"Spider-Man: No Way Home" was worth the wait, but what's going on with that ending? And
what are we supposed to take away from those post-credits scenes?
Near the end of "No Way Home," it's determined that the only way Doctor Strange can reverse
his earlier tampering with the multiverse is to cast a second spell — this time one
where everybody, everywhere forgets that Peter Parker ever existed.
It’s an agonizing decision, but one Pete accepts for the good of humanity. As Strange
casts the spell, our hero has a few remaining moments to say goodbye — first to the other
Spider-Men who helped out and became like brothers, then to the closest thing he has
left to real family, Ned and MJ. Peter shares a tender, tear-filled moment with MJ where
she urges him to re-introduce himself after her mind has been wiped; Peter promises he
will.
After the spell is cast, Peter walks the streets like a ghost. He is no longer bothered by
strangers, no longer hunted by J. Jonah Jameson — but he also no longer has anyone who loves
him, looks in on him, or even knows he is alive. Of course, the temptation is too strong
to not immediately go to the coffee shop where MJ works.
There, Peter has a big speech prepared — but one he promptly abandons when he finds Ned
and MJ celebrating their acceptance into MIT, the dream college that Spider-Man’s drama
previously had them excluded from. Speaking briefly with MJ, it’s clear that the duo
still have that same chemistry we recall from the other Spider-Man “Home” films — but
this time, rather than leaning into it, Peter thinks it best if he keeps his distance. Nevertheless,
that look on MJ’s face when last we see her might indicate that there is some spark
of recognition.
"What are you hiding, Peter?”
Now, Peter has a place of his own and a chance to start over. Spider-Man seems likely to
once again be on the verge of putting the “neighborhood” back into “Friendly neighborhood
Spider-Man.”
Drawing parallels to the Spider-Man incarnations who came before him, Tom Holland’s Peter
Parker is forced to wake up to the realities of criminal behavior. But this time, rather
than an Uncle Ben, he loses an Aunt May.
In the previous “Home” movies, Uncle Ben has never been mentioned, leaving it ambiguous
whether Holland’s Peter Parker suffered the go-to tragedy for Spider-Man’s typical
origin stories. Aside from some initials on a suitcase and a vague line in “Homecoming”
saying he can’t reveal his superhero identity to Aunt May, quote, “with everything that’s
happened to her,” or a quick acknowledgement of Ben in the “What If...?” series, the
character hasn't really existed in the MCU.
This point is driven home in “No Way Home” when Peter meets two other Spider-Men, played
by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, of course, who both share their Uncle Ben stories, and
he doesn’t seem to find common ground with them.
Instead, his grief emanates from Green Goblin killing May. Her final words before we realize
the severity of her injuries?
“With great power, there must also come great responsibility.”
In the ensuing scenes, we see Holland’s Peter Parker grappling with various stages
of grief, even giving into his bloodthirsty impulses as he nearly beats Norman Osborn
to death after spending much of the film trying to save his life. Eventually, the other two
Spider-Men convince him to walk a gentler path — with Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker
even stopping him from impaling Goblin with his own glider — and Goblin lives to go
home.
Unfortunately, May doesn't. After Doctor Strange casts his spell making everyone forget about
Peter Parker, one of Peter's first moves is to visit his aunt’s gravestone. While there,
he just happens to find himself standing alongside Happy Hogan, who is still distraught over
the death of his girlfriend — but now, oblivious to not only Peter’s identity as Spider-Man,
but who Peter even is.
The slate has been wiped clean — Tony Stark’s mentorship, all that incredible technology,
the safety net Happy seemed to provide whenever Peter found himself in trouble — it’s
all gone, and now Peter is back to square one as Spider-Man. Which, in essence, would
seem to indicate it’s time to go buy himself a new red hoodie.
The famous “Spider-Man Pointing” meme originated from an episode of the ‘60s animated
series where a villain dresses as Spider-Man, resulting in some corny confusion.
"There can't be two Spider-Men!"
The meme isn’t explicitly referenced in “No Way Home,” possibly because “Spider-Man:
Into the Spider-Verse” already made the joke. But with three Spider-Men running around,
it isn’t for lack of opportunity.
Despite Andrew Garfield’s insistence to the contrary, he is in the film, and so is
Tobey Maguire, both playing Peter Parkers from the different universes where their film
franchises took place. At the end of “No Way Home,” when Pete and Doctor Strange
finally figure out a way to send everyone home, this not only includes the villains
but also those other guys in the red-and-blue pajamas.
So, after a teary goodbye, Holland Peter Parker sees Garfield Peter and Maguire Peter return
to their own realms. Yeah, Maguire got stabbed, which initially seemed like some matter of
concern — but apparently, he’s going to go home, find himself a really big Band-Aid
and have his MJ make him a nice big bowl of chicken soup. Hey, we’re here to explain
the ending, not nitpick it.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” features a pair of very-cool post credits sequences. The first
piggybacks off “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” Specifically, it follows up on that film’s
post credits scene which seemed to indicate an impending convergence of the “Venom”
and “Spider-Man” franchises.
In the "No Way Home" credits scene, Eddie Brock is a few drinks deep and wearing a “Mexico”
cap as he grills a bartender at the resort in the MCU. After learning about Iron Man,
Hulk, Thanos, and the bartender’s tale of woe about “The Snap” making his family
vanish for five years, Eddie becomes determined to connect with Spider-Man in New York.
Unfortunately, MCU fans have just enough time to get excited about the possibility of Hardy’s
Venom and Holland’s Spider-Man coming face to face before Eddie Brock and Venom are sucked
back to their own universe when Doctor Strange’s spell takes hold. Sorry, Marvel fans, it seems
like this meetup won’t be happening anytime soon.
But wait! Eddie does leave behind a tiny glob of black goo on the bar. Undoubtedly, this
remnant of Venom will soon find its own host, perhaps opening the door for some sort of
dual Venom storyline. The scene seems to indicate that Tom Hardy's Venom will continue in his
own films, while some sort of symbiote storyline could soon begin infecting the MCU.
If you stick around until the very end of all those names, you won’t so much see an
end credits “scene” so much as what is essentially a trailer for “Doctor Strange
in the Multiverse of Madness.” It seems unlikely this will disappoint you in any way,
however, as the trailer looks amazing. We can't show it here, but here's the gist:
Doctor Strange is told, “Your desecration will not go unpunished,” clearly facing
the repercussions of the spells he cast on behalf of his Spider friend.
In a series of quick images, we see Doctor Strange dealing with fractured narratives
and competing realities — including a shot of Dr. Christine Palmer getting married. But
perhaps the most exciting moment comes when Strange journeys to some remote, tree-lined
location to solicit help from Wanda Maximoff, last seen in “WandaVision” terrorizing
the residents of a small town while grappling with her own dangerous, tenuous grip on reality.
Wanda admits she made mistakes, but Doctor Strange says he's not there to talk about
what happened in Westview. After a few more glimpses of plot points that seem unsettling,
to say the least, Doctor Strange is told “The greatest threat to our universes is you.”
Then an “evil” Doctor Strange appears, like the one in "What If…?", delivering
the ominous line: “Things just got out of hand.”
We'll have to wait until May 6, 2022 to find out what this all means, when “Doctor Strange
in the Multiverse of Madness" hits theaters.
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