Spider-Man: No Way Home is about to hit theaters, and with it comes the merging of the multiverses.
If you need a quick refresher on the three different generations of Peter Parker, don’t
worry, this video has you covered. This is a recap of everything you need to know from
every Spider-Man movie before seeing No Way Home.
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is first introduced in Captain America: Civil War, where Tony
Stark recruits the already spider-bitten Peter Parker to join Team Iron Man in his fight
against Captain America. In return, Tony gifts young Peter state-of-the-art Stark Industries
designed Spider-Man equipment. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, we find Peter still on a high
from his Avengers experience. Tony, recognizing Peter is still just a kid, says he should
focus on high school and leave the super heroics to the adults. This superhero/teenager balance
is one Peter constantly struggles with as he disobeys Tony to continue crime-fighting.
Eventually this puts him at odds with Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture. Vulture and his gang
used Chitauri technology from the Battle of New York in the original Avengers to build
super weapons to sell to shady buyers. Vulture’s team includes familiar comic villains like
Shocker and the Tinkerer and some of their weapons buyers include Scorpion and the Prowler
aka Miles Morales’ uncle Aaron. As Peter continues to try to take down Adrian, Tony
Stark eventually steps in and takes back the Spider-Man suit in an effort to protect Peter
from continuing a reckless pursuit. So Peter goes back to his high school life and asked
his crush Liz to the homecoming dance. On the way there it is revealed that her father
is none other than Adrian Toomes. Peter and Adrian quickly deduce each other's alter egos
and despite Adrian's threats and Tony's multiple prior warnings, Peter continues his efforts
to thwart the Vulture. This all culminates in a battle near Coney Island between Vulture
and Peter wearing a makeshift Spider Man suit. Peter ultimately defeats Adrian and spares
his life, resulting in Adrian's arrest. Adrian’s wife and daughter Liz then move away. Peter
goes back to school and it's revealed that one of his classmates Michelle likes to go
by MJ. Do you get it? In a post-credits scene set in prison, Scorpion wants info from Vulture
on Spider-Man's real identity, but Adrian denies knowing it. As for Peter, his story
continues in Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. In Infinity War, he accompanies Tony into
space in an attempt to defeat Thanos, but is killed along with half of the universe's
population by Thanos infamous snap. Luckily, the surviving Avengers reverse the snap, bringing
all of their lost friends, including Peter, back to life. But what did it cost? Tony Stark's
life. So, last we saw Peter, he was mourning the loss of father figure Tony as he returns
to his normal teenage life once again.
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter is still mourning the death of Tony Stark and dealing
with normal high school problems. He’s still crushing on MJ. His best friend Ned is preoccupied
with his new girlfriend Betty. He’s still being bullied by Flash Thompson. And his Aunt
May has entered into a new relationship with Tony Stark’s best friend, Happy.
On a class trip to Italy, Peter and his classmates are attacked by a water elemental, which is
defeated by Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio. Mysterio explains that he’s a superhero from an alternate
reality in the Multiverse whose family was killed by Elementals and was now in Peter’s
reality to save it from a similar fate. Mysterio is being assisted by Nick Fury, who gifts
Peter Tony Stark’s glasses, which would allow him to control the artificial intelligence
EDITH and command an orbital weapons supply. Peter, longing for a normal life, turns down
the offer to join Mysterio, gives him Stark’s glasses, and returns to his classmates.
And that’s when it’s revealed that Quentin Beck was actually just a vengeful ex-Stark
Industries employee, working with a team of other spurned former Stark employees. They
were using advanced holographic technology and projectors to create the illusion of the
Elementals and Mysterio’s powers to trick the world into thinking Quentin Beck was an
Avengers-level superhero. And now they had full control of Stark’s array of orbital
weapons.
MJ eventually discovers that Peter is Spider-Man and that’s not the only thing that’s discovered.
Peter and his friends uncover the truth about Quentin Beck, so Peter goes to confront the
fake superhero. After a fight between the two, Beck is shot and killed by one of the
Stark drones. Peter and his classmates then return to New York City and Peter finally
starts a relationship with MJ. Buuuuuut it’s not exactly a happy ending for Peter Parker,
as while he’s swinging MJ around the city on their first date, a news broadcast by J.
Jonah Jameson of TheDailyBugle.net goes out across the city showing doctored footage of
Peter’s fight with Beck, framing Spider-Man as the villain who caused the innocent hero
Mysterio’s death. And to top it all off, the broadcast ends with the reveal to the
entire world that Peter Parker was Spider-Man.
And that’s everything that’s happened to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man so far, but
it's not quite the end of the story. We know that in Spider-Man: No Way Home Peter Parker
will make a deal with Doctor Strange to make the entire world forget that he is Spider-Man.
And that decision will break open the multiverse and bring all of the past Spider-men and their
various villains into the MCU. Here’s everything you need to know about those characters.
