Spider-Man movies have their fair share of plot holes, and they’re the kinds of things that begin to nag at you days after watching rather than right in the moment. Some have been debated by fans for years, while others are poised to become central mysteries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next phase. None of them have kept these movies from becoming classics, and we don’t expect them to stop fans from turning out for their favorite web-slinger the next time he swings into theaters. Marvel Studios may answer some of the big-picture questions soon, but there are others that I worry will just continue to eat away at me.
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It’s worth noting that some of the most common “plot holes” cited on fan forums can be explained away as coincidence, and we need coincidences in these movies. Just as Peter Parker happened to be bitten by a radioactive spider, Doc Ock happened to be terrorizing the same bridge where Peter was in the first act of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I can accept that. These movies are full of unlikely things, and if the movie stopped to marvel at how unlikely they all are, they’d be ten hours long.
Instead, the most troublesome plot holes are the events that contradict the story as we know it, and go unexplained. These typically come from the way superpowers work, or other fantastical elements of the plot. However, the recent global memory-wipe spell used in Spider-Man’s world doesn’t qualify in my book, because it’s a standing mystery, not a plot hole. The writers will have to answer at least some of our questions about this spell when Spider-Man returns to the MCU.
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That leaves just a few issues that stand out in the Spider-Man movies of the last two decades, but they are headscratchers. Here’s a look at three plot holes Spider-Man hasn’t answered yet.
Mysterio’s Plan in Spider-Man: Far From Home
The set-up for Spider-Man: Far From Home felt admittedly rushed, and even a bit out of place for the MCU at that time. Peter Parker stumbles into an ongoing global threat that involves Nick Fury’s team and the new budding superhero Quentin Beck — a.k.a. Mysterio. Beck claims to be a traveler from an alternate dimension where the earth was ravaged by this amorphous monster, and he came here hoping to protect this earth as he could not do for his own world.
There are a few problems here when it comes to Beck’s plan. For one thing, his cover story should not have worked if he was using his real name, which it seems he was. As an engineer working on cutting-edge tech for Stark Industries, Beck would have had some paper trail to follow. Fury himself may not have been there, but one of the many spies working under his impersonator should have raised the alarm on Beck’s background. Even if Beck claimed to be an alternate version of himself, Fury’s team should have verified by seeking out the native Beck.
Meanwhile, Beck’s plans should have been stopped by one of the many other superheroes on Earth at that point. The attacks he was staging were not small in scale — they were meant to create a media spectacle, after all — and they happened repeatedly in a small section of Europe. What’s left of the Avengers may have missed the first one, by the third one, these heroes should be on the scene and reaching out to Fury to get involved.
This is the immediate aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, so some of the heavy hitters on earth include Hulk, Hawkeye, War Machine, Doctor Strange, the Falcon, and the Winter Soldier. Obviously, not every movie can be a huge crossover, but we still have to account for these characters’ existence. The MCU usually does so with a throwaway line explaining that they’re preoccupied, but the writers of Far From Home have admitted that they did not know who survived Endgame because it was kept secret from them. Note that many of the other heroes’ powers could have seen through Beck’s illusions with relative ease.
Peter’s Power-Up in Public
Taking it back to 2002, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker was not at all subtle with his powers at first. We see him strutting through school with newfound confidence, and it would be odd enough if nobody noticed this nerd coming out of his shell. However, there’s actually a scene where Peter uses his powers to fight Flash Thompson right in the cafeteria, in front of many witnesses. He even uses his webs to pull a tray toward himself from a neighboring table.
In the weeks that followed, this version of New York City went crazy trying to determine the identity of Spider-Man, and The Daily Bugle was even soliciting hints. It seems odd that no one mentioned the high schooler who recently slung webs out in the open, and displayed a drastic physical transformation in general.
Ned Uses the Sling Ring in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Finally, Peter Parker’s latest big screen adventure, Spider-Man: No Way Home, raises some major questions about Sling Rings. This Doctor Strange prop plays a big part in the plot — Peter is able to trap the former Sorcerer Supreme in the Mirror Dimension by taking away his ring, and Ned Leeds is able to use the borrowed ring to find the alternate versions of Spider-Man. That raises two questions: how did Strange get out of the Mirror Dimension, and how was Ned so proficient in using the ring?
Neither of these need to be explained in great detail, but as it stands, they’re both just confusing enough to be frustrating. If Strange could use some other magical spell or skill to get out of the Mirror Dimension, why did it take him so long? As for Ned, all we get is a line that he believes there were magic users within his family in past generations. Still, Strange is presented to us as a genius, and in his first movie, it’s considered remarkable how fast he learned the mystic arts. Even in his training montage, the use of the Sling Ring was given special reverence, and he did not master it quickly.
Some of these questions may be answered in the future, but others definitely won’t. Let’s all cross our fingers for Ned Leeds to visit Kamar-Taj and become the next Sorcerer Supreme. In the meantime, you can stream Spider-Man and Far From Home now on Disney+, along with most MCU titles. No Way Home is still not included on any subscription-based streaming services, but it is available to rent or purchase on digital stores. Its sequel is scheduled for release on July 31st, 2026, but it seems likely we’ll see Spider-Man back on screen before then.
What do you think are the worst unanswered questions in the Spider-Man franchise? Let us know in the comments below!
