What Should Happen After Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Spider-Man: No Way Home is going to be a game-changing event for the Marvel Cinematic Universe – or rather, the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. When Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) misfire on a reality-altering spell, it will unleash all kinds of variant versions of villains and heroes from across the Spider-Verse. By now, rumors (and outright leaks) have made it clear what kind of one-of-a-kind event No Way Home is going to be – the question is: where is it all leading? With everything going on behind the scenes, it’s a good time to ask: what should happen after Spider-Man: No Way Home?

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As stated, Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to bring together a collection of big actors (and their Marvel Comics characters) who appeared in past iterations of the franchise. The confirmed list includes a
“Sinister Six” villain team made up of Alred Molina (Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2), Jamie Foxx (Electro from Amazing Spider-Man 2), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin from Spider-Man), Thomas Hayden Church (Sandman from Spider-Man 3), Rhys Ifans (The Lizard from Amazing Spider-Man) and (possibly on the heroic side) Tom Hardy’s Venom. There are some bigger surprises rumored to include the return of former Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who will allegedly help Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man battle this multiversal threat.

It’s been made apparent from the start of the marketing and promotional interviews for Spider-Man: No Way Home that this is the end of the Spider-Man MCU saga as we know it. How that all shakes out in terms of the story remains to be seen; however, Marvel fans are well aware of just how much is going on behind the scenes.

Right now, it’s unclear what happens to Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ partnership after No Way Home ends. We know that Sony is aggressively building, branding, and promoting its “Sony Spider-Man Universe” (SSU) venture: Venom: Let There Be Carnage opened the door for Sony’s Morbius and Kraven The Hunter movies to all exist in one big sandbox. But where the character of Spider-Man fits into Sony’s franchise, and what the character’s future is in the MCU, are two major questions that need to be answered both on and off-screen during Spider-Man: No Way Home’s theatrical run.

Is Tom Holland Done?

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One of the biggest lingering questions is also the future of Tom Holland (and to a lesser extent, his Spider-man co-stars). It would be totally understandable if Holland is tired and done with carrying a franchise like this (and one that has rarely focused on him as a solo performer). The young actor clearly has ambitions beyond Spider-Man, and No Way Home may be the easiest exit and hand-off for the franchise he will get. That opportunity comes from the fact that the multiverse storyline of Spider-Man: No Way Home will lay the foundation for one clear potential change to the franchise: more than one Spider-Man existing at a time across the Marvel Multiverse.

How Many Spider-Men?

Once No Way Home establishes that concept, there doesn’t necessarily need to be a tug-of-war-between Marvel and Sony about who gets to use Spider-Man and where; based on the deals that can happen behind closed doors, there could easily be a Spider-Man for the SSU and a Spider-Man for the MCU – and different actors assigned to each. Could Miles Morales find a place in the live-action MCU? (Sony Animation already has him as the lead character of the Oscar-winning Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse franchise.) Could Andrew Garfield be hiding a big secret about returning to his aborted Spider-Man run in the new SSU franchise? Does Sony have a new Spider-Man star waiting in the wings to make his or her debut?