Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
With his identity now public knowledge, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help. Unfortunately, his memory wipe spell goes awry, drawing in such classic Spider-Man villains as Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina). Things end up going even more off the rails when Spider-Man and the former Sorcerer Supreme differ on how to deal with the threats. That conflict comes to a head with a battle through the mirror dimension. Impressing even himself, Peter is able to emerge victorious, courtesy of his webs and knowledge of geometry. The moment actually harkens back to one of Doctor Strange’s own moves. As such, it gives him a taste of his own medicine and accidentally avenges the now-deceased original Loki in the process.
When Doctor Strange finally returns to the main reality - courtesy of Ned Leeds’ (Jacob Batalon) burgeoning magic - he swiftly confronts Peter. Despite being semi-impressed with his efforts to cure the amassed collection of Spider-Man villains, Doctor Strange’s lingering annoyance bleeds through. “I’ve been dangling over the Grand Canyon for 12 hours,” he bitterly snaps. While fellow Spider-Men (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) understandably misconstrue his words as some kind of vacation trip, longtime MCU viewers will recognize it for the amusing callback that it was intended to be.
During Thor: Ragnarok, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) venture to Earth in search of the missing Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Before they can start in earnest, the adopted siblings are intercepted by Doctor Strange. As he converses with the God of Thunder, he leaves Loki - who Strange still considers a threat to the realm - in a mystical void. When he is finally released, tumbling onto the floor, the God of Mischief yells, “I have been falling for 30 minutes!” Doctor Strange’s dialogue and delivery within Spider-Man: No Way Home is clearly intended to be a direct echo of Loki’s. Though it is inadvertent on Spider-Man’s part, it would no doubt have Loki reacting exactly as he did when Thor is pummeled by The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) later in Thor: Ragnarok. “Yes! That’s how it feels!”
Spider-Man and Loki are two characters that have never crossed paths. As long as the MCU continues, however, there’s always a chance that may change. After all, both Loki and Spider-Man have already found themselves immersed in the emerging multiverse storyline. Though Peter Parker ends Spider-Man: No Way Home more akin to a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, he’ll likely be pulled back into team-ups to battle more global threats sooner or later. It’s even already been stated that Tom Holland has another MCU appearance already lined up. Equally, it’s heavily rumored that Loki may appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ahead of season 2 of his own show. As such, there’s a chance Spider-Man and Loki (or a variant that more fully re) could intersect following Spider-Man: No Way Home and share a moment of unexpected bonding over what Peter accomplished.
