Everybody’s hyped about the multiversal shenanigans set to dominate Spider-Man: No Way Home, a fair enough response when it’s almost certainly going to culminate in Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire joining forces to battle against at least five bad guys from multiple realities.
Throw in the mystical elements presented by the heavy involvement of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange and some mind-bending set pieces we’ve seen teased in the various trailers and TV spots, and it’s easy to forget that there’s plenty of narrative table-setting to get out of the way first.
Far From Home ended with the returning J.K. Simmons’ Jonah Jameson outing Peter’s secret identity to the world after Spidey’s exacting battle with Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, and Holland revealed during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show that No Way Home picks up from that exact second.
“What’s cool about this film is it picks up right after the second one finishes. So the second one finishes with a freeze-frame of Spider-Man, the third one starts with the same freeze-frame.”
Having Spider-Man: No Way Home literally pick up from where its predecessor left off is an unusual storytelling method for the superhero genre, but it at least ensures the dangling plot threads will be tied off before we get into the nitty gritty of Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro, Lizard and the rest making their presence felt.
