Biggest Unanswered Questions In Spider-Man: No Way Home
This article contains major "Spider-Man: No Way Home" spoilers.
There's no denying that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is an epic team-up movie that gives even "Infinity War" and "Endgame" a run for its money. With a cast of Spider-Men that spans as far back as 2002, the film is the closure that fans have waited years to enjoy. Yet, with a movie that boasts of multiple villains and heroes that hail from seven different Spider-Man films, it's no surprise that the movie is packed to the brim with cameos, action, and a ton of plot.
Not only does "No Way Home" provide an ending for Tom Holland's series, but Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's respective franchises as well. Now, that's a whole lot of loose ends to tie up. Naturally, with a movie that covers so much ground, we're left with more questions at the film's close than we received answers to during the film. While most fans wouldn't trade the epic multiverse team-up for the world, it is a little stressful to leave the final movie in a trilogy without as much closure as it could have brought.
The movie doesn't really feel like an ending between Peter's uncertain future and the questions we have about how the film's events affect Garfield and Maguire's universes. That's great in some ways because it means there's a large chance that these questions will get answered down the line. However, if Garfield's series has taught us anything, it's that no sequel is certain — and we don't want to wait almost a decade to see Holland's Spidey arc closed up. Here are the biggest questions we have after watching "No Way Home."
How will Daredevil's intro affect the MCU?
The first surprise cameo fans receive in "Now Way Home" is courtesy of Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock — AKA Daredevil. For MCU fans who didn't tune into Netflix's Marvel series before the introduction of Disney+, this may not seem like a big deal. However, this opens up a world of possibilities to exponentially expand Phase 4 of the MCU.
The cameo itself is moderately frivolous: Marvel's favorite lawyer Matt takes on Peter as a client when he deals with the fallout of Mysterio blasting out his identity for the world to see. However, we don't know much about how this team-up comes about. Does Peter know Matt's secret identity? Does Matt seek out Peter, or does Peter approach Matt? Additionally, this is the first we've heard from Matt since the end of the Netflix series, and we don't have a lot to go on about what he's up to now —beyond the fact that his senses are still going strong and he's still lawyering up for New Yorkers who need him.
So, what exactly does this mean for the MCU as a whole? Before the film's debut, Kevin Feige revealed to CinemaBlend Charlie Cox would be the MCU's Daredevil should Matt Murdock enter the franchise. Yet with this almost immediate cameo, is this where his MCU journey ends, or can we expect more devilish goodness from Murdock?
Are all of Netflix's Marvel shows MCU canon now?
Okay, so Daredevil is officially a part of the MCU. But what does that mean for the rest of Netflix's Marvel franchises? Given that many characters from Netflix's Marvel shows frequently crossed over or inspired spinoffs, it's safe to say that the universes are connected. With Matt Murdock chilling on Spidey's turf, will we see Krysten Ritter reprise her role as Jessica Jones? Did the MCU just canonize every Marvel Netflix show by giving us Matt?
It's wild how one tiny scene has upped the Phase 4 MCU ante so exponentially, but we're heading down uncharted territory at this point. With so many power struggles over Marvel character rights in the past, it would be incredible to see all of these worlds collide for the sake of the story (and not just the pockets of the companies with usage rights for each individual piece of the Marvel puzzle). The MCU has felt so fractured without some key players, and it would be pretty epic to see characters like Kilgrave, Kingpin, and Punisher tango with the Avengers. The MCU (and Sony) have essentially given us our own live-action version of "What If...?" and the possibilities are endless.
Are OG Peter and MJ still together?
2002 called, and they want their OG Spider-Man back. (But they can't have him, he's ours again.) Whether it's Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy, or Michelle Jones, Spider-Man has always been ruled by one thing: love. During Toby Maguire's "Spider-Man" trilogy, Peter's love for MJ grounds the films. No matter how many times they makeup (or make out) and break up, fans still root for them to succeed. The couple has a rough go of it in the third film when Peter fancies himself My Chemical Romance's newest member with an emo look he just can't pull off. Between kissing Gwen in front of MJ and letting Venom have a backstage pass to his super suit, Peter makes a lot of shifty calls at the close of the trilogy.
However, the couple reconciles in the film's last moments, and fans are left in peace that the couple's web is still strong. And frankly? "No Way Home" doesn't have the right to retcon a happy ever after that happened over ten years ago. Yet, that didn't stop the writers from casting doubt on the status of OG Peter's relationship with MJ. On whether or not Maguire's Peter has someone, he not only says, "It's complicated," but he says the couple "Made it work." That past tense isn't very comforting, Peter.
It's unclear if he was lamenting about problems they worked out long ago or if things are still tense. But OG Peter is a fully grown adult now, and fans would have hoped that he'd have his love life sorted out by now. The worst part? We don't know what Peter meant by those impactful one-liners — and we probably never will unless Maguire appears again.
