Spoilers Included

The highly anticipated movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home was released in theaters December 17, 2021, making it the last Marvel project of the year. The film did not disappoint, as it broke impressive records, despite being released as the pandemic’s Omicron variant started rapidly spreading.

Just one month after the release, Spider-Man grossed 709.9 million dollars domestically in the United States and Canada. In total, with the worldwide contribution, it made over 1.6 billion dollars making it the highest-grossing film of 2021 and eighth highest of all time. Even on the opening day, the movie earned 121.5 million dollars domestically, becoming the second-highest opening film since Avengers: Endgame that received 157.4 million dollars. The success and love for the movie lasted as it remained at the top of the box office for three more weekends after the release. Critically acclaimed with a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an overall 98 percent audience approval rating.

Most of this success can be attributed to the appearance of characters everyone’s been waiting for, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, along with Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, the Lizard, and Electro, the classic villains from previous Spider-Man movies. Each of these characters had a key role in the film and following the release, many conversations were sparked online over villain Doc Ock becoming a hero near the end. Other fan theories brought more people out to the theaters, and many of them proved to be accurate.

From screaming to laughing to crying, the film did not spare fans of having to see one of their favorite characters die. Caught in the midst of Peter’s fight with Green Goblin, Aunt May died in Peter’s arms shortly after saying, “With great power comes great responsibility,” a Spider Man tradition originating in the comics and other films. Unfortunately, the death of May was not the only heartbreaking moment in the film. The ending of the film upsetted viewers as Dr. Strange cast a spell making the entire world for- get Peter Parker’s existence, as an attempt to save the universe. This meant that MJ and Ned, his only family left, no longer remembered Peter or the relationship they had together which was saddening to watch.

Fans were delighted to see the similarities between Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and Tobey Maguire’s version such as the small apartment he moves into at the end of the movie after the world tragically forgets his existence. The very last scene also pays homage to Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man as it displays Peter wearing a new, homemade suit with the classic light blue and red colors.

Another major Marvel tradition upheld in No Way Home was all the post credit scenes that ignited a whole other conversation on the future of the MCU. The first scene showed Eddie Brock, also known as Venom, on vacation in Mexico. The second post credit scene was the trailer for the second Doctor Strange movie, Multiverse of Madness. Scheduled to be released in May, the teaser jumps to Strange being punished for interfering with the multiverse and turning to Wanda Maximoff for help.

The possibility of there being more movies excites fans, sparking them to make predictions as to what could happen next. The biggest rumor for the future films is the introduction of Miles Morales, a character that has only been seen in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.