(Contains spoilers)

Released on Dec. 17, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” debuted in theaters only, earning more $1.5 billion dollars in the box office, with $260 million of that on opening weekend. The “Spider-Man: No Way Home” trailer has received more- views than any movie so far, surpassing “Avengers: Endgame” with 355.5 million views. 

What built the anticipation? A rumor surfaced that previous Spider-Man actors — Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield — would appear in Marvel Studios newest movie.

Actor Tobey Maguire appeared in the Sam Raimi films “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2,” and “Spider-Man 3,” while Andrew Garfield appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” directed by Marc Webb. 

As rumored, Spider-Man stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield did reprise their roles as different versions of Peter Parker. Along with the Spider-Mans themselves, previous villains also appeared in this movie. Willem Dafoe came back as Green Goblin (Spider-Man), Alfred Molina as Doc Ock (Spider-Man 2), Jamie Foxx as Electro (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), and Rhys Ifan as Lizard (The Amazing Spider-Man).

Although Thomas Hayden Church could not come back in person due to scheduling issues, he was able to do the voiceover for his character. His character, Sandman, was made through CGI and old footage from when he played in “Spider-Man 3.”

This cross of universes does have an explanation. In Marvel’s “Loki,” which was released in June of 2021, different versions of Loki, the main character of the show and a previous MCU villain, appeared in the show. There was a female version, a kid version, and even an alligator version of Loki. At the end of the show, the “Multiverse” broke, meaning that they unleashed various different versions of characters in multiple timelines. In another show, “What if…,” also released in 2021, it showed different outcomes of stories in an animated format. The events of these two shows gave more fuel to the rumor of the multiverse appearing in the new Spider-Man movie. These shows have different versions of characters and timelines, supporting the idea that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will feature different versions of Spider-Man.

Theaters exploded with cheers and screams as the old Spider-Men appeared from portals. Everyone was hyped about their reprisal, because so many fans grew up with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, so for older fans, this was like bringing their childhood and adulthood together. 

There was also an appearance from Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox. In “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” he plays Peter Parker’s lawyer delivering his famous line “I’m a really good lawyer,” while saving Peter from a brick being thrown through his window, showing off his reflexes. 

The movie itself got a 98% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and for a good reason. “No Way Home” was the perfect end to Tom Holland’s first Spider-Man trilogy. They show how Peter deals with everyone knowing he’s Spider-Man and with everyone hating him. They also show Peter finally getting the classic “with great power, comes great responsibility” line, showing us that he’s not a kid anymore. 

With Aunt May’s death, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man experiences one of his first real losses and realizes that being a superhero has a cost. This further shows us that Peter is not a kid anymore. We also get to see Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man get some redemption for Gwen Stacy’s death. When MJ falls off scaffolding and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man fails to catch her, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man swoops in to help.  

Overall, between the movie’s amazing CGI, brilliantly choreographed fight scenes, and the closure we got for all three Spider-Mans, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a must-watch.

For Marvel, the future is bright. Because of the multiverse continuing in the MCU, there is hope to bring back characters from previous Marvel projects, such as Deadpool, Fantastic 4, and X-men, all Marvel characters, although they are not canon to the MCU timeline yet. However, because of the recent introductions to Marvel characters —  like Daredevil, Tobey’s Peter Parker, and Andrew’s Peter Parker — there is a larger opportunity for the characters to show up through the multiverse, possibly through “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.”

Marvel Studio’s next movie, “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” comes out May 6.