After Mysterio exposes his identity, Peter Parker turns to Doctor Strange to erase everyone’s knowledge of who he is. When the spell goes wrong, Strange unintentionally fractures reality and rips open a multiverse, bringing in a roster of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes from alternate worlds. Peter must face the fallout, find a way to cure these villains, and restore balance to a multiversal crisis that threatens his world.
Now one of the highest-grossing films since the pandemic began, Spider-Man: No Way Home has cemented itself as a landmark in superhero cinema. Tom Holland closes out his Spider-Man trilogy with the most ambitious installment yet: director Jon Watts delivers a nostalgia-rich spectacle packed with surprise returns and major implications for the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we count down the most shocking, heartbreaking, funny, and unforgettable moments from 2021’s biggest blockbuster in our list of the 10 Best Spider-Man: No Way Home Moments.
10. Matt Murdock Appears
Charlie Cox’s surprise cameo delighted fans of the Netflix series Daredevil. Although the Man Without Fear doesn’t don his red suit, he turns up as Peter’s lawyer after his identity leak—offering legal help and proving he still has the reflexes of a crimefighter when a brick is knocked away from Peter’s head in a blink. Cox’s return confirmed earlier hints that Marvel would bring this version of the character into the MCU, and his brief appearance sparked widespread speculation about future roles, especially with the Kingpin now on Disney+.
9. A Piece of Venom Remains
The MCU tradition of post-credit teases continues with a final-sting cameo from Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his symbiote, Venom. Transported briefly to the film’s world, Brock and Venom realize they are being pulled back to their own universe. As they dematerialize, a sliver of the symbiote is left behind—an ominous thread that hints at future complications for Peter and ties into the broader multiversal consequences of the film.
8. Spider-Man Outwits Doctor Strange
When Strange insists that the villains must return to their original worlds—where they are destined to die—Peter refuses, insisting he can cure them instead. A struggle ensues over the mystical box containing Strange’s spell. Strange briefly pulls Peter’s astral form from his body and drags them through a mirror dimension, producing some of the film’s most inventive visuals. Ultimately, Peter outsmarts Strange, traps him in the mirror dimension, and takes control of the spell box to pursue his plan to heal the adversaries.
7. Doctor Octopus Is Neutralized
Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius returns, digitally de-aged for continuity with his original appearance. After the chaos on the bridge, Peter uses Tony Stark’s nanotechnology to regain control over Otto’s mechanical tentacles, bringing him to the Sanctum for containment. Later, Peter installs a new inhibitor chip that allows Otto to control his arms and resist their malicious influence. Unlike many villains, Octavius undergoes a believable redemption arc: he ultimately helps Peter and the other Spider-Men in the climactic battle at the Statue of Liberty.
6. Peter Let’s Go and Says Goodbye
To stop the multiversal collapse, Strange prepares a spell that will make everyone forget Peter Parker entirely. Peter shares a heartbreaking farewell with MJ and Ned, having already lost Aunt May. The spell succeeds: the world no longer knows Spider-Man’s identity, but in the bargain Peter loses the people he loves. He chooses to let MJ and Ned continue their lives without him to protect them from the dangers his existence attracts, then starts afresh alone—echoing the humble beginnings of earlier Spider-Man interpretations. Whether he will someday reconnect with his friends is left as an emotional, open-ended thread.
5. Green Goblin’s Betrayal
The film elevates its villains by bringing back Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, whose split personality between Norman Osborn and the Goblin is chilling and tragic. Despite efforts to cure him, Norman succumbs to the Goblin’s influence, turning violent and targeting Aunt May. The Goblin’s betrayal and its consequences shatter Peter’s world and push him toward the edge, creating one of the movie’s most devastating emotional beats.
4. “With Great Power…”
Peter has endured a string of tragic losses—his parents, Uncle Ben, and the sacrifice of Tony Stark—and by the time of No Way Home his last anchor was Aunt May. When the Green Goblin fatally wounds her, her final words to Peter crystallize his role as a hero: “With great power must come great responsibility.” Her death forces Peter to confront the moral cost of his choices and becomes the turning point that drives him to prevent further violence rather than seek vengeance.
3. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man Returns
Tobey Maguire’s cameo—his first time suited up in 14 years—was a moment fans had longed for. His older, wiser Peter balances Tom Holland’s grief-stricken youth, offering the perspective of someone who has lived with loss and learned restraint. Maguire’s defining contribution comes in the final battle, where he urges Holland’s Peter not to give in to vengeance. He is wounded saving others but survives to help cure Norman Osborn before returning to his own timeline, delivering a powerful, redemptive beat to his character’s arc.
2. The Spider-Men Unite
The long-rumored team-up finally materializes as Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire fight side by side. Watching three iterations of Spider-Man swing into action together was a fan dream made real. Their camaraderie, mutual respect, and combined heroism power the film’s emotional core, and each hero finds resolution for personal traumas while working together to save their enemies rather than doom them.
1. Andrew Garfield’s Redemption: Saving MJ
Andrew Garfield’s return offers a moving redemption story. Haunted by his failure to save Gwen Stacy in his own universe, Garfield’s Peter carries guilt and rage for years. In the climactic sequence, MJ is hurled from the Statue of Liberty by an explosion. In a moment that mirrors Garfield’s original tragedy, he instinctively leaps to save her, finally breaking the cycle of loss. The relief and release on his face as he rescues MJ make for one of the most emotionally satisfying and powerful scenes in any Spider-Man movie.
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Written by Jake Gill
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