YMMV / Spider-Man: No Way Home

• Accidental Aesop:
  • When faced with a problem, make sure you have really exhausted all your options before doing something drastic. Sometimes, the perfect solution is simply a mundane one.
  • When doing something important, make sure you inform the parties that need it in advance to prevent complications.
  • You can't help people that don't want to be helped, and trying to force it upon them will only make them push back on you.
  • If you know someone has mental health issues, especially severe ones, keep in mind to look out for signs they might be having an episode.
  • Idealism may sound better than Cynicism, but it is often more difficult and costly. Ask yourself if you fully understand its costs, and whether it's worth it. Conversely, this can be looked at from the opposite angle; yes, remaining idealistic is often more difficult and costly, but that doesn't mean you should give up on it. It's important to do the right thing, regardless.
• Adorkable: Ned takes the cake, for example when he learns that he can use magic:
  Ned: I promise I won't turn into a supervillain and try to kill you.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • In his first scene, Otto knows that Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin, but a key plot point in his home trilogy is that no one but Peter knew this fact; in particular, Harry's character arc relies on this information not being public knowledge. Was Otto a Secret Secret-Keeper during the events of Spider-Man 2, or did he only realize it upon seeing and hearing Goblin's voice for the first time? Harry's butler is later revealed to have known the Goblin's identity and Otto and Norman seem to have already known each other, so Otto figuring it out already isn't impossible (and it adds a whole layer of implications to his alliance with Harry), but him realizing it on the bridge would also explain why he's so uncharacteristically irritable when he first explains Norman's past: he's in shock about the Goblin's identity.
  • Norman Osborn's desire to be cured and being horrified by the Goblin's actions raises questions regarding his actions in Spider-Man. Was Norman ALWAYS against being a monster and simply lacked the courage to stand up to the Goblin persona and seek help? Or was Norman fine being Goblin's accomplice in his home dimension as long as the people they targeted were those who wronged him, with Norman only fighting back now due to lacking any sort of score that needed to be settled in the MCU? If it's the latter, then that would make his redemption arc in the film a lot more complicated.
  • After Peter-2 gets stabbed by the Goblin, he brushes it off by saying "I've been stabbed before". However, given his reaction to the multiverse breaking open was "Is that happening or am I dying?", and his later remark that he's in "so much pain" after Peter-1 bids him and Peter-3 farewell, is it possible that Peter-2 was fatally wounded, but chose not to disclose the information to the others to prevent Peter-1 from relapsing into despair? That said, right before he and Peter-3 go back to their respective universes, he does get back on his feet, which is in line with his trilogy, where, he would take a severe beating Once an Episode, then he would finish the fight, then his Healing Factor would kick in, and within the next few hours, he would be back in fighting shape again, meaning he is probably okay, just in pain.
• Alternative Joke Interpretation: "Like, does it just come out of your wrists or… does it come out of anywhere else?" Most viewers (and America Chavez) seem to interpret this as Peter-2's web coming out of his butt. However, James and Maso of The Weekly Planet once joked about his web being stored in his balls, so some interpret it that way. In the More Fun Stuff extended edition, Peter-3 says he would like to see the holes and Peter-2 reacts to that by (what it appears to be) glancing down at his crotch, indicating that that might have been the intended joke there.
• Ass Pull:
  • The very cause of the central conflict of the movie is arguably this. Even with the explanation of magic, a botched memory spell somehow causing a multiversal calamity by drawing in every single person who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man from every single universe is very questionable logic. Strange's line of "This shouldn't be possible" while explaining the situation to Peter indicates that even he knows the situation makes no sense.
  • Peter's body is somehow able to very quickly dodge Dr. Strange on its own without Peter's soul in it. He and Strange lampshade this.
  • Ned suddenly being able to summon portals with Strange's sling ring by sheer coincidence at the start of the third act. There is absolutely zero indication that Ned has the potential to perform any sorcery before in previous films, and even in this movie the only instance of any foreshadowing is Ned offhandedly mentioning that 'magic runs in my family' to Strange when he arrives at the Sanctum Sanctorum earlier in the movie, with no indication if this is indeed true or not. Strange himself requires a long period of time (and being forced into a do-or-die scenario by the Ancient One who left him on the verge of freezing to death on the Everest) before he is even able to summon a portal in his own movie, yet Ned is able to perform it without any prior training at all. Granted, he doesn't actually know how the skill works and doesn't know how to close it, yet it can still feel like the ability suddenly comes out of nowhere narrative-wise just so Peter-2 and Peter-3 can appear into the plot. Of course, the real explanation is that the one summoning portals was originally mean to be America Chavez, as Multiverse of Madness was supposed to take place before this movie, meaning they had to give the portal-summoning to someone else when the release's dates changed, in order to to avoid spoiling America's existence in the MCU.
  • Upon arriving in the MCU, not only does Electro regain his human body, but his electricity inexplicably turns yellow, and he gets a completely different physical appearance than he had in his previous film. It's never really explained what caused this, except that apparently the energy of the MCU is "different" (whatever that means). Even the Lizard finds this odd, and openly asks Max what happened to him to be so different when he meets up with him, but he gets no real answer.
  • Max's arrival in the MCU in and on itself is an example of this, as the spell only pulled in people from the multiverse who are aware of Peter Parker's Secret Identity. Max never found out who Spider-Man was in his movie and even in this movie, he is surprised by the fact that his Spider-Man isn't black, meaning, logically, the spell shouldn't have worked on him.
• Award Snub:
  • Considering the hype surrounding the film both prior to and then after its release—as well as the high praise from both fans and critics as well—it was the hope of many that the film would receive a Best Picture nomination not just to pay tribute to the film itself, but to the Spider-Man mythos in general—especially with all three of them in there. It was not nominated though. In the end, the film was only nominated for one Oscar in Best Visual Effects, which it lost to Dune: Part One, causing outrage in the Marvel fandom.
  • Many thought the Academy creating a category determined by social media for "Oscars Fan Favorite" was a way to acknowledge the popularity of No Way Home. It ended fourth, surpassed by three artists with very vocal fandoms, namely Johnny Depp (Minamata), Camila Cabello (Cinderella) and Zack Snyder (Army of the Dead).
  • Willem Dafoe was the clear favorite to win the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain 19 years after his first nomination for his performance as the Green Goblin (where he was beaten by Daveigh Chase for The Ring). Instead, in a shocking turn of events, Daniel Radcliffe won for The Lost City.
• Broken Base:
  • The fanservice aspect, particularly the old characters being brought into the MCU. Are said characters integrated well into MCU's comedic atmosphere, or is the fact that said characters coming from Darker and Edgier universes being brought into the Denser and Wackier MCU creating something of a Culture Clash?
