Summary

• Spider-Man: No Way Home integrated 5 villain stories, changing their fates for the better.
• Holland's Spider-Man now knows the villains' secret identities, giving him new insights.
• The MCU should explore the potential of the cured villains and their dynamics with Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: No Way Home was a major game-changer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, more so in Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) history, and it changed five villain stories, which could make for some interesting storylines in the near future. After some obstacles with the character’s rights, the MCU was finally able to make Peter Parker/Spider-Man part of its universe thanks to a deal with Sony, which also lets him be part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Spider-Man is now one of the MCU’s most popular characters, and he was at the front and center of a multiversal adventure in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

In a desperate effort to regain some anonymity and for his friends and family’s protection, Peter asked Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell, but it opened the gates of the multiverse. This allowed five villains from past Spider-Man movies to cross over into the MCU, and at the end of No Way Home, Peter had no option but to ask Strange to cast a spell that would make everyone forget him. All the attention is now on Peter’s future as no one remembers him, but No Way Home did so much more, like changing the stories of five villains.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Changes How Holland's Hero Looks At 5 MCU Heroes

Holland’s Spider-Man Met 5 Popular Villains In No Way Home

Tom Holland’s Peter got to know these villains quite well, which obviously includes learning their secret identities.

Spider-Man: No Way Home confirmed that Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man movies are part of the MCU’s multiverse, and it did so with the presence of five villains. Thanks to Strange’s botched spell, the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and Lizard (Rhys Ifans) arrived at the MCU ready to confront Spider-Man, and were surprised to see he wasn’t the Peter Parker they knew. However, instead of fighting them, Holland’s Spider-Man decided to find a cure for all of them.

Peter first succeeded with Doctor Octopus, but the Green Goblin triggered chaos that Peter was only able to contain with the help of his variants, Peter-Two (Tobey Maguire) and Peter-Three (Andrew Garfield). By the end of No Way Home, all these villains had been cured and were sent back to their respective universes completely restored. Throughout this process, Holland’s Peter got to know these villains quite well, which obviously includes learning their secret identities. By curing them, Peter changed their stories in their respective universes, but also how he would see them if he met them in the MCU.

The MCU Can Flip How Spider-Man Approaches Many Of His Biggest Villains

No Way Home Made Way For Many Opportunities For Spider-Man

Spider-Man would now have enough information on these villains to know their origins, real identities, and motivations.

By curing these villains in No Way Home, Holland’s Peter surely saved most, if not all of them, from their tragic fates as seen in their respective movies, but the MCU also changed how Peter would approach these characters. As mentioned above, Peter now knows who they are, what they did before their villainous transformations, what triggered their turn into villains, and how their stories originally ended. This completely changes the way Holland's Spider-Man would interact with them if he were to meet them in the MCU.

Unlike when he faced Vulture, Thanos, and Mysterio, Spider-Man would now have enough information on these villains to know their origins, real identities, and motivations, and that they have a chance at redemption, as he has cured them before. Peter could even try to help them one more time, though this time without the help of Peter-Two and Peter-Three, or, at least, he would have enough knowledge and experience with these villains to know how to handle them and defeat them if he couldn’t help them redeem themselves.

Why The MCU Should Still Have No Way Home's Alternate Universe Villains In The Main Timeline

The MCU Can Give Them A New Chance

The MCU is a completely different context from Raimi’s trilogy and Webb’s movies, so in a way, they would be getting a fresh start.

Having the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro, and Lizard back in the MCU might feel repetitive after No Way Home, but the MCU should still give them a chance. All these villains had a lot more to offer, but their stories were cut short in their respective movies, but the MCU could give them a new chance. The MCU is a completely different context from Raimi’s trilogy and Webb’s movies, so in a way, they would be getting a fresh start despite having already spent some time there in No Way Home.

No Way Home’s villains could return post-cure and ally with Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU, thus exploring a completely different side of them that their movies could never and offering Spider-Man a different perspective on whatever they work on together. The villains could also return pre-cure one more time, and instead of allying with Spider-Man, they could aid whatever villain Spider-Man faces, thus continuing the villainous path they started in their original movies. The MCU could still do a lot with Spider-Man: No Way Home’s villains from alternate universes, but their future is currently unclear.