Why I'm Worried About Spider-Man: No Way Home

The Felonious Five, then.

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I sort of feel this way, but in a bit of a different manner.

Firstly, I don’t think it’s exactly a lack of originality. The MCU Spider-Man films have show they can take characters and storylines, even ones people totally wouldn’t think could work (like Mysterio) and do them really well. If they wanted to do it again, they could, and I sincerely hope we continue to get MCU Spidey after No Way Home so they can.

Now, I’m not gonna pretend like I’m not fangirling out of my seat for seeing Williem Defoe Green Goblin and Alfred Molina Doc Ock again, let alone the (basically) exact versions of those characters from the original films. But the issue I hold with pulling those characters and others from the Webb duology like Electro and (potentially) The Lizard is that it basically means we’re never going to see the official MCU versions of these villains.

Now, is that particularly a bad thing? No, not necessarily. MCU Spider-Man has done well enough avoiding the staple baddies, and seeing new villains is always better than treading old ground. But it does remain true that at least two of these characters, Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius, usually tend to be involved in some of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever.

But if our MCU Spider-Man is going to be going toe-to-toe with variant versions of these characters, does that not then ruin their potential introduction in the main MCU timeline? I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and it somewhat spoils the fanservice of having the originals there. Otto Octavius and Norman Osborn haven’t yet been introduced or even confirmed to exist in the main MCU yet. If Peter then fights the Green Goblin and Doc Ock from another dimension, then not only do you risk treading old ground with those villains later, but in-universe I find it hard to believe Peter is going to be like “I don’t know who you are!” Or if Peter then meets his universe’s Otto Octavius, how is he not going to be like, “He’s going to turn into Doc Ock eventually.”

It spoils these characters and their compelling transformations into villains both in and out of the films, and it makes the likelihood of seeing their “real” MCU versions very low, and that makes me a bit disappointed.

Especially so when a lot of these alternate villains have been involved in the Sinister Six, meaning a movie with the “real” MCU Sinister Six isn’t likely to happen either.

What action of his is he meant to be taking responsibility for, though? Mysterio revealed his identity. It’s not at all like the comics where he did that himself, willingly.

Killing Mysterio? He very clearly didn’t, and it’s not like he knew he was going to be framed or anything.

If anything, it seems like going to Strange is a last resort. We see plenty of Peter being interrogated, hiding from civilians and police, attempting to go back to school. In other words, all of his attempts at dealing with this on his own.

Besides, it’s not like comic Peter is above doing the same thing. He literally goes to Strange for help in One More Day, he just gets turned down.

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@Pakari , if I could give your post a million likes, I would. I was thinking this exact thing myself-I just couldn’t put it into words for some reason.

Ever since they announced that Spider-Man was going to be in the MCU, I wanted them to have Green Goblin and/or Dock Ock. Since those characters were largely absent from the Webb films, I thought it would make sense to bring them back for the MCU, which is basically the king of Marvel movies at this point. I thought it would be interesting to see a new cinematic take on these characters-but that’s not what’s happening.

I can’t argue with this, especially since Vulture and Mysterio were done so well. But at the same time, there’s a lot of gray area in this. Yes, you do want to have something fresh, but at the same time, you want to feature a character who’s fairly well-known. I mean, could you imagine them trying to advertise a Batman movie that had, say, Condiment King as the main villain?

(The Lego Batman Movie doesn’t count, since it only introduced Condiment King as a joke. Like, “Hey, I got this one ridiculous character with me. And he’s a real Batman villain! I’m serious!”)

Yep. That’s the exact problem that No Way Home seems to be presenting. :frowning:

Unfortunately, it appears that it’s gonna be his word against Mysterio’s, albeit posthumously.

I guess EDITH might have some kind of video recording though.

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He could meet versions that don’t go bad, which would be something.

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I don’t really think that would be a problem, or even require resurrection.

These guys don’t rely on a single acknowledged canon like Disney, Into the Spiderverse already demnstrated that they are willing to have differing canons valid at the same time within a single universe.

Like the original Parker there, said characters are likely going to be a patchwork of everything we expect the classical iterations of those villains to be. Like, a Schroedingers villain for whom all the story arcs are valid unless directly stated otherwise, or flashed back on.

At the very least, I’m not worried at all. It’ll probably be a good movie on it’s own merits.

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Alright, upon freshly viewing this movie, it was very underwhelming, and okay at best. I was honestly bored for a significant portion of the film. The villains were lame, with not nearly enough time to be flushed out or well thought through. They introduced them too late, and put way more focus on other points of the movie. While that isn’t always a bad thing, in a movie where the entire gimmick is a bunch of returning characters, they should get a large spotlight. Instead they were pushed off to the side, and barely given enough time to warrant existing in the film overall. I was really looking forward to seeing Doc Ock, and the Lizard, the latter of which literally being seen for the first time already restrained. Doc Ock was luckily one the more fortunate villains, getting a bigger lot of screen time. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t even close to what I wanted, especially considering how iconic he is.