  • The movie's climax resulting in Peter erasing his identity via Cosmic Retcon has been contentious within the fandom. One half considers it a brilliant move, as it allows Spider-Man to return to his roots as a solo working-class hero without any connections to Tony Stark or the Avengers as a whole. The other half considers Peter's new status quo to be a step down from what he originally had, due to losing pretty much his entire supporting cast in one fell swoop after spending so much time developing them as characters. Even a number of fans who wanted Peter to have less direct ties to Stark and the Avengers thought the ending took it way too far in the opposite direction.
  • Ned's ability to open a portal. Some point out that his magical powers were never foreshadowed prior to this movie, meaning that it seems like it comes out of nowhere; others feel that it's a decently intriguing twist, and point out that Strange's problem when he first learned the Sling Ring was arrogance and a need to control everything, definitely not problems Ned has.
    • The film revealed that its original plan was to have America Chavez open the portals and introduce Peter-1 to the other Spider-Men. ^note The film was originally supposed to come out after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but changed due to some production issues and the pandemic. This information split fans, with some saying that it was a good choice that the writers went with Ned as they didn't like the character of America Chavez from the comics. Others didn't like it because of how it was described that she would simply drop the Spider-Men off out of nowhere, making the original scene sound underwhelming. Others however, thought that America Chavez would have made a lot more sense opening the portals and finding the other Spider-Men than Ned.
  • Who is more to blame for the events of the film: Peter, for not thinking to take more realistic and mature steps to try and get his friends into college, or Strange, for suggesting they erase the world's memory of Peter's identity without explaining fully what that would mean to Peter? Those in the former think that Peter should have at least considered the more rational option before jumping into such a brash and dangerous one. While those in the latter think that Strange, being an adult with decades more experience and maturity than Peter, had responsibility to explain to Peter all the ramifications of the spell.
  • Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock appearing in The Stinger and leaving behind a piece of his Symbiote. A harmless, amusing cameo that efficiently sets up the iconic Black Costume Saga, or a forced shilling by Sony of their own, highly controversial universe that now forever needlessly ties any potential MCU version of Venom to a much lower-quality version of the character? The answer, obviously, depends mostly on the individual's feelings on Sony's Venom films.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Mysterio's attempt at framing Peter quickly gets shot down by Matt Murdock's legal expertise, which posthumously inflicts Laser-Guided Karma on the Psychopathic Manchild Narcissist.
  • Each of the alternate universe Peters get a chance to right, at the very least symbolically, their greatest failures from their respective films.
    • Webb-Verse Peter/Peter-3 saving MJ from dying in the Final Battle, being able to redeem himself from being unable to save Gwen all those years ago. Many movie reactions are shown to be screaming and crying in happiness along with Andrew Garfield.
    • Raimi-Verse Peter/Peter-2 both caused the death of Uncle Ben's presumed killer and witnessed Osborn die after getting impaled with his own glider, kickstarting the chain of events that would eventually end with Harry's death. Here, he gets a chance to stop Peter from going through revenge and Osborn from meeting the same fate, presumably also saving that version's Harry in the process.
  • Doc Ock emerging as a super hero after his Redemption Equals Death/Heel–Face Door-Slam in his debut film.
  • It may have been Goblin's plan all along, but watching MCU Peter punch the ever-loving shit out of him during their second bout after Goblin killed Aunt May was so satisfying.
  • Andrew Garfield's very divisive take being treated as a hero and Tobey Maguire's Peter even giving him a pep talk and telling him he's amazing is immensely satisfying for fans of those films who hated how much his version was dismissed or treated unfairly.
• Common Knowledge:
  • A criticism the movie gets a lot is that Ned could’ve opened multiple portals to get help from multiple iterations of Peter Parker, but stops at two. Other people say the scene is a further Ass Pull regarding Ned’s proficiency with magic if he can apparently open portals to other universes. Except, Ned didn't actually open a portal all the way to Earth-120703 and Earth-96283. The Webb-Verse Peter and Raimi-Verse Peter were already in the MCU, thanks to Doctor Strange’s spell; Webb-Verse Peter explicitly says “but yesterday, I was here”, and even the Raimi-Verse Peter implies he’s been in the MCU for quite some time when he says “I’ve been trying to find [MCU-Peter] ever since I got here”). Ned’s portals opened in the parts of MCU’s New York City and just allowed the Peters to travel from one location of the MCU to another (and in fact are limited entirely to the city).
  • Some viewers take issue with Sandman saying that the public in the Raimi films knew Norman Osborne was the Green Goblin and how he was killed by his own glider, pointing out that it undermines Harry's character arc in the second and third films. However, Sandman says it was the Green Goblin that people knew died that way, not Norman. The intention by the line seems to be that Peter, as Spider-Man, told reporters that the Green Goblin died after their final battle in the first film, not Norman, with there being no mention that people knew the two were the same person. Though oddities like Otto Octavius knowing Norman was the Goblin in their first scene in the film don't help things, it's doubtful the writers meant to retcon the Raimi trilogy like that.
• Continuity Lock-Out: In order to fully understand everything in this film, you need to be familiar with the entire backlog of three separate cinematic franchises: the Marvel Cinematic Universe (through Phase Three), the Spider-Man Trilogy, and The Amazing Spider-Man Series (plus the Venom films for The Stinger). You could get away with just the MCU and still understand the general plot, but you'd miss out on a lot of references and character development from the other franchises. And who is the blind lawyer Peter hired, you ask, and how'd he catch that brick despite being blind? Might as well add Daredevil (2015) to the bingelist. In short, you'll have needed to watch thirty-nine other movies/TV shows to get the full experience.
• Ending Fatigue: There's a final fight with Electro/Sandman/Lizard, then one with Green Goblin, then the multiverse thread has to be resolved resulting in goodbyes with the other spideys and MJ/Ned. And then a failed reunion with MJ/Ned, a final meeting with Happy and then a look at Peter's new life and it last ends after a web-swing sequence.
• Esoteric Happy Ending:
  • In Electro's new timeline, while he himself will be spared his fate, Harry is still about to ambush the trio and he now has no ability to help without his powers, meaning that the Gwen of that timeline is almost certainly still going to die.
  • Given the circumstances of the spell, Otto will return to the moment when his second fusion reactor goes haywire, and with one less tentacle to use thanks to the Green Goblin, things may not turn out well for Otto and that timeline's Peter and Mary Jane.
