![]() ![]() It’s a win-win-win for both studios as well as diehard Spider-Man fans. (When Peter asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell to make everyone forget that he’s Spider-Man, it’s very on-brand for an angsty teenager-why the good doctor agrees to this very dumb idea is beyond understanding.) As for what Sony gets out of this arrangement, the studio essentially re-creates the magic of its animated, Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse-one of the best superhero films of all time-as a live-action blockbuster. ![]() The MCU’s Phase 4 is diving into all the mind-bending potential of the multiverse, and Peter’s role in the larger series is no exception. That No Way Home can throw all these characters into one film may seem contrived, but to both Sony’s and the MCU’s credit, the crossover event actually makes some sense. It’s Time to Recognize the Kinetic Greatness of Andrew Garfield The ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Exit Survey Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin Is the Centerpiece of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ But No Way Home’s callbacks don’t end with the Spidey villains of yore, as the movie-massive spoiler alert, though who didn’t see this coming?-also revives Maguire’s and Garfield’s Spider-Men ahead of its action-packed, star-studded climax. Together, these villains make up five of the Sinister Six-Venom rounds out the group, but the latest version of the symbiote has more pressing concerns, like falling madly in love with its human host. With the help of Doctor Strange, the film unleashes the multiverse, which is another way of saying Sony gets to re-live its greatest hits, bringing back Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Molina’s Doc Ock, and Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman from the Raimi trilogy, as well as Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Rhys Ifans’s Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man series. Why does this matter for the Tom Holland iteration of the character? Well, anyone with an internet connection should be aware of the intent behind the MCU’s latest Spider-Man entry, No Way Home. Without the plaudits or fanfare of Raimi’s trilogy to begin with, the Garfield-led series was canceled before it could reach a third film. Yet the studio didn’t learn its lesson: After rebooting the Spidey IP with Andrew Garfield taking over as Peter, the franchise once again threw in several villains-Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino-in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Raimi has been candid about how trying to raise the stakes “doomed” Spider-Man 3, which wasn’t helped by Sony’s reported push for Venom to be included in the movie against the filmmaker’s wishes. Before Tom Holland’s Peter Parker came under the wing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of an ongoing partnership with Sony Pictures-which still has rights to the character-Sony had two stabs at a Spider-Man franchise, and both fell apart in similar fashion. Yet when it comes to Spider-Man movies, going bigger has historically bit the character-and not in the “radioactive spider imbuing a teenager with cool powers” type of way. (And, frankly, proved that James “Ocean Master” Cameron is in a blockbuster league of his own.) Nevertheless, that approach has come to define superhero movies this century, practically by design-you can’t get to The Avengers without first laying the foundations of Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. But while there have been some worthy sequels in this mold, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better-the likes of Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are the exception rather than the rule. One of the biggest unwritten rules in Hollywood is that the best way for a sequel to live up to its predecessor is by doing more of everything.
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