Spider-Man: No Way Home had a lot to live up to and it certainly delivered. It was a moving love letter to fans of Spider-Man and gave Tom Holland a lot to unpack with Peter throughout the film. Thrust into the limelight when Mysterio reveals his identity, Peter has to come to terms with the downside of being a public superhero when the world knows your name and the court of public opinion has things to say about your “heroism” and what you stand for.
As mentioned, the movie does a lot, and there is so much to talk about after it. But many fans are watching Spider-Man: No Way Home and instantly asking themselves one question: What does this mean for Peter Parker going forward? So let’s talk about the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home and where the future could lead for Holland’s Peter Parker.
**Spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home lie ahead**
As if my beautiful son has not suffered enough, he now has to grapple with the fact that no one knows who he is. Not that they do not know he’s Spider-Man but that they do not know him. At all. To stop more of Peter Parker’s villains from around the multiverse from showing up, Peter decides to erase himself from the narrative quite literally. He tells Doctor Strange to make them forget about Peter Parker (which I think inadvertently messes up the lives of both Andrew Garfield’s Peter and Tobey Maguire’s, but that’s a post for another day).
As Stephen Strange points out, that means that everyone who knows and loves Peter will forget he exists. And Peter accepts that fate to save the world, as he is always wont to do, and thus we end the movie with Peter Parker living in a rundown apartment in New York City and living as a ghost, essentially. He’s broke, alone, making a new Spider-Man suit, and hurting himself further by refusing to go and tell Ned and MJ who he is like he promised he would. He clearly thinks that his girlfriend and best friend