  • How much are their timelines completely changed with the healing of the various character's minds before their deaths. The Lizard and Green Goblin being healed means that the sequels to their respective movies are undoubtedly very different.
• Even Better Sequel: The movie has been gaining the best reviews of the MCU Spider-Man movies so far, with the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes being 93% compared to Spider-Man: Homecoming's 92% and Spider-Man: Far From Home's 90%, and the IMDB score currently being an 8.3 compared to Homecoming and Far From Home's 7.4. It also is seen to be far better than either Spider-Man 3 or The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
• Evil is Cool: Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin was beloved in Spider-Man, and he once again knocks it out of the park in his return.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: The most common tweak to the plot of this movie in fan works is to pull in other characters who know Peter's identity alongside the villains and see what happens. Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy is the most common one, but James Franco's Harry Osborn comes in a close second, both as friend and foe.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • What's been happening in the Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man Series universes in the intervening years? It helps that Garfield's Peter discusses only his general emotional state since that time, leaving his specific experiences to the imagination, while Maguire's Peter, at Maguire's own request, says virtually nothing about what's become of his life aside from his continued relationship with Mary Jane. Another curiosity would be what both Spider-Men were doing before Ned and MJ found them, as they both admit to have been in the MCU for at least a day after Strange's spell went awry.
  • What has Matt Murdock been doing since he was last seen? Was he still around during the 5 years of the Snap? And better yet, how did he come in contact with Peter and defend him during his trial?
  • Following the ending, many writers have begun penning their own follow-ups depicting the time when Peter eventually decides to reintroduce himself to Ned and MJ, or their memories somehow return.
  • What became of the villains when they were cured and returned to their universes, and how did that impact their respective timelines?
  • In The Stinger, Eddie and Venom leave a Symbiote sample behind before returning to their universe, setting up an adaptation of the Black Suit Saga. Who will be the MCU's Venom? Will it be Flash Thompson? Mac Gargan? Does Eddie Brock exist in the MCU?
• Fan Nickname:
  • The three Spider-Men are usually just referred to as Tobey, Andrew, and Tom to distinguish them from each other.
  • Almost as popular is naming Tobey and Andrew's universes after the directors of both film series (Raimi Peter/Spider-Man for Tobey and Webb Peter/Spider-Man) while Tom is the MCU Peter/Spider-Man (as he was directed by more than one director and his franchise is considered a portion of the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe).
  • Marvel's website has officially dubbed Tobey's version "The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" and Andrew's "The Amazing Spider-Man," prompting fans to throw out similar suggestions for Tom's (Marvelous, Ultimate, Spectacular, Sensational, etc.).
  • The three Spider-Men together are referred by some as "Spider-Bros".
• Fanon Discontinuity: There exists a camp of fans who, while still loving the film's ending and its message, wish to ignore or rewrite the part with Peter choosing not to reconnect with MJ and Ned despite them making him promise to find them again after the memory wipe.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: When behind the scenes set photos revealed that a fight scene was filmed between the Green Goblin and the Raimi-Verse Spider-Man, but ended up in the cutting room floor, fans, especially of the Spider-Man Trilogy were very disappointed, considering how personal an enemy Green Goblin was to that incarnation of Spider-Man, to the point that his presence was felt throughout the trilogy even after his death and how throughout the movies, it is implied to be Peter’s big failure (which is outright confirmed here). The extended “More Fun Stuff Version”, released in September 2022, unfortunately doesn't include the scene in question.
• Friendly Fandoms: With fans of Zack Snyder's Justice League, at least regarding the reaction to Andrew Garfield's return in this movie, and the burgeoning support for the #MakeTASM3 movement, as Zack Snyder's Justice League demonstrated that fan support could sway executives into supporting/releasing previously shelved projects. Many of the fans that encouraged the #ReleaseTheSnyderverse movement also use the #MakeTASM3 hashtag to show support. Similarly, fans of the Raimi movies have also begun a similar movement for a fourth movie using the #MakeRaimiSpiderMan4 hashtag.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The spell that Peter Parker asked Dr. Strange to cast for him nearly goes out of control and could have caused a universal catastrophe. Come Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and we meet Sinister Strange, whose use of The Darkhold's forbidden arts, left his own universe in ruins and killed everyone in it.
  • Three Marvel universes crossing over was awesome, but come Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's revelations, the Peters and their rogues (plus Eddie and Venom) were risking a (or maybe they actually did trigger an upcoming) four-way Incursion. And while the extra-universal visitors were sent back to their home realities, Reed states that the chance of an Incursion increases "the larger the footprint you leave behind". What did the non-MCU characters do in this movie? Aunt May died, the Statue of Liberty was wrecked, everyone forgot who Peter was, at least three villains doomed to die were sent back with a fresh start while five variant timelines were created, and a symbiote was born and left behind in the wrong universe. That's a plenty big footprint.
  • Another thing related to the multiverse: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania reveals that the Council of Kangs is concerned by anyone not them discovering the multiverse, as it could lead to the Council's defeat. While the MCU has already been marked thanks to the Pym-Lang family defeating The Exile, the characters from the Raimiverse, Webbverse, and SSU now have big red targets on their backs.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Ned Leeds discovers his affinity for magic, and gets the idea that he might turn evil and try to kill Peter just like Harry Osborne (in two other universes!). Now Jacob Batalon is set to star in his own television series Reginald the Vampire, where (as the title already spoils) he gets turned into a vampire... just like Morbius.
  • When Peter first meets Doctor Strange and Wong, Strange notes that Wong technically only got the title of Sorcerer Supreme because of a technicality due to Strange being snapped for five years. As She-Hulk: Attorney at Law would reveal, Wong needed to to fight against a worthy opponent to prove himself worthy for the title of Sorcerer Supreme, which he was only able to do by fighting the Abomination in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Considering that this fight happened after Strange was brought back to life by the Blip, Strange's bitterness about Wong holding the title is much more understandable (and funny) knowing all this.
  • This film finally gives MCU Pete its Uncle Ben Moment, which the narrative and fans alike have said helped make Pete mature into a proper crimefighter. A few years later, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse(which explicitly references this film's events) asks the Driving Question of whether or not a Spider needs an Uncle Ben Moment(like the one this Peter just had) for them to rise to the occasion, to which Miles desperately wants to answer "no".
• Ho Yay:
  • The new and unexplained close relationship between the film's versions of Otto Octavius and Norman Osborn, resulting in a pairing that's quickly become popular among fans. Partly due to Otto and Norman's awestruck and overjoyed reunion after Octavius is cured, and quotes like "Norman's on sabbatical, honey" really don't help.