Does Ned have latent magical abilities?
We know that Ned Leeds is a wizard when it comes to technology, but could he have actual magical abilities, too? Sure, you can give anyone on the street some of Doctor Strange's hardcore sorcerer gear, but that doesn't mean just anyone could use it. If magic were as universal as, say, using Tony Stark's tech, then every Avenger would cast spells and take names.
"No Way Home" is jam-packed with content, so it's easy to miss that Ned's affinity for creating portals isn't just the work of Strange's Sling Ring. We don't see Peter or MJ accidentally creating portals with Strange's gear, so it's pretty safe to say that Ned has latent sorcerer skills and probably even some sorcery in his family line. Even more, with just one look, it's abundantly clear just how impressed Wong is with Ned's accidental portal creations.
As it stands now, Ned's chances of being Wong's sorcerer's apprentice are likely shot, given that neither of them even remembers this happening. However, it could point to a pretty impressive arc from Ned in future MCU and Spider-Man films. TL;DR? Yer a wizard, Ned.
How does saving the AU villains affect their homeworld timeline?
Our MCU Peter's plight to cure all of the crossover villains and send them home as productive, law-abiding citizens is a noble one. However, he doesn't put much thought into what will happen to them and their world after he plops them all back in their own universes.
First and foremost, every villain that our trio of Peter Parkers helps comes from different points in the timeline. We have Maguire's Green Goblin, who dies at the close of the first film, Doc Ock, who perishes in the second, and Sandman coming from the third. Then, we have Garfield's Lizard from the first "The Amazing Spider-Man" and Electro wreaking havoc in the follow-up.
If Peter sends each villain back to the point they appeared in Holland's universe, their timelines will be in shambles, creating countless variants. Think about it: If Green Goblin goes back to the moment before his death as a regular human, he never dies. If he never dies, Harry never picks up where he left off. If that doesn't happen, then Harry doesn't die, either. At this point, the Time Variance Authority would have a field day with this case. Now, if they're all sent back in time to the same point their respective Peters traveled to the MCU's world, that still poses timeline questions. In the cases of Green Goblin and Doc Ock, they would have already died long ago. But for Sandman? His daughter would be fully grown, and there would already be another version of him in his universe as he doesn't die in the series. Anyone else need some migraine medication to parse out this timeline?
How can people forget Peter exists but remember Spider-Man?
Near the end of the film, Doctor Strange casts a spell that causes the entire world to forget they ever knew Peter Parker. Now, when Peter asks Strange to cast the spell when even more AU villains are about to emerge in his own universe, it seems like it's the same spell as the beginning — forgetting Peter's identity as Spider-Man. Instead, Strange entirely erases Peter from everyone's memory. Not even Ned and MJ know who he is.
Yet, the semantics of the spell doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Of course, Strange's spellwork is usually messy at best, but this spell is so contradictory it shouldn't work. At their core, Peter and Spider-Man are the same person. Sure, Spidey wears a mask and some truly creepy spider legs, but he's still Peter. Fans have to seriously suspend disbelief that the whole world remembers Spider-Man's existence but forget Peter altogether. Amnesia surrounding his secret identity is one thing — because both aspects of himself still exist, but people simply forget their connection. This is a whole new ballgame, and we know so little about the components of Strange's spell that it's difficult to parse out precisely what happens and how it can happen despite its apparent contradictions.
It would also be interesting to know how people's memories of Spider-Man are affected. The people who personally knew Peter had moments with Spidey and Peter — and those two dueling personalities are directly intertwined. There has to be some brain fog and altered memories for people like, for instance, Happy, who mentions knowing May through Spider-Man. Okay, well, what's May's relation to Spider-Man in his eyes, and what do those memories look like?
Does Strange's spell to forget Peter reach the alternate universes?
When it comes to the chaos Holland's Peter inflicts on the alternate universes he embroils with his own shenanigans, it doesn't stop at timeline befuddlement. Keep in mind that Peter has just initiated a spell that wipes Peter Parker from the world's memory. That being said, it's a little concerning that he sends two different Peter Parkers and multiple reformed villains who know his identity back to their homeworlds without thinking of how it might affect them. Given that Peter casts the spell while his AU visitors are still on his Earth, it wouldn't be a stretch if the spell latched onto both of our other Peter Parkers.
Given the fact that Peter doesn't even try to think of a plan that doesn't once again alter the minds of everyone in the world, the spell is extra irresponsible. He doesn't just have his own world to think of. His magic may have already affected the do-gooder villains at this point, completely invalidating all of the lessons they learned in Peter's universe. If they forget all three Peter Parkers, they may end up right back where they were — creating shady serums and becoming villains. Even worse, the spell might have spread to their entire planets. It would have been cathartic to see a glimpse of each Peter going to their worlds and the villains adjusting well to whatever their new reality is. At least then, we'd know for sure that something good came from Peter's sacrifice.
