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The twenty-seventh entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Immediate Sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home is third installment in the MCU's saga of Spider-Man.
Picking up right where its predecessor left off, Peter Parker faces off against the court of public opinion, half the world supporting him and half supporting Mysterio, while also having to deal with everyone viewing him, and his associates, as a magnet for supervillain activity. After a brainwave, he pays a visit to Doctor Strange, hoping the sorcerer can magic away his problems. Though as the old saying goes, Be Careful What You Wish For...
- Adaptational Jerkass: Any and all positive qualities are expunged from the MCU's version of J. Jonah Jameson. He has no issue violently attacking Peter Parker directly, even after knowing he's Just a Kid in high school, if it makes him a profit.
- Adapted Out: It appears that neither the Osborns or Oscorp exist in the MCU.
- Advertised Extra: Doctor Strange plays a much smaller role in the film than the trailers suggested.
- Affably Evil: Aside from the Faux Affably Evil Goblin, the multiversal villains are quite polite to Peter-1, despite their desire to kill him.
- All-Loving Hero: Peter Parker of course. Upon hearing that the villains are destined to die fighting their versions of Spider-Man, he dedicates himself to saving them.
- Alternate Self: The characters from the original Spider-Man trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man duology make their way into the MCU thanks to Peter-1 messing up Strange's spell.
- Seemingly invoked for the villains when they get sent back to their realities. By the rules of the MCU, they're now variants.
- Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other:
- For all that Norman considers Harry a disappointment, he's horrified to learn that he's in a reality where his son doesn't exist.
- Despite how much he spends the film chewing him out, Strange reveals at the climax that he really does care for Peter and views him as a friend.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Said word-for-word by Doctor Strange to Peter after the multiversal visitors begin coming through.
- Butt Monkey: As a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of his films' more divisive reputation, Peter-3 is treated like a Future Loser suffering from Middle Child Syndrome who has the least impressive resume as Spider-Man. Though much of this is Self-Deprecating and his variants give him a "You Are Better Than You Think You Are" speech.
- The Cameo:
- In the opening, Peter and MJ swing by a billboard for Rogers: The Musical from Hawkeye.
- Charlie Cox reprises his role as Matt Murdock to get Peter out of legal trouble.
- During Peter's fight with Strange, Liz Allen can be glimpsed on a magazine cover. She's a Mysterio supporter.
- The silhouettes from the other realities show Kraven the Hunter, Rhino and another version of Mysterio.
- Eddie Brock/Venom from Sony's Spider-Man Universe appears in The Stinger, leaving behind a piece of the Symbiote.
- Cosmic Retcon: The Runes of Kof-Kol can cause everyone in the universe to forget what the caster chooses.
- Could Have Avoided This Plot: As Strange furiously lampshades, upon getting college rejection letters, Peter's first thought was to cause a Cosmic Retcon instead of talking to the admissions officer?
- Did I Mention It's Christmas?: The film takes place in late November as Christmas season starts but this is just window-dressing.
- Earn Your Happy Ending:
- Raimi-Verse Spider-Man confirms that, after all his struggles, he's managed to make his relationship with Mary Jane work and they're happy together.
- Octavius not only regains control of his mind and body but by acquiring an Arc Reactor, he's found a safer way to accomplish his dream of clean, unlimited energy.
- Evil Counterpart: While Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin has shades of being one to Tony Stark/Iron Man, namely being an Evil Mentor to Peter, he's more accurately one to Bruce Banner/the Hulk. A mild, unassuming scientist whose experiments augmented himself and created a Split Personality. Though whereas Bruce managed to tame the Hulk and pull a Fusion Dance, the Goblin is a full on Super-Powered Evil Side whom Norman wants destroyed.
- Explain, Explain, Oh Crap: Doc Ock and Electro both scoff at the idea that they're destined to die fighting Spider-Man only to catch themselves as they remember what they were just doing before they arrived in the MCU.
- First-Name Basis: Stephen Strange considers him and Peter to be on this. Though when Peter screws up, they're back to "Sir."
- Happy Ending Override: The ending of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hinted that Gwen's legacy would inspire Peter-3 to remember his better nature. Peter-3 confirms that this didn't happen and he became an Anti-Hero.
- Hope Spot: The ending hints for a moment that MJ might have remembered Peter but she's just waving at Ned.