  • While it can alternately be seen as brotherly, there's a surprisingly amount of affection Peter 2 and Peter 3 give each other throughout their short time in Peter 1's universe, even as the latter looks after the wounded former while their younger variant goes to talk to Doctor Strange.
• Hype Backlash: This was almost inevitable given the film's massive success deeming it as one of the best Spider-Man, MCU, and comic book movies ever made caused some to be turned off by its excessive popularity. There are also genuine detractors who believe the film largely benefits from Pandering to the Base and addressing common complaints regarding past Spider-Man films.
• I Knew It!:
  • After Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina confirmed that they would be reprising their roles as Electro and Doctor Octopus, respectively, many fans predicted that Willem Dafoe would also be returning as the Green Goblin, which the first trailer and teaser poster confirmed.
  • This process later repeated for Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church as their respective iterations of The Lizard and Sandman.
  • The idea of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield appearing as their respective versions of Spider-Man was planted not only by the premise and trailers — "Tom Holland's Spider-Man faces down villains from previous continuities, reprised by those actors" — but by the existence of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where a Massive Multiplayer Crossover was one of the film's central conceits... but the one thing we never actually got was Multiple Peter Parkers.^note There were only two, and they were Not as You Know Them.
  • The theory that Charlie Cox would appear as Matt Murdock to act as Peter's legal defense was highly speculated ever since the end of Far From Home, and continued to build traction after the first trailer dropped.
  • Tom Hardy showing up as Eddie Brock/Venom was also highly anticipated, especially after The Stinger of Venom: Let There Be Carnage had the two of them warping to the MCU inexplicably.
  • From the moment that MJ falling from the Statue of Liberty and Tom's Spidey diving down to rescue her was shown in the official trailer, quite a few people predicted that Tom would fail, and Andrew Garfield's Spidey would be the one to rescue her, finally getting redemption for failing to save Gwen.
  • Many guessed that Aunt May would die, and it would be Green Goblin who killed her.
  • People speculated that the reason why Venom recognized MCU Peter in The Stinger of Venom: Let There Be Carnage was because its connection to the symbiote hivemind gave it memories of Peter Parker from some other universe's Venom variant (the incarnation from Spider-Man 3 in particular being singled out). The writers of No Way Home eventually confirmed this to be true, though they didn't specify which variant of Eddie Brock/Venom the symbiote took knowledge from.
• Improved Second Attempt: Much like how Captain America: Civil War redeemed many aspects of the original Civil War, No Way Home also reworked many aspects of one of the film's inspirations, the universally hated One More Day.
  • For starters, Spider-Man goes to Doctor Strange to cast the memory-erasing spell rather than Mephisto, making the results of the spell ring less like a villain winning in wreaking havoc on a hero's life and more like Spider-Man performing a Heroic Sacrifice for the greater good.
  • The spell also doesn't relate to May Parker in the slightest. Originally, May was shot by a hitman hired by The Kingpin thanks to Spider-Man's secret being out, and he selfishly chose to make the deal with Mephisto to save her life even though she outright said he needed to let her go. Here, the focus is solely placed on Spider-Man's secret identity, which, due to the ramifications of Strange’s initial spell, risks the destruction of the entire universe if Peter doesn't go through with it. May's death is also indirectly caused by the spell due to her dying at the Green Goblin's hands, rather than serving as a Cosmic Retcon to bring her back. As such, Peter isn't able to bring her back to life at any point, allowing her passing to truly weigh down on him.
  • The split between Peter and Mary Jane as a consequence of the spell, the most hated aspect of the original story, is re-contextualized in a manner that makes it sting less. In the original comic, their relationship had advanced far enough that they were married for 20 real life years, and the marriage erasure was the result of Executive Meddling due to the dislike of Peter's marital status. In the film, the shorter timeframe of Peter and Michelle's relationship and both of them being teenagers meant they were only boyfriend and girlfriend, making the erasure easier to swallow, while still tragic.
• It Was His Sled: Between the leaks and build-up accidentally spoiling them, to trailers shortly after the movie's theater release blatantly showcasing it as a primary advertising point, everyone knows this is the Spider-Man movie with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire appearing as their original Spider-Man selves partway through. Of course, this helps deflect away from more real twists, like Aunt May's death or the total erasure of Peter Parker as an identity anyone ever knew within the whole of the MCU.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains:
  • Many found the female bystander harassing Spider-Man and MJ only to play the victim card when Spidey pushes her away in the opening to be the most loathsome character in the movie, even more so than Green Goblin or J. Jonah Jameson who, despite them doing much more to personally hurt Spidey, are at least entertaining to watch thanks to the actors playing them.
  • There is also the Damage Control agent Agent Cleary interrogating Peter and his loved ones, who uses blatantly underhanded tactics including trickery and gaslighting. Fortunately, at least his attempts to harass and prosecute the heroes are shot down by Matt Murdock's legal expertise.
• Just Here for Godzilla: In general, Spider-Man fans who aren't jazzed about Marvel Studios' take on the IP, or prefer either of the previous iterations of the franchise over the current one, have expressed interest in No Way Home due to the movie bringing several characters back for the first time in a long while after it was previously believed that they'd never return. Especially Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Others were more excited to see Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock once more, or seeing what happened to Tom Hardy's version of Eddie Brock and Venom in The Stinger.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • Were they really going to let the Green Goblin kill Maguire Spider-Man, one of the most beloved portrayals of the character? Thankfully, and hilariously even, he simply says he's been stabbed before and even gets back on his feet, even if he's in some serious pain.
  • There was probably very little chance that Peter was going to attend MIT, since he's an iconic New Yorker. They had him travel to Boston in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012), but he missed The Big Apple too much, and noted that there were a lot less high rise buildings to swing from.
  • Were they seriously going to have MJ fall to her death after showing her fall in the trailer, given the lengths the trailers went to hide other big plot points?
• Love to Hate:
  • Green Goblin is a malicious monster but he's enjoyable to watch because Willem Dafoe plays the role with such relish.
  • The MCU version of J. Jonah Jameson is a total scumbag, but he's a highlight because J. K. Simmons is having such a ball reprising the role.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Ned Leeds, of all characters, was given the Fan Nickname of "The CEO of Sex" after the movie was released, thanks in part to the fandom finding his actor, Jacob Batalon, to radiate high levels of coolness and relatability in interviews. It's usually paired with this picture◊ of Batalon from the premiere of Spider-Man: Homecoming, where he's dressed in a suit while on his phone.
  • Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man has been seen as a Memetic Loser ever since his failure to save Gwen Stacy during his second film. This film not only removes that status, but upgrades him to this, by having him save MJ from a similar fate. Fans have since depicted him saving various other characters in a similar fashion without failure.
