The Biggest Problem with Spider-Man: No Way Home

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is probably one of the best superhero movies to come out in a long time, but it has a big flaw that could actually make it hard to watch for some people. And before you start getting angry saying it’s the best film in the MCU since End Game, I kind of agree with you. It just also has a huge whopping flaw. It’s not a Spider-Man movie. 

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” was released, and while I absolutely loved the movie, there was one massive problem with it that’s almost impossible to ignore. It’s not really a Spider-Man movie. You’re probably wondering what I mean by that, so I’ll explain. Also, if you haven’t seen the movie, feel free to keep reading. I’ll be sure to give you plenty of warning before any spoilers are mentioned. 

First, let’s get into what was good about the movie. “No Way Home” is probably one of the most fun movies Marvel’s released since “Thor: Ragnarok.” It carries all the lightheartedness of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films while also having heart-wrenching moments that rival even Tony Stark’s death in “Endgame.” Also, Tom Holland finally reaches his full acting potential in “No Way Home.”

In the first two installments of his franchise, Tom Holland’s performance seemed to fall flat. Here though, we get to see the award-winning actor truly show what he’s capable of in both action-packed and dramatic scenes. Although “No Way Home” had plenty to love, there were a few things that held the film back. The first thing that seemed off about the movie was the inclusion of so many different villains. As we saw in the trailers, it seemed like the villains almost rounding out the Sinister Six were simply added to the movie for fanfare, and none of them got the time that they truly deserved and needed for deeper character development and growth. In particular, Sandman and the Lizard were completely unnecessary. If those two weren’t in the film, it likely wouldn’t change a single thing. 

Now here come the spoilers, The biggest problem with “No Way Home” is that instead of a Spider-Man movie, we got a massive crossover event. Spider-Man seems to be just one piece of a much larger puzzle rather than his own unique character.

Although I was absolutely stunned and delighted to see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, their inclusion along with the continual reminders that Spider-Man is simply one of many superheroes just disconnects us from what we should expect from a true Spider-Man movie. Instead of a personal intimate Spider-Man film, we got a movie that one could argue is a bigger crossover than “Avengers: End Game.” While this may not be a bad thing, it certainly isn’t what someone would expect going into a movie with Spider-Man in the title. 

With all that said, I still thoroughly enjoyed seeing characters come together from Spider-Man movies spanning over almost two decades. There was also a pretty big plot hole that wasn’t explained and it made it a bit hard to watch the movie. Peter’s main goal throughout the film was to fix the villains and send them back to their own universes. The issue though is that after Peter fixes them, he sends them back to moments immediately before their deaths. Norman Osborne or Green Goblin has his dual personality issues fixed and is sent back to the moment before he gets impaled by his own glider. Doc Ock has his neural link with the AI-controlled arms fixed and he gets sent back to the moment right before he drowns in the East River. So while Peter is doing all of this to try to save their lives, he failed to think things through.

Although he fixed them, Peter sent each of the previously villainous individuals straight to their deaths. Even if Strange altered the spell to send them back to a time long before the moment they entered the multiverse so they could prevent their impending deaths, the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield films would no longer matter. This would essentially erase all of the great stories we saw in these films, basically making them pointless. Either way, this simple pothole makes the main objective of the movie meaningless and may retcon the entirety of the McGuire and Garfield Spider-Man films.

Now, just a couple of little things I noticed about the film that could have been fixed with some minor tweaks. First of all, they seem to gloss over how Peter got away with the events in London after the incriminating video of Mysterio was released. Also, the huge detail that Matt Murdock is finally confirmed to be in the MCU was diminished to just a single scene. He was just overshadowed by the increasingly large number of villains that appeared in the film. Many people complained that there were too many villains in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3,” but this movie definitely takes the cake. The next thing I noticed was the fact that so many crazy, terrible things were going on in New York and none of The Avengers showed up to help other than Doctor Strange.

I understand that a lot of them are tied up doing their own things, some of them off-world, but it seems like they almost purposely didn’t want to help Peter out. Jay Jonah Jameson also seemed to be added simply for fanservice, but I actually appreciated this. It was nice to see Jameson again, but he seemed a bit more reserved and gentler than he was in his original franchise. I’d also hoped to see a bigger mention or cameo of Miles Morales in the film. While Electro teased Miles’ appearance, saying he expected Spider-Man to be black, we didn’t actually get to see him. Electro’s comment could hint at Miles’ eventual inclusion in the MCU, however. 

Lastly, “No Way Home” was pretty dark for the MCU. There were several scenes which not only made the audience misty-eyed, but some which could almost scare you. For example, the scene where Tom Holland’s Peter nearly killed Norman Osborne was one of the darkest MCU scenes we’ve ever seen. Calling back to the incident where John Walker smashed in the head of a Flag Smasher with a Captain America shield. Also, May’s death scene in “No Way Home” rivaled some of the saddest scenes featured in MCU movies.

While it doesn’t seem to fit in perfectly with the rest of the MCU catalogue, the film’s dark tone does tie into the upcoming MCU title “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness,” which was actually teased in the after-credits scene for “No Way Home.” According to Kevin Feige, the Multiverse of Madness will be the closest thing to a horror film we’ll get to see in the MCU, so the somewhat darker tone of “No Way Home” will make for a good transition into “Doctor Strange Two.” Overall though, the biggest issue with the film is that it wasn’t a Spider-Man movie.