Spider-Man: No Way Home's 'Spell Shooters' Explained
Spoilers ahead for "Spider-Man: No Way Home"
In "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Peter Parker (Tom Holland) enlists Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a last-ditch effort to protect his identity in the aftermath of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) framing him and releasing his secret identity at the tail end of "Spider-Man: Far From Home." Doctor Strange agrees to a spell intended to alter reality so no one remembers that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, and the spell goes horribly wrong.
One of the first effects of the botched spell? Spider-Man foes from many dimensions start to pour into his world — Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Lizard (Rhys Ifans), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and Electro (Jamie Foxx) — and compete for Spidey's head. Certainly, you can't just have various demented baddies spreading chaos throughout New York. Doctor Strange employs Spider-Man to catch these nemeses so that they can be returned to their original dimensions. In doing so, he gives our Friendly Multiversal Spider-Man a novel new suit upgrade: a mystical gauntlet that allows Peter a novel new ability.
Let's dig into these "Spell-Shooters" and explain exactly what they do and how they fit into "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
What are Spell-Shooters exactly?
Throughout his time in the MCU, Spider-Man has received a host of upgrades to his various suits. Most of these upgrades have been innovations by Tony Stark (such as the Iron Spider suit) or S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stealth "Night Monkey" suit (given to Peter to operate clandestinely on assignment in Europe). This is Peter's first upgrade from Doctor Strange, whose central upgrade to Peter's current version of the suit (sometimes called the "Integrated Suit" following some official toy nomenclature) is the addition of a "Spell-Shooter," a gauntlet that shoots a web-like energy blast that transports their targets into a series of mystical cages created by Strange himself. (Strange doesn't name them, he mainly just makes them and sends Peter on assignment, and there isn't much by way of direct comic counterpart, so that name will suffice just fine).
Strange intends Peter to help him contain the threats pulling into our section of the multiverse, so the initial plan is for Peter to use these Spell-Shooters to come in contact with their target and transport them into said arcane cells until they can be returned home. In the film, the gauntlets also appear to be imbued with magic that manifests in what are sometimes called Tao Mandalas when multiversal threats manifest, as seen in Electro's initial appearance. It's unclear if any additional offensive or defense capabilities are included in the new Doctor Strange costume addition, but certainly, they could be further modified with future mystically-oriented attributes.
Is there a future for Spell-Shooters?
Is "Spider-Man: No Way Home" the last we'll see of the newly created Spell-Shooters? It's hard to say. On the one hand, they were given very specific functions to achieve the goal of catching multiversal threats until they could be dealt with, and this function subsided after Peter Parker went rogue in an attempt to help the villains instead of simply sending them back. On the other, their function may have an important use in future Marvel properties.
In "Loki," "No Way Home," and the forthcoming "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" it's clear that the Multiverse is here to stay, and we're only going deeper in. It's mighty convenient that Strange gives Spider-Man technology that allows him to help catch and contain multiversal threats at this time in the MCU. With threats pouring in from many potential realms and timelines, it's unlikely that such a useful piece of mystical tech would never make an appearance again. While we surely can't say what the future holds, the Spell-Shooters are a highly adaptable and novel addition to Spidey's arsenal that will only become more useful as we descend further into the Multiverse of Madness.