  • How does Matt Murdock pull off all the impressive physical feats he does? Because he's "a really good lawyer".
  • While the Tobey Maguire version of Spider-Man was always a Memetic Badass (as Bully Maguire), his appearance in the movie, him being physically superior to the other Spider-Men, his Big Brother Instinct towards them makes many fans joke that they basically canonised Bully Maguire.
• Moral Event Horizon: The Green Goblin crosses the line by murdering May, something that has never happened in any of the Spider-Man movies, albeit May has been killed off before in other incarnations of the franchise.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • The various musical cues tied to the legacy characters reappearing, with the use of the late James Horner's "Promises" and Danny Elfman's "Responsibility" near the end of the film being standouts.
  • The iconic themes of the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Electro are all reprised when each of them arrives in the MCU.
  • Many were also ecstatic to hear Willem Dafoe's famously deep, menacing, and delightful Green Goblin voice again, especially whenever he laughs.
  • The unique sounds for Tobey and Andrew's web shooters have a very welcome return. The sound for Tobey's Spidey Sense can also be heard when Goblin makes his appearance at the final battle.
• Narm: Peter's Curse Cut Short at the start of the movie: there is a clear Beat between Peter's line and car horn making it obvious Tom Holland really just said "What the ffff...."
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Charlie Cox, you have been sorely missed as Matt Murdock. In his short amount of time in the movie, he's able to clear Peter of his legal charges and demonstrate his powers in catching a brick meant to seriously injure the Parkers.
  • Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and Venom make an enjoyable appearance in the stinger, as they try to piece together what has happened in the MCU while completely wasted. And while they have no impact on the plot, they do set up this universe's own symbiote arc.
  • A negative example includes a female bystander in the beginning of the film and Agent Cleary. For them see Jerks Are Worse Than Villains above in regards to characters in their short screen time to be downright loathsome.
  • The man who tries to dive onto and catch Peter and MJ as they swing away from the crowd in the opening scene for his hilariously poorly thought-out actions.
• Pandering to the Base: This film seemed to really be trying to appease every segment of the Spider-Man movie fanbase, with nods and Easter Eggs for all three live-action iterations of the film franchise.
• Play-Along Meme: After Doctor Strange uses a memory-erasing spell to eliminate the memory of Peter Parker's identity out of the minds of the everyone on the planet at the end of the film, some fans played along by pretending the spell had affected them too, reacting in confusion to the appearance of the character whose identity was erased whenever it was mentioned or appeared in other installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The scenes of Peter being shamed by mobs and being treated like a monster can be scarier than the multiverse horrors because they can happen in real life. Especially the scene where Peter, Ned, and MJ are denied from all of their college applications and potentially their futures because of a prominent rumor.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: This happened to Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man. For years his iteration of the character was widely reviled and considered inferior to Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland's iterations and it was common for him to be referred to as "the worst Spider-Man". Since the release of this movie, Garfield's Spider-Man has been viewed in a more positive light than before. There have even been fans clamoring for his franchise to be revived.
• Salvaged Story:
  • After major divergences from the comics' status quo (Peter being mentored and supplied with tech by Tony Stark instead of being a home-grown and more working-class hero, and his secret identity being exposed), the movie concludes with Peter losing his ties to Stark and even many of his friends, returning him to his roots of being a loner. Fans who weren't pleased with how he was given high-tech gear that often solved his problems for him will likely enjoy how the final shots of the film show him building his own costume. And the fact that MCU Peter doesn't make that many references to Uncle Ben's death as an influence on his heroic career is remedied, in a very bleak way, by Aunt May dying and telling him that "with great power there must also come great responsibility", a catch-phrase that's been conspicuously absent in previous installments. Though while Ben himself is not mentioned, some feel his presence in Peter's life is still implied in a few ways (he seems to recognize Peter 2 talking about his dead uncle, and the grave directly next to May's isn't shown).
  • Likewise, the film emphasizes Peter's credentials as a Science Hero: his understanding of mathematics allows him to predict the geometry of the Mirror Dimension and win a fight against Dr. Strange, and the finale involves him and the other Peters engineering equipment to depower the villains attacking them. They even do so in a high school science lab, in contrast to how the previous scene had Peter engineering similar tech with high-tech Stark Industries equipment, further underscoring that Peter's intelligence isn't dependent on Tony's help.
  • After decades of criticism and complaints, when the Raimi-Verse Spider-Man finally arrives in this movie, he is considerably chattier and snarkier than before, even having some great laugh out loud moments compared to his movies' lesser inclusion of comedy with his character.
  • Another common criticism of Raimi-Verse Spider-Man is that he wasn't smart enough, as while he's a good student and able to comprehend advanced science like that Osborn and Octavius worked on, he doesn't do much of any inventing himself, particularly since he gets webbing as part of his superpowers rather than a gadget and chemical of his own design. Here he's shown to be intellectually on par with the other two Spider-Men, and even creates a cure for the psychosis caused by the Goblin formula, which MCU Peter wasn't able to do even with the help of Octavius, Osborn, and Stark technology. Though he has of course had a lot longer to think about it.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man 2 received criticism for ending on a triumphant hopeful note that felt as if it brushed aside how much Gwen Stacy's death affected Peter. This film reveals that it has still had an effect on him and even gives the grief that death caused him a proper conclusion by having him save Michelle Jones, this universe's main love interest to Peter.
  • Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker was generally considered the best part of his movies (alongside Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy) and viewers felt it was unfortunate he got shackled with films that didn't give him a chance to really leave his mark. As soon as he arrives here, he gets to showcase everything that he brings to the table and gives one of the best performances in the movie. This was so impactful, it reignited interest in his duology and his take on Spider-Man, to the point #MakeTASM3 began trending shortly after, and has been consistently doing so since.
  • Some people found Andrew's Peter Parker Unintentionally Unsympathetic for mocking and making fun of Max Dillon when he was freaking out in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, even before becoming a supervillain. Here, he explicitly tells the other Peters that Max used to be the sweetest guy before his accident and after their fight, he and Max share a Friendship Moment, with Peter assuring him that he is not a nobody and Max accepting his friendship.
  • The Green Goblin's mask, a detail that some fans have considered silly or unnecessary, is destroyed by Osborn in his second scene, and his outfit (which incorporates a shredded purple hoodie over his armor) also makes him look more like his comics counterpart. The lack of a mask also allows Willem Dafoe to go all in on his terrifying facial expressions, which some fans, including no less than "Weird Al" Yankovic himself, wish there was more of in the first Spider-Man movie.
