Spider-Verse tastily envelops ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

Awhile back, Disney and Sony were on the brink of ending their agreement of making “Spider-Man” movies together. (Sony owns the Spider-Man rights; Disney/Marvel rents them.) We all assumed the worst, since these are large out-of-touch corporations. Instead – and granted, it might not have been easy behind the scenes – the contract negotiations ended with the best result for Sony, Disney and fans.

(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)

All together now

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the first big-screen incarnation of the new agreement, and it’s the best example of giving people what they want – while having everything flow into the story – since TV’s “Cobra Kai.” Over the course of this third Tom Holland “Spidey” picture (again directed by Jon Watts and penned by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers), we learn that the Tobey Maguire trilogy, the Andrew Garfield duology and Tom Hardy’s “Venom” films are now in the same continuity as the MCU.

Plus, my theater showed the “Morbius” trailer beforehand, and it features Michael Keaton, who played Vulture in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” So presumably that ties in, too. I’ll let the experts hash out the name for these “MCU adjacent” films, but as a continuity nerd, I love that it’s one big family now.

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Although love for continuity plays a part in “No Way Home’s” insane $1 billion box office (amid a pandemic, no less), another factor might be that people love Peter (Holland), MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), plus Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Happy (Jon Favreau). And they trust this filmmaking team.

People are right to trust Watts and company. Here’s a simple thing that lesser movies would get wrong: Peter and MJ like each other; therefore they support each other throughout the events. The screenplay doesn’t create an artificial rift, like Peter breaking up with MJ in order to “protect” her.

Blasts from the past

It’s a testament to how good Zendaya is that MJ has a substantial presence even though she is pushed too close to the worrying girlfriend role. Comic relief/science nerd Ned gets more to do, learning magic skills in the style of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, nicely taking over the Iron Man position as Peter’s mentor) and Wong (Benedict Wong).

I missed Angourie Rice’s Betty, who only has a cameo. But “No Way Home” has tons of characters to juggle, and it juggles them smartly. When the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and the previous screen Spideys (Maguire and Garfield) show up, it’s not merely so we can say “Hey, I remember them!”

They have arcs. This is Maguire Saga No. 4 and Garfield Saga No. 3 almost as much as it’s Holland Saga No. 3. That’s not to say “No Way Home” doesn’t have tremendous fun with the situation; we get a great nod to a popular giphy from the 1970s “Spidey” cartoon, for instance. But every blast from the past is there for a reason.

A ‘Spider-Man’ rogues gallery

Granted, the villains come as a cluster. McKenna and Sommers thematically link them with a notion I associated with the Goblin but not so much the others: that evil is a disease they can be cured of with science. That’s a stretch, but the actors are great in their returns, especially Molina, who reminds me of how good “Spider-Man 2” is (although it now has competition at the top of my Best Spidey Films list).

The writers use this rogues gallery – imprisoned in Strange’s basement, which serves as a mini-Arkham Asylum – to advance Peter’s quest to be good at being a superhero. “No Way Home” takes the thematic ball first notably explored in superhero movies in “Captain America: Civil War” (2016): It asks if superheroes are morally responsible for the collateral damage from their decisions.

When Stan Lee’s comics espoused “With great power comes great responsibility,” he simply meant that if you have superpowers, you have the responsibility to use them for good rather than evil. “No Way Home” adds the notion of being good at the job.

Peter (at least this version) doesn’t struggle with being good. Intriguingly, he struggles with being too good – wanting to “save” the villains, an idea that Doctor Strange rejects out of hand. And I admit I scoffed on the inside too. I thought of “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous,” wherein the kids are always trying to save dinosaurs, putting their own selves at risk.

No super-ego for this superhero

“No Way Home” also would have something to say about superheroes’ super-egos, except that this Peter doesn’t have that problem, either. The ending hits us with the ole “everyone forgets” trope, and never does Peter think of his loss of fame. He only thinks of MJ and Ned.

In TV, the “forgetfulness spell” usually makes for a powerful hour: It’s horrible for not only that hero but also for the world. Things are set right at the end, but we see how things could have been.

This film doesn’t hit the reset button, a smart move not only here but for the set-up of “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.” Yes, there’s a multiverse, but not even Strange and Wong can manipulate it in error-free fashion. As such, future films can “retell” the Peter-MJ story without erasing what came before; indeed, they can add to it, as well as to the Peter-Ned friendship.

Franchises – and “Spider-Man” is perhaps the worst offender — always want to reboot. But fans like continuity. “Spider-Man: No Way Home’s” forgetfulness spell is as smooth as the Sony-Disney contract at bridging the two sides. It’s the start of something new within something established. Everyone wins.

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