Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
A few years ago, Marvel Studios’ most ambitious franchise crossover was Spider-Man franchise, too.
From Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock to Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, No Way Home brought back plenty of fan-favorites from other franchises.
The Lizard
Rhys Ifans reprises his role as the Lizard in No Way Home. Ifans is a fine actor, but the Lizard was a dull, generic villain in The Amazing Spider-Man and he isn’t made any more interesting in No Way Home.
The movie’s most memorable moments involving the Lizard are when other characters are surprised to learn that “the dinosaur” can talk.
The Sandman
Thomas Haden Church returns as the Sandman, one of the bad guys from the controversially overstuffed Spider-Man 3. Along with the Lizard, the Sandman is one of the most sidelined returning villains.
With a familiar soundbite about wanting to reunite with his daughter, the Sandman’s role in No Way Home might as well be a supercut of moments from Spider-Man 3. He has a brief moment with Maguire’s Spidey that feels like an expedited re-tread of a much more emotionally charged sequence from the notorious Raimi threequel.
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy)
Topher Grace’s Venom is nowhere to be seen in No Way Home, but there’s a fun cameo from Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock as he’s whisked into the MCU and a bartender catches him up on the Avengers’ antics before he’s whisked back into the Sony-verse. It seems strange that the credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage would plant Hardy’s Eddie in the MCU only for No Way Home’s credits scene to push him back out of it.
Still, he left behind some symbiotes, introducing them into the MCU, so Marvel is possibly setting up a different Venom for the MCU. Tony Revolori’s Flash would make a hilarious Venom opposite Tom Holland’s Spidey. Either way, this mid-credits scene is mainly a sign that Sony’s working relationship with Marvel is stronger than ever.
Electro
Electro has an awesome revamped look in No Way Home following his disappointing appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Jamie Foxx isn’t hidden behind nerd makeup and Electro is surrounded by glorious yellow bolts of electricity as opposed to glowing blue skin.
While Foxx knocks the comedic deliveries out of the park, like bluntly telling Ned, “It’s just a tree,” Electro is one of the most underutilized characters in the movie.
Daredevil
Technically, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil is an MCU character, but there’s been some debate about whether Marvel’s Netflix shows count as canon after Disney unceremoniously canceled them so it could launch its own streaming service full of Marvel content.
After No Way Home, Matt Murdock is officially integrated into the mainline MCU. He only appears in one scene to tell Peter that he won’t face any serious legal troubles, but he gets at least one memorable moment when he catches a brick being thrown through the window at Peter. Along with the Kingpin’s return in Hawkeye, Cox’s No Way Home cameo is a promising sign.
J. Jonah Jameson
After being teased in returns as J. Jonah Jameson with a larger role in No Way Home. Simmons continues to prove he’s the only actor who can effectively play the motormouth editor of the Daily Bugle.
The MCU’s version is characterized more like the podcasting Jameson from the Spider-Man PS4 games than the newspaper editor from the Raimi movies (and the comics). This Jameson is a modern take on a conspiracy-spreading newsman – and a parody of InfoWars.
Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield)
Following months of rumors, speculation, and leaks from the set, Andrew Garfield is the first Spider-Man actor to be reintroduced in the threequel. Among many other things, No Way Home acts as a condensed version of the canceled The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
Garfield’s role in No Way Home establishes all the dark ideas that would’ve been explored in his unproduced third Amazing Spider-Man movie. Feelings of guilt and rage hindered his crimefighting work as Spider-Man after Gwen Stacy’s death. Saving MJ in the finale redeems his worst mistake. Garfield’s Spidey gets a real arc and he plays all those emotions beautifully.
The Green Goblin
The Green Goblin from Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy smashes his controversial Power Rangers-esque mask in an early scene in No Way Home. Willem Dafoe’s sinister portrayal of “the dark half” of Norman Osborn is even creepier without the mask.
After the shocking midpoint at Happy’s condo complex, the Goblin emerges as the big bad of the whole movie. This is fitting, given that the Goblin is widely regarded to be the ultimate Spider-Man villain.
Doctor Octopus
Alfred Molina reprised the role of Doctor Octopus seamlessly, working from a script that perfectly recharacterizes the complex villain from Spider-Man 2. Both Molina and the material he works with nail the Jekyll-and-Hyde dynamic shared by Otto and his mechanical limbs.
He gets a true redemption in No Way Home following his ambiguous sacrifice at the end of Spider-Man 2. He even teams up with the Spider-Men to help fight the other bad guys.
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire)
As exciting as Garfield’s return was, the definitive Peter Parker will always be Tobey Maguire. His reintroduction in No Way Home has a hilariously anticlimactic punchline when he steps through the portal in his civilian clothes. The audience is filled with nostalgia and glee, but Ned has no idea who he is: “Oh, great, it’s just some guy.”
While No Way Home is primarily focused on Holland’s Spidey, it also provides closure on some Raimi trilogy storylines, like the fact that Maguire’s version of Peter is still Spider-Man after all these years and the revelation that Peter and Mary Jane managed to make it work.