  • Electro is given several retools in response to the criticisms of his first outing. Namely, his blue skin from his original movie was a very contentious idea, as some thought it looked awesome and others thought it looked ridiculous. Here, the issue is sidestepped entirely; while he's blue in his first scene, he gets his body back once the fight is over. He similarly wears an outfit based more closely on his traditional green-and-yellow ensemble, and has golden electricity radiating from his face to evoke the lightning-bolt mask of that costume. Just to top it off, while Jamie Foxx's performance in the original was praised as doing the absolute best with what he was given, Electro's personality is reworked so that he is much more self-confident and snarky, an archetype Foxx excels at and which allows him to further make Max shine as a character.
  • Some people found it baffling how the Sandman in Spider-Man 3 doesn't talk at all in his sand form and only growls and roars. Here, Sandman, like the Lizard, spends 99% of his screentime in his sand form and is no longer The Unintelligible. In fact, in the scene where he returns to his human form, he has no lines.
  • For once, the main villains have nothing to do with Tony Stark, which Vulture and Mysterio were criticized for in the past two MCU Spider-Man films. Tony's technology comes into play in various ways - the replicator is used to cure the villains, Electro uses an arc reactor for a power boost, and Octavius takes said reactor back to his universe with him - but outside of that and a brief reference from Happy, his actual posthumous presence is very small. Heck, even then Happy doesn’t actually refer to him by name.
  • After years of the rest of the MCU treating the Netflix shows like they don't exist, to the point where many feared they had been placed under Canon Discontinuity, Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock has a brief but impactful cameo as Peter's lawyer who gets the charges against him dismissed.
  • A lot of fans frequently complained in previous MCU movies that an older, more experienced protagonist (Tony Stark in Homecoming, Nick Fury in Far From Home) always seemed to be forced into a mentor-like role for Spider-Man, which only diminished the character's self-worth in their eyes. This film attempts to remedy this by giving Doctor Strange a very hands-off role when it comes to dealing with Peter's problems, and he actively clashes with Peter more than he actually assists him. The mentor role is fulfilled by the other Spider-Men, the best people to advise Peter regarding his powers and what it means to be Spider-Man, as they used their experience to help Peter, and even then in the Final Battle, it's MCU Peter taking the initiative due to being the only Spider-Man who has experience with a team. The world having the memory of Peter Parker wiped from their minds also serves to give Peter more independence overall, as it ensures he has no one to go to for help in the future.
  • On the Character Rerailment note, Aunt May in the MCU was seen as somewhat of a waste of Marisa Tomei's talents, with more attention going to her sex appeal and brief romance with Happy than her deeply important relationship with Peter or anything character related. This film not only gives her character more wisdom, with the scene featuring Norman and the "Great Responsibility" line being key highlights of this, but also gives her more agency and impact on Peter's life through her death, which both serves as the MCU's version of Uncle Ben's death for Peter going forward and drives him to act the way he does in the third act. Dropping the references to her being attractive and downplaying (though still referencing) any romances also help.
  • From her introduction, Michelle Jones has been a Base-Breaking Character due to her snarky Holier Than Thou attitude being a large part of her character. Although she's still fairly snarky here, it's toned down considerably as she's much more focused on supporting Peter and helping out however she can. Even when she loses her memory of him at the end, despite how awkward it is when they meet again, she's still much friendlier to him than she was when they first met.
  • The way that each of the different film continuities are now treated as their own Alternate Universe, each with their own unique takes and characteristics on the franchise, really helps alleviate the problems that people have with each of them, encouraging audiences to enjoy them in spite of their differences to each other as well as the comics, treating them as complementary to each other rather than competing. This even gets lampshaded in a conversation between the previous Spider-Mans where one says he's lame compared to the others, while his earlier counterpart tells him that he's "Amazing" and just as much of a Spider-Man as they are.
  • Many fans disliked the way that Spider-Man 3 destroyed Peter and Mary Jane's romance after the previous two films dedicated so much time to the journey of them becoming a couple, feeling that the two of them getting sent back to square one of needing to rebuild their friendship due to symbiote-influenced Peter's idiocy made the whole romance plot of the trilogy a "Shaggy Dog" Story. This film has Peter 2 confirm that they actually did work out their differences and work as a couple after all, making the romance plot of their trilogy no longer feel pointless.
  • Prior Marvel and/or Spider-Man films often faced the challenge reintroducing characters that had been featured in prior adaptations. Retelling the characters' origin stories led to feelings of It's the Same, Now It Sucks!, but introducing them without an origin story or with a highly truncated one led to complaints that they were underdeveloped or underused compared to their prior counterparts. This film sidesteps the issue by pulling in existing versions of these characters from the multiverse, allowing Spider-Man to face off against iconic members of his Rogues Gallery like Doc Ock and the Green Goblin without having to retread their origin stories or character arcs.
  • One of the previous movie's biggest complaints was how Tony Stark basically granted a miniature version of Project Insight to a young and inexperienced teenager without any thought of the consequences or the weight of the responsibility crushing Peter, which led to Mysterio's rampage across London. This film rectifies that issue by virtue of E.D.I.T.H. being seized (by Damage Control, no less) within the first 15 minutes and Stark Industries slated for a lawsuit for Spider-Man's (supposed) actions.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The teaser revealed that not only would Spider-Man be exploring the multiverse in full, but it would also feature the return of Alfred Molina as the very same iteration of Doctor Octopus all the way back from Spider-Man 2 — a role he hasn't played since 2004. The trailer adds an extra wrinkle in that it really is the same character from the Raimi film, and it appears that the main conflict Peter has will be whether or not he sends the villains back to their own universe to die like they're supposed to!
  • Even though his presence was long rumored, and statements from Kevin Feige clued fans in that Charlie Cox would return, it's still a shock when none other than Matt Murdock shows up as Peter's lawyer.
  • Although spoiled to hell and back by an abundance of leaks, it was really difficult to believe that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire would actually return as their versions of Spider-Man halfway through the film, much less fight alongside Tom Holland. But they did, and had significant roles in the ongoing plot, which was a pleasant surprise to many.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • In select versions of the second trailer, during the climactic shot of Spider-Man swinging towards Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard (which actually features all three Peter Parkers in the film proper), the Lizard could clearly be seen getting hit in the face by something that had been edited out, which was one of the final clues the fandom needed to guess that Tobey and Andrew were coming back.
  • Despite the film doing a great job of averting this, there are some scenes of Doctor Strange on the train during his fight with Spider-Man where the green screen looks unconvincing.
