The MCU is back and ready to reclaim its title of being the king of Hollywood. The last three movies the MCU have done well enough, but the upcoming release of Spider-Man: No Way Home is sure to break the boundaries that MCU films have been breaking when it comes to film financials. With the pandemic still roaring strong but life slowly returning to normal with vaccines and masks, Sony truly believes, with good reason, that No Way Home can help Marvel films rebound into that billion-dollar range that they’d been operating at before the pandemic hit. But what is No Way Home, aside from ambitious and enormously anticipated? Let’s take a look.
The Spider-Verse as a concept first popped up in 2014 as an event created by Marvel to lean into one of their most popular characters of all time. The basic premise is that there is a being named Morlun tracking down and killing Spider-Man variants by absorbing their life force. The event saw the introduction of a ton of fan favorites like Spider-Gwen, Spider-Punk, Spider-Monkey, Captain Spider, and many more. The event was designed to reward Spider-Man fans with a wholly original story based on their favorite hero with great power and great responsibility.
The reason Morlun is tracking down these Spider variants is because they feed off their life force, allowing them to stay alive. That said, these characters are far from heroic or even misunderstood. They’re very much villains and the Morlun family is pretty content with their role. This is also where we see the introduction of Madame Web, a character known to oversee the entire Spider-Verse. I’m not going to tell you what happens in the story because it’s absolutely worth buying on ComiXology or reading on Marvel Unlimited — Marvel’s Netflix style comic streaming app.
With all that’s going on in the films, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll see anything close to the Morlun family in the film. If we do, it will be a cameo at worst and a post-credit drop at best. They’ve said they’re going to continue with Tom Holland as Spider-Man, so it seems likely we may get around to these characters eventually. But the concept of different Spider-Men living in different universes is definitely rooted within Marvel comics history. Marvel is finally delivering upon this concept in a major way and it’s sure to have people talking starting this coming Monday.
For its part, Spider-Man: No Way Home seems like it’s a blend of three pretty famous Peter Parker stories: One Moment in Time, One More Day, and Happy Birthday. One More Day is the highly controversial storyline where Peter Parker had to give up his marriage to Mary Jane Watson in exchange for a favor from Mephisto — saving Aunt May’s life. One Moment in Time features Peter Parker’s fallout from this Mephisto favor, including the disappearance of Mary Jane and Peter’s wedding from the main Marvel continuity. It forms the very intentional acronym O.M.I.T., and finally we have the story Happy Birthday. This story features Peter Parker and Doctor Strange going around through different portals and fighting different versions of himself. The gift Strange gives to Peter at the end of all of this is definitely worth sticking around for at the end.
All three of these Spider-Man stories are incredible in their own way. I’m one of a few people that I know of who doesn’t mind the One More Day and One Moment in Time storylines with Peter Parker. I think they add a little comic flavor to Parker’s life and I think they fit with the trials and tribulations Peter has undertaken as the hero Spider-Man. Sure, they’re definitely controversial but it’s hard to argue with Marvel’s logic behind resetting the Spider-Man franchise. This only pertains to me, but I know I wasn’t picking up comics hoping I could read about Mary Jane and Peter’s married life and them fighting with their kids to get them to go to bed. I enjoy “single and ready to mingle” Peter Parker, but I recognize that I’m in a minority with that opinion.
Whatever Marvel does with this film, Monday promises to be the REAL start of the MCU’s Phase 4. Yes, Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals were definitely the first taste we got of something new in Phase 4 — Black Widow was the end of Phase 3 for many of our characters — but it’s hard to gauge where the new phases sit until we finally introduce the characters that will be a part of the MCU going forward rather than introducing brand new characters. Fans will return to the theaters in throngs, the story will dominate the headlines and everyone on social media will be talking about this film.
BSO and myself will be on hand for Monday’s World Premier of Spider-Man: No Way Home, so be on the lookout for much more content on this film. We will be looking at the theories coming out of this film and the fallout from this film that will lead heavily into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. No Way Home promises to be one of the hit movies of 2021 and it will probably break all the box office records. I know I can’t wait to see what happens on Monday, Rob as well. We’ll be back with more but until then, do yourself a favor and remember that with great power comes great responsibility.