The second great sin was the pitiful fights. I always say that action covers a multitude of sins, (in movies) an opinion that went ignored. There was like four “good” fights, only two of which felt substantial to me. The two better fights, we’re that between Green Goblin and Holland Spider-Man, and the final fight. The first of the two was a bit weak. It was really just a somewhat generic action movie scene, being boiled down to straight up punches, with Spider-Man only using webs a couple times. (to memory)

The final fight was probably the best, of the movie. You knew mostly what was going to happen, but it filled its place. Really don’t have much to say about it. It was okay.

It tried to be a big crossover movie, and it failed. Too many characters, far too little time. I think it’s partially the fault of the slow early half. They should’ve cut off a lot of the fat, and just stuck with well choreographed fights, with our favorite villains. But maybe it’s my own fault for expecting too much. I think M.J. said it best; Expect disappointment, and you’ll never be disappointed, or something like that.

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The spoiler tags didn’t work; you might want to fix that

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Yeah, not sure what was wrong, but it’s good now.

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Thanks for fixing it (I don’t want spoilers!). I’m not gonna be able to see the movie this weekend because of, well, life. But I will see it either Monday or Tuesday. And when I do, I’ll come back to this topic to give a proper reply to @Krelikan and whoever else might post a response in the next few days.

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I was initially excited to see this movie, but then in one of the trailers, dr. strange made a cringeworthy joke involving scooby-doo for some reason. It’s like the people writing this movie didn’t even try. A darned shame, because the raimi movies had great situational humor in them.

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I dunno about you guys but I liked this one

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definitely a solid 7/10 for me

I was very thoroughly entertained, which is good enough for me. Yeah, there were a lot of corny lines and the plot was sub-par, but I enjoyed it for what it is.

ehh

it was a cringe joke, to be sure, but it seems a little caustic to write off the whole movie because of one thing.

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Since I saw the movie yesterday, I can now answer myself (and everyone else who’s responded to me).

So first of all, what I said before, about how I wanted to see official MCU versions of Green Goblin, Dock Ock, etc, still stands. I like Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe as much as the next guy, but I am curious as to what the MCU’s original takes on them would be like. However, I should really judge the movie for what it is, and not what it isn’t.

And for that? The movie was honestly really solid. The core concept of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange tearing a rift in the multiverse and releasing villains from other universes into the MCU’s was really well-executed. At first, I thought it would essentially be a “Gotta Catch 'Em All” quest as more villains popped up, but it was a little more subversive than that. I was actually pretty surprised by how Peter wanted to handle it. But then of course things got out of hand, and boy, did the movie take some surprising twists and turns. If Homecoming and Far From Home were just playing it safe, then No Way Home took some really big risks. They led to some really sad and emotional moments, but I felt like they paid off. And they really made me wonder where they could go with the next Spider-Man movie. (It’s confirmed to be in development.)

Now to respond to some other points…

“Instead they were pushed off to the side, and barely given enough time to warrant existing in the film overall. I was really looking forward to seeing Doc Ock, and the Lizard, the latter of which literally being seen for the first time already restrained. Doc Ock was luckily one the more fortunate villains, getting a bigger lot of screen time.”

I don’t know about that. Green Goblin seemed to have a lot of screen time, especially since he was the main antagonist of the movie. And the fact that he smashed his mask/helmet-that felt like a nod to the many people that hated that design for the Green Goblin.

“There was like four “good” fights, only two of which felt substantial to me. The two better fights, we’re that between Green Goblin and Holland Spider-Man, and the final fight. The first of the two was a bit weak. It was really just a somewhat generic action movie scene, being boiled down to straight up punches, with Spider-Man only using webs a couple times.”

I thought the Dock Ock bridge battle was done pretty well, myself. And when Electro first showed up-that was pretty cool too. But I do have to agree with you about the final battle. It was pretty epic.

Yeah, I didn’t really get that joke.

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I accidentally saw a possible spoiler. Darn you, my ability to read Spanish!

I’m still looking forward to watching the movie this weekend though

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Yeah this one really changed my mind on the MCU version of Spider-Man. I trust they’re gonna handle him right for the future.

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I just saw it and while you could call it crowded at least unlike Spider-Man 3 it was all one plot and it was all unified. To avoid spoilers all I will is that stuff happens and it’s stuff not to be missed or skipped.

Not to mention I loved that final fight between Peter and green goblin and a few other great moments.

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guys I hear that spider man shows up in this is that right

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yes that invisible punch in the trailer was from another Spider-Man.

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that wasn’t my question

does spider man show up in this film

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Spoiler alert…

Yes. He does. In the very first scene, no less.

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