborn, and Max Dillon's appearances in the story.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Max and Norman do not remember the events of No Way Home because they were cured via methods that still would have worked in their universe. Otto is the sole exception because he was cured with StarkTech, which then interfaced with the AI in his tentacles. Therefore, his AI was able to retain the memories because it was working in tandem with the new inhibitor chip, and the memories transferred over to Octavius.
- Mistaken for Gay: Inverted. Peter Three assumes that Bobby is straight, based on Bobby's Instagram pictures depicting him drinking out with girls at a bar, but Bobby reveals he has a boyfriend, and the women are just his friends.
- Shout-Out: After going into a mild dissociative state, the conscious part of Peter One refers to itself as “Narrator-Peter” and the unconscious part gets the designation of “Sim-Peter”
- Spotting the Thread: Though Max's memories of No Way Home were erased, he still decided to dismantle and study the device that cured him. He quickly discovered it was made out of material that wasn't even on his universe's periodic table, so when Peter Three recaps the events of No Way Home, Max is naturally inclined to believe his story.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Out of ideas and desperate for progress, Peter Three ends up breaking into Hank Pym's office to glean information about inter-dimensional travel. Marilyn catches him because she stayed late to finish up some work and points out that Peter could have just asked Pym for advice.
- That Man Is Dead: All but outright stated by Peter One in Chapter 12:[When the suit is] on and his mask is in place he feels held together. Contained. A different person, like Peter Parker is gone and there's nothing but Spider-Man that remains.Which is true. Peter Parker is gone.There's only Spider-Man, who's a hero, and Pietruccio, who's seventeen and alone and only good for delivering pizzas. No Peter Parker to speak of.
- True Companions: In Peter Two's new reality, MJ, Harry, and Harry's wife, Liz, all form a close-knit superhero team.
- Un-person: At one point, Peter explicitly mentions that Strange's spell at the end of No Way Home wiped his records from the face of the earth, leading him to take residence in one of the Baxter Building's air vents while hunting for an apartment.
- Wham Episode: A minor one in Chapter Six — While staying in the vents, Peter overhears a heated conversation between the new owners of the building — a "Ben" and "Richards", who are embarking on a project involving space travel.