2002’s Spider-Man stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. He’s a high school student
living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, he’s best friends with Harry Osborn, he’s bullied
by Flash Thompson, and he’s harboring a crush on Mary Jane Watson.
During a school trip to a genetics lab, Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider that gives
him superpowers. He has accelerated reflexes, increased strength, he can climb walls, sense
danger, and even shoot webs from his wrists. Peter uses his newfound abilities to beat
up school bully Flash, causing his Uncle Ben to give him the infamous “With great power
comes great responsibility” speech.
When Peter fights in a wrestling match to win some money to buy a car, the fight promoter
cheats him out of his winnings. And when a thief robs the promoter, a spiteful Peter
allows the thief to escape. The thief then goes on to kill Uncle Ben, causing great distress
to the guilty Peter.
After graduating high school and feeling inspired by his late Uncle’s words, Peter decides
to use his newfound powers to fight crime as the masked hero Spider-Man. Peter also
gets hired by Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson to take pictures of Spider-Man, which
Jameson uses to discredit the hero.
As Peter is becoming a hero, Norman Osborn, the father of Peter’s best friend Harry,
is becoming a villain. Norman is the head of the scientific corporation Oscorp, which
is developing advanced military equipment and performance enhancing chemicals. When
Norman tests the chemicals on himself he begins to go insane. Throughout the film, Norman
descends further into madness, killing off his business rivals using his signature pumpkin
bombs, and terrorizing the city as the villainous Green Goblin. Spider-Man fights Green Goblin,
ultimately leading to Norman inadvertently killing himself. When Spider-Man takes Norman’s
body to his home, Harry sees and vows vengeance on the masked hero, unaware it was Peter under
the mask. And when Mary Jane confesses her love for Peter, Peter turns her down, fearing
that his enemies would try to use her to get to him. Peter would be taking Uncle Ben’s
words on responsibility to heart.
In Spider-Man 2, Peter is saddened to discover that Mary Jane has become engaged to John
Jameson, the son of J. Jonah Jameson. Distraught over what being Spider-Man has cost him, he
decides to throw away his suit and try again at living a normal life.
Harry Osborn has now taken over as CEO of Oscorp, who were now funding a fusion power
project by nuclear scientist Otto Octavius. Otto becomes a friend and mentor of Peter,
who has always wanted to work in science. At a public demonstration of his fusion power,
Otto uses AI-powered robotic tentacle arms to handle hazardous material. But when the
fusion reactor destabilizes, Otto’s wife is killed and the robotic arms become fused
to his back.
A distraught Otto begins to become more and more influenced and corrupted by his new robotic
arms and wants desperately to retry his fusion reactor experiment. He begins robbing banks
to fund his new venture and the Daily Bugle dubs him Doctor Octopus. Eventually, Doc Ock
turns to Harry for supplies for his new fusion reactor, which Harry agrees to give him in
exchange for the capture of Spider-Man. Thinking Peter and Spider-Man are friends, Harry instructs
Otto to question Peter about Spider-Man’s whereabouts. And so, Doc Ock kidnaps Mary
Jane and tells Peter to bring him Spider-Man. This prompts Peter to retrieve his suit and
become Spider-Man once again. Doc Ock delivers Spider-Man to Harry, but upon discovering
that his best friend Peter was under the mask, he can’t bring himself to killing his rival.
And so, Peter leaves to confront Doc Ock and rescue Mary Jane.
Spider-Man confronts Doc Ock at his new waterfront lair. The two fight, and eventually Peter
is able to get through to Otto to make him see the danger his unstable new fusion reactor
posed. Otto is able to break out of the hold his AI robotic arms have on him and sacrifices
himself to destroy the reactor. Peter then saves Mary Jane, and now with the knowledge
that he is Spider-Man, she decides to ditch her fiance on their wedding day to confess
her love for Peter.
But things will get more complicated for Peter, as Harry has not only discovered Peter’s
secret identity. He’s also discovered his father’s secret room containing all of his
Green Goblin equipment.
In Spider-Man 3, things start off pretty great for Peter Parker. He’s been dating Mary
Jane for a year and plans on proposing. He’s also being taught by a new mentor, Dr. Curt
Connors, and one of his classmates is the comic book favorite Gwen Stacy. But things
quickly go downhill when a meteor crashes on Earth and an alien symbiote assimilates
with his Spider-Man suit. The symbiote begins enhancing Peter’s worst aspects, like his
rage and ego. This fractures his relationship with Mary Jane.