Does Peter go to college?
Now that everyone has forgotten Peter's existence, he seemingly misses out on graduation, college admission, and something as mundane as a social security card that you take for granted until you no longer have one. As it stands, Peter Parker doesn't exist anymore. So what's in store for his future? The movie teases us on Peter's plans in the form of a GED book. It looks like our nerdy superhero isn't ready to give up on his MIT dreams just yet, but without officially existing, it's unclear how he would even take something as simple as a GED. Do records of Peter still exist somewhere, and it's just the memory of him that's erased?
That doesn't seem likely because if traces of him still existed, MJ and Ned, at the very least, would notice pictures of him floating around and wonder who in the hell is haunting their photos. As it stands, it seems like Peter Parker is a ghost — and ghosts don't go to college or get their GEDs. It's a pretty big bummer of a plotline to close out a trilogy.
Does Peter go back again to tell MJ the truth?
Just when we thought that Holland's Peter Parker wasn't going to stoop to Garfield and Maguire's martyr Peter shenanigans, he breaks his promise to find MJ and lets her live her life without him. Dear Peter Parkers of the world: You don't get to make choices for your girlfriends on whether or not they take the risk to date Spider-Man. Yet Holland follows in his predecessors' footsteps when he decides to forgo his speech to tell his mind-whammied girlfriend who he is and rebuild their relationship.
All it takes is a glimpse at a tiny bandaid on MJ's head for Peter to bail on his plans of winning MJ back. The worst part is that she's utterly oblivious to what's happening. He may think that choosing her is protecting her, but it's an insult to the strong woman she is — the fighter who tells Peter that he doesn't get to make choices for her. So, does he ever get over himself enough to reach out to MJ and either tell her the truth or organically try to work up to friends and then maybe something more? Fans have no clue — and it's killing us.
What happens to Spidey's super-suit?
After the world's Peter-centric memory wipe, we watch Peter swing into action in a new (and not improved) shiny spandex (un)super suit that looks like it hopped right out of an '80s exercise video. It's unclear what happened to his original suit — if anything — or if he simply has an identity crisis.
To be fair, he loses everyone he's ever loved in the span of a second, so a good ol' fashioned pre-mid-life crisis is probably what the doctor ordered. However, we have no clue whether or not his suit even exists in this time — which begs a larger question. Does Peter's OG suit and tech exist in this timeline anymore? We know that Happy still knows Spider-Man, so it seems like his involvement with the Avengers is still intact. So why doesn't he go to them for help?
Sure, they don't know Peter, but the Avengers are typically smart enough to know when something's up on this large of a scale. Don that crappy super tragic suit, head to Avengers Tower, and ask for help. Better yet, why doesn't Peter go to Strange? If Peter brings up his conundrum to other heroes, they'll probably be stricken by how weird the gaps in their memory are and the fact that they don't know Spidey's identity. He even has the chance with Happy and says nothing. What gives Parker?
Where is Vulture and does the spell affect him?
Let's back up to "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Remember Vulture? Shady to dad to Peter's fleeting love interest? Okay, so a whole lot has happened since Peter bailed on his homecoming to chase down his date's father. Yet the post-credits scene teases Vulture's future in the MCU — one that we never see.
Vulture's Marvel debut is relatively lackluster compared to his comic appearances when comparing him to villains like Mysterio and two decades of Spider-Man villains. But one thing stands out: Vulture is the first villain to discover Peter's identity in his universe, so how come we don't see him play a part in this villain mash-up? If the spell is enough to call forth villains from alternate universes, why doesn't it bring forth heroes or civilians who know Peter's identity? Or even the villain from his own universe? One of the film's most significant flaws comes from the fact that the technicalities seem like a bit of a stretch to create a specific story that allows specific characters to play a part in the film.
How does Venom fit into this world?
Our spidey senses are tingling after that post-credits scene in "No Way Home." Many "Spider-Man" fans agree that the introduction of Venom to the third Sam Raimi Spidey film was the worst part of the OG franchise. With the movie's cringe attempt at making Peter emo (Gerard Way would never), the absurdity of what we're watching overshadows the insidious nature of Venom. Yet it might be time to reacquaint Spider-Man with Venom, and based on Eddie's appearance in the MCU's world, that might be the mashup we see when we glimpse Peter Parker again.
As it turns out, Eddie leaves a little symbiote gift in Peter's universe before he's sucked back into his own — that is, after learning everything, there is to know about the Avengers, the Blip. And the past decade of superhero shenanigans. So how exactly does Venom fit into this world? Who will host the dastardly beast? It could certainly be Flash Thompson — as we've seen him become symbiote bait in the comics. But more importantly, will we, once again, see Peter Parker (try) to don some early '00s emo bangs? The jury's out on that one, but in the meantime, it looks like we'll have evil Doctor Strange to worry about — cue daunting music.