  • If you watched Spider-Man 3 and/or The Amazing Spider-Man, you'll instantly recognize how the shots of Marko and Connors turning back to normal when being cured are just repurposed green/blue screen Stock Footage from those movies. Marko's is pretty obvious, as it's literally a shot that was used to show him turning into sand from human, only with the special effects on him reversed to show him going back to human. Connors', meanwhile, is just the same effect of him turning back to normal from his movie, but from a different angle. They both also clearly don't react whatsoever to the Spider-Men talking to them during said curings as a result. Unfortunately, protocol mandated by the COVID-19 Pandemic resulted in Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans only being able to reprise their roles via voice acting, with neither of them actually able to appear on set.
  • It's quite clear in several shots that a lot of digital compositing was done to fit certain actors into scenes. Marvel is well-known for compositing scenes like this, both to maintain secrecy or to work around the schedules of their actors. But for ordinary dialogue scenes with no super-powered humans, it gets really noticeable. The scene where Happy runs into Peter at May's grave particularly stands out because it's clear Jon Favreau is not in the same place as Tom Holland while they're talking. The scene where Doctor Strange briefly meets the other two Spider-Man while scolding his universe's Peter also counts, as Benedict Cumberbatch is never outright shown in the same shot as the three web-heads and clearly did not shoot the scene with them.
  • The shot of Green Goblin's shattered mask falling to the ground is full of very conspicuous CGI. Tellingly, the animation was completely redone for the home release.
  • In the same scene, it's clear that Willem Dafoe's head was poorly pasted onto a double's body. The home release tries to mitigate it by showing less of his face and more of the mask.
  • Some people have complained about Tobey's mask looking like bad CGI as well. This stance reached its peak when the film was revealed to have been nominated for two Visual Effects Society awards and a shot of Tobey's Peter in costume was used to accompany the announcement, with many mocking the still for not being detailed enough and looking like it came from a video game cutscene.
  • The digital de-aging for Octavius and Osborn is surprisingly shoddy and inconsistent for the most part, with their faces having noticeable wrinkles compared to their previous appearances. The cut and color of their hair are also remarkably different.
  • During the moment when Webb-Verse Spider-Man saves MJ, as the two land safely on the ground, Andrew's body does a very fast, unnatural-looking bounce before springing upright. One fan took it upon himself to fix the shot in After Effects, primarily by making Andrew's body bend and rise visibly slower.
• Spiritual Adaptation:
  • Of One More Day and the stories building up to it, where Peter's secret identity is revealed to the public and he's forced to deal with the pressure of everyone knowing he's Spider-Man, and he turns to Dr. Strange seeking magical aid to his problem. As a result of this, Aunt May dies when one of Peter's enemies kills her, and Peter is unable to save her. And as part of Strange's spell to erase memory of Peter's identity from the world, he has to give up his relationship with MJ. However, it's agreed that this movie's story is much better than its source material, since May's death actually sticks instead of Peter saving her by making a Deal with the Devil, Peter remembers his relationship with MJ which makes his sacrifice more tragic, and his sacrifice is more heroic since he's doing it to spare his friends the dangers of being close to a superhero.
  • Much like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the film serves as a spiritual adaptation of Spider-Men, although it's looser given that Miles Morales is nowhere to be seen (though he is given a nod).
  • This movie is the closest the live-action films have come to doing a Sinister Six storyline, with 3 of the original members (Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and Electro) appearing in this movie and 2 more members (Vulture and Mysterio) having already appeared in the last two MCU Spider-Man films.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: In addition to being an Even Better Sequel to the MCU Spider-Man movies as described above, the movie is also this to the last Spider-Man movies Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield starred in: Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which have Rotten Tomatoes percentages at 63% and 51%, and IMDB scores at 6.3 and 6.6 respectively.
• Tear Dryer:
  • The scene of Aunt May dying in Peter's arms is genuinely one of the most heartbreaking in the entirety of the MCU. Then in the next scene, those tears the audience is shedding are turned into excited, raucous cheers when Ned brings both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire into the plot.
  • MJ's fall to her death is met with screams of horror and fear that she'll meet Gwen Stacy's fate. Then Peter-3 arrives to save her, ending it with the same level of cheers when Andrew and Tobey arrive in Ned's kitchen.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Curt Connors/the Lizard serves as little more than a rather replaceable villain throughout the film, despite having a similar degree of scientific expertise as Osborn and Octavius and being a Genius Bruiser in his original film. He gets captured by Strange offscreen before Peter is tasked with finding the other dimension-hopping villains, and doesn't enter Happy's apartment to research cures with Peter and the other villains. The moments when he does get involved in dialogue are mostly Played for Laughs due to everyone's collective surprise that he can talk and because the others think he just wants to turn people into lizards For the Evulz. It's notable since Connors was, like Otto, one of the more genuinely sympathetic villains in his film, and was actually successfully cured in the end.
  • Even worse is the fact that out of the two Webb-Verse villains in the film, Electro is the one who's given a heart-to-heart talk with Webb-Verse Peter, despite Connors arguably having a much more personal and meaningful connection with Peter-3. As Electro didn't even know or care about who Peter Parker was until this very movie.
  • Ever since The Stinger of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, fans wondered if Eddie Brock and Venom would show up throughout this film's main plot, but they only make a cameo in the mid-credits scene without interacting with any of the major characters and aren't able to do anything (besides getting wasted at a bar for about a minute and a half trying to figure out what's been going on in the MCU) before being sent back to their home dimension. The upside? They left something behind that will likely have repercussions in the MCU down the road.
  • Despite the early setup and sympathetic treatment Sandman is given in the first half, by the time the third act arrives and needs to scale up the threat, his earlier sympathy is nearly thrown out for the sake of needing a fight. Sandman's motivations basically boiling down to "get home and reunite with his daughter" is completely at odds with the other villains who wish to stay in the MCU, meaning he'd have better luck siding with the Spider-Men over Electro, Lizard, and Goblin.
  • In general, the lack of resolution for the multiverse characters is disappointing given how much Peter sacrifices by the movie's end, but special mention goes to Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin. While he gets a great deal of focus throughout the film, his exit from the film essentially ignores all previous rapport he built with MCU Peter and leaves him potentially oblivious of the fact that he killed May. There isn't even so much as a resolution to MCU Peter's feelings about Norman and whether he forgives him or not considering Norman was a victim of his mental illness, instead quickly shuttling Norman out of the film and back to his home dimension in order to set up the new status quo for Peter in his future installments.