- I Choose to Stay: Electro and Green Goblin seem to want to stay in the MCU. Electro because the MCU has a higher energy output than his home universe and thus makes him more powerful and the Goblin seemingly for no other reason than that there's now a new world to conquer.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Why Peter-1 ultimately chooses to not restore MJ and Ned's memories of who he is after seeing that they are going to get to go to MIT.
- In the Back: Raimi-Verse Spider-Man suffers this at the hands of the Green Goblin, but survives.
- Killed Off for Real: Aunt May.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Doctor Strange has a spell that he can use to wipe knowledge from the entire universe. At the climax, he uses it to make everyone in the MCU forget that Peter Parker existed, as it's the only way to stop the multiverse from leaking into their reality.
- Logical Weakness: The Spider-Sense's is shown again. It warns Peter of danger but he has to recognize that stimuli as dangerous. As Peter-3 lampshades, it doesn't work on a bread roll thrown at him.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Peter-2 after being stabbed by the Goblin. Though Peter-3 gets him to admit that he's in "so much pain".
- Mama Bear: Even hopelessly outmatched against the Goblin, May has no hesitation about trying to protect Peter.
- Monumental Damage: The final fight takes place at the Statue of Liberty, which now incorporates Cap's shield.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Norman Osborn upon being cured of the Goblin persona.
- Not So Different: Electro and Sandman bond over them both being relatively normal people who literally fell into weird science experiments.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Everyone from the other realities discovers that they're this in the MCU, particularly Dr. Octopus. In semi-grounded worlds where Spider-Man is the only superhuman, they're powerful. In the more fantastical MCU with many superhumans and Tony Stark's genius, they're not quite game shakers. Stark Tech allows Peter to quickly override Doc's tentacles and build him a new inhibitor chip for their AI.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We don't get to see Doctor Strange fight the Lizard but judging by the sorcerer's scars, Connors put up a hell of a fight.
- Out of Focus: Of all the multiverse baddies, Lizard is given the least to do.
- Retcon: Ock's knowledge of Norman being the Goblin seems to suggest this for the original Spider-Man trilogy, with it now seeming that Harry was just in denial about his father being a supervillain.
- Riches to Rags:
- Norman Osborn, a billionaire in his universe, arrives in a reality where he doesn't exist and has nothing but the clothes on his back.
- While not rich, Peter Parker did have a comfortable life and access to Tony Stark's legacy. At the end of the film, with everyone having forgotten him, he's reduced to living in a shoebox apartment with no support team or resources.
- Running Gag: The film poking fun at Electro's nonsensical origin.
- Save the Villain: Upon being informed that the villains are all fated to die fighting his alternate selves, Peter devotes himself to curing them of their ailments, and thus potential for supervillainy, before sending them home. With his counterparts' help, he's able to cure them all.
- The Scapegoat: Essentially how the villains treat Peter-1. They want revenge on Spider-Man but since their version of Spider-Man isn't here... None of this is more apparent with Green Goblin as seeing Peter-1 reminds him of Peter-2 much to his disgust. Thus he takes it upon himself to make Peter-1 suffer by killing Aunt May just like what he try to do to Peter-2, all to spite at the latter for "spatting in his face" by refusing his offer to join him.
- Sequel Hook: A little piece of Venom is left in the MCU when the multiverse visitors are sent home.
- Ship Sinking: Happy and May break up at the start of the film, May having only wanted a summer fling. Then she's Killed Off for Real.
- Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Peter-2 and Peter-3 are edited out of the trailers.
- Take That, Critics!: A popular meme for the "They Changed It, Now It Sucks" crowd of haters to the MCU's take on Spider-Man was labelling him as "Iron Man Jr." This slogan is made part of the Daily Bugle's smear campaign, showing that the MCU thinks its haters are about as legitimate and worth listening to as J. Jonah Jameson. Though as some of this crowd has Draco in Leather Pants feelings towards Jameson, the middle finger might have been lost in translation.
- Took a Level In Badass: Feasting himself on MCU energy and an arc reactor, Electro becomes dangerously terrifying and much more confident.
- Truer to the Text: Spider-Man's new suit at the end of the film is a glorious recreation of his comics outfit.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: While the MCU's Spider-Man films have generally been Lighter and Softer, thanks to Peter's Age Lift, the Green Goblin is as dangerous and sadistic as he ever was.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Mysterio still has a decent chunk of society supporting him.
- You Killed My Father: Friend to All Living Things Peter-1 openly expresses a desire to kill the Goblin to avenge Aunt May. Were it not for Peter-2, he would have succeeded.