And it’s not just the symbiote Peter has to worry about. There’s three new villains
on the scene to cause all sorts of problems for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Harry Osborn forces Mary Jane to break up with Peter by threatening his life, then uses
his father’s Green Goblin gear to attack Peter, but gets his own face scarred in the
process. Escaped convict Flint Marko, revealed to be Uncle Ben’s true killer, stumbles
into an experimental particle accelerator which fuses his body with sand, allowing him
to control and reform his body with it. Dubbed the Sandman, Marko begins robbing banks to
earn enough money to pay for his sick daughter’s much needed surgery. And when Peter exposes
rival photographer Eddie Brock as faking photos of Spider-Man, Brock is fired from the Daily
Bugle and forms his own grudge against Peter.
When Peter finally realizes that the symbiote is corrupting him, he deduces that sound weakens
it and uses the ringing of church bells to help detach the symbiote from his suit. The
symbiote then attaches itself to Eddie Brock, who becomes the new host for the alien villain
Venom. Venom teams up with Sandman to kill Spider-Man once and for all. As Venom and
Sandman attack Peter, Harry discovers the truth about his father’s death and decides
to use the Green Goblin gear to help his friend. Harry sacrifices himself to save Peter’s
life, and Peter then goes on to kill both Venom and Eddie. Flint confesses to Peter
that Uncle Ben’s death was an accident that’s haunted him to this day. Peter forgives Flint
and allows him to escape in order to pay for his daughter’s surgery. Then, following
Harry’s funeral, Peter and Mary Jane reconcile.
And that’s the entire story of Tobey Maguire’s turn as Peter Parker. Next up is Andrew Garfield
in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man is a high school student living with his Aunt May and Uncle
Ben. He’s bullied by Flash Thompson. He has no best friend. And he’s harboring a
crush on Gwen Stacy. In this version of Spider-Man, Peter’s parents aren’t dead, but instead
were scientists working on a top secret project that had disappeared years prior. Upon finding
research documents from his father, Peter discovers that his father was working on cross-species
genetics with Dr. Curt Connors at Oscorp. Peter sneaks into Oscorp to discover more
and is bitten by a radioactive spider that gives him spider powers.
Peter brings his father’s research to Dr. Connors, who was missing his right arm, which
holds the final pieces needed for Connors’ experiments on regenerating missing limbs.
Connors has been pressured by Oscorp superiors to expedite his experiments as Oscorp CEO
Norman Osborn was dying. Oscorp wanted to begin running human trials of Dr. Connors
newly created serum. Not wanting innocent people to be subjected to the untested serum,
Connors decides to test it on himself first and is shocked to discover that his missing
right arm actually grows back.
Meanwhile, Uncle Ben is killed trying to stop a thief that Peter lets escape from a store.
This spurns Peter to create a suit and webshooters to become Spider-Man, scouring the city’s
criminals in the hopes of finding his Uncle’s killer. Peter also develops a relationship
with Gwen Stacy and eventually confesses to her that he’s Spider-Man.
Dr. Connor’s serum eventually begins to corrupt him and transform him into a giant
human/lizard hybrid. The Lizard begins terrorizing the city and plans to release his serum in
a chemical cloud from Oscorp Tower that would turn all humans into Lizard-hybrids. Gwen
Stacy is able to create an antidote chemical that reverts Connors back to his human form,
and Spider-Man has him arrested.
In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter’s childhood best friend Harry returns home to attend to
his dying father. Norman Osborn has a genetic disease that would soon develop in Harry as
well. After Norman dies, Harry is named the new CEO of Oscorp and deduces that the blood
of Spider-Man could potentially save his life. Harry turns to Peter, who seemingly has a
relationship with Spider-Man, for assistance in obtaining some of Spider-Man’s blood.
Peter refuses to help Harry, fearing it would lead to another mutation similar to Dr. Connors.
Meanwhile, an awkward Spider-Man superfan and Oscorp employee, Max Dillon, accidentally
falls into a tank of genetically engineered electric eels. The eels attack him and he
becomes an unstable electrical being known as Electro. Harry is framed for the accident
and removed as CEO of Oscorp. Harry then teams up with Electro to break back into the Oscorp
building, where Harry steals his father’s experimental Green Goblin equipment. The chemicals,
made from spider venom, accelerates Harry’s illness and further corrupts his mind. After
discovering that his best friend Peter was in fact Spider-Man, Harry becomes bitter at
Peter’s refusal to provide his blood and seeks revenge.
Spider-Man and Electro fight, resulting in Peter and Gwen overcharging Electro’s body
with electricity, killing him. Harry then kidnaps Gwen and takes her to the top of a
clock tower. Peter defeats Harry, but Gwen falls from the top of the tower. Peter uses
his web to catch Gwen, but the web stretches and Gwen’s head slams into the ground, killing
her. A distraught and guilt-ridden Peter then quits his role as Spider-Man.
As months pass, Peter reflects on Gwen and realizes she would have wanted him to continue
on as Spider-Man. And so, when a Russian thug in a Rhino mech suit begins rampaging through
the city streets, Peter Parker suits up once again as Spider-Man to protect the people
of New York City.