  • Jameson's nearly wasted as a character throughout the film. While it's expected for the guy to be on Spider-Man's case for the things he's done, the film hardly draws attention to specific misdeeds or actions that would warrant such antagonism. You'd think for Peter's identity being public knowledge, it would elicit any number of petty grievances with his personal or professional life, but it's not to be. Even after Peter's identity is erased and you might expect curious journalists to want to look into his past, Jameson still gives generic "Spider-Man's a menace" prattle that could've been filled in by any stock reporter. Not helping matters is the decision to frame Jameson as a stand-in for Alt-Right media figures, which besides leading to them leaving out some of Jameson's depth as a character, they don't actually do anything with this angle, just having him be a voice to kick Peter while he's down.
  • Flash Thompson has very little to do here, even though the idea of Peter's bully realizing that he's actually the hero he idealizes has a lot of potential for him to develop and make amends, bringing their dynamic closer to that of the comics. While he does act nicer to Peter, this is offset by his portrayal as an annoying Attention Whore dismissed by Peter and his genuine friends. And while there's still time for an actual friendship to occur between the two, Flash no longer remembering Peter puts the idea of their famous Bully Turned Buddy relationship in doubt in this continuity unless if he goes back to his Jerkass bullying before meeting Peter again.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Despite having the MCU J. Jonah Jameson being played by his actor from the Raimi trilogy, Tobey’s Peter never comments on Jameson or their similarities.
  • Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man is said to still be struggling with the death of Gwen Stacy and has become more vengeful ever since her passing. Shortly after this information is conveyed, the Spider-Men work together to make a cure for the movie's villains, Raimi's Green Goblin included. Yet, despite Garfield's Peter getting a chance to start moving past Gwen's death by saving MJ from a lethal fall and MCU Peter having to look past a similar desire for revenge against the Green Goblin, no attention is brought to the fact that Peter could potentially make a cure for his own universe's Green Goblin and potentially make more peace with himself by saving his former friend.
  • Many people expected the previous film's cliffhanger ending to be a set-up for a story about Peter going on the run from the law after being framed for Quentin Beck's murder—which easily could have fueled an entire movie. Instead, he manages to beat his murder charges in court barely half an hour into the movie. While he still has to deal with the world knowing his secret identity (which leads into the film's main plot), many viewers were disappointed that there weren't more serious ramifications of him getting framed for murder.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Prior to the start of filming, announcements through the trades that Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx were returning as Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2 and Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the same versions of their characters completely shocked fans who were expecting the end of the trilogy to be a conventional sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home rather than a multiverse story.
  • The return of the Green Goblin played by Willem Dafoe, as revealed in the teaser trailer where there's a pumpkin bomb rolling on the road accompanied by the signature Evil Laugh that many viewers of the first Spider-Man movie are familiar with. His appearance was further confirmed with him appearing on his glider in full costume in the background of the teaser poster.
  • The second trailer confirmed the return of the Sandman from Spider-Man 3, who was unexpected in the sense that Venom was a more active antagonist in the film's climax. It also confirmed that the Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man would be appearing, which was surprising considering that, unlike the other villains, Rhys Ifans' presence in the film was never officially leaked.
  • Due to the very limited amount of acknowledgement of the pre-Disney+ Marvel shows in the MCU proper, and the rights issues in place (coming from a show distributed by Netflix, who retained the rights to a specific iteration of the character until just before the start of production on No Way Home) on top of the production being tied to Sony Pictures instead of being completely in-house, many were not expecting Matt Murdock to appear in the film as Peter's lawyer.
  • When discounting Peter-2 and Peter-3, having one character from each previous Spider-Man movie outside the MCU seemed like a pretty sound conclusion. However, many people who were dead set on the 5-movie pattern were not expecting to see Tom Hardy reprising his role as Eddie Brock from Venom during the post-credits scene, especially given how distanced the film series is from the Spider-Man license. That said, those who had seen The Stinger of Venom: Let There Be Carnage knew he would be involved.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina were both digitally de-aged to match their appearances in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 respectively, and the outcome is just as impressive as in Ant-Man and Captain Marvel.
  • Sandman gets to use his powers much more and in more interesting ways due to advances in particle physics.
  • Set photos indicate that Tom Holland was wearing the Upgraded suit from Spider-Man: Far From Home, meaning the Integrated suit was made using CG effects on the suit he was wearing on-set. Despite this, it looks very realistic.
• Win Back the Crowd: While the MCU's take on Spider-Man has been largely popular with most, a contingent of fans has taken issue with this interpretation of the character. Thanks to the way the character was reinvented in the film, many of those in the audience who lacked confidence in Marvel's direction with the IP were won over by the film's approach to the Peter Parker side of the character's mythology.
• The Woobie:
  • The beginning of the film emphasizes just how screwed up Peter's life is with his secret identity compromised and being framed for murder. This only gets worse throughout the movie, as he and his loved ones suffer from the consequences of Mysterio revealing his secret identity, clashes with various supervillains, and Aunt May's death, all of which he'll have to go through alone by the end of the movie due to Strange's second spell. But like any version of Peter, he never gives up and keeps soldiering on.
  • The same applies for the other Spider-Men and villains:
    • Andrew Garfield's Peter states that after Gwen's death, he "stopped pulling [his] punches", and clearly still feels guilty that he couldn't save her (as shown by him tearing up after successfully rescuing MJ from a fall). He also visibly spends a lot of his time in the movie in some sort of depression over it, which he slowly comes out of due to his interactions with his counterparts and MCU Peter's friends. He's also clearly the Peter with the weakest self-esteem, engaging in Heroic Self-Deprecation that hints at him being a Stepford Smiler Sad Clown, and in general expresses the most vulnerability of the visiting Peters.
    • Meanwhile, Tobey Maguire's Peter commiserates with the others about his role in Uncle Ben's death, and still feels unhappy that he was unable to save his version of Norman Osborn (as he talks about having given much thought to creating a serum that would reverse the Green Goblin transformation).
    • Otto Octavius, after having his mind restored by Peter, is nearly brought to tears by how his thoughts are suddenly no longer controlled by the tentacles' AI.
    • After being cured by his Spider-Man, Max Dillon makes it clear that his path to villainy mostly stemmed from wanting to be liked by others. Peter-3's assurance that he always considered Max a friend further indicates that he's still redeemable in his eyes and makes his Face–Heel Turn in his debut movie all the more tragic.
    • Surprisingly, Norman Osborn gets this sentiment. While the Green Goblin is still the vile, sadistic monster from Spider-Man, Osborn himself is shown to be a meek but well-meaning man who's scared shitless of the Goblin and wants nothing more than to be free of his mental illness. After he's finally cured by all three Spider-Men, Norman expresses nothing but utter remorse at his actions through the Goblin persona, making it clear that he truly did not want to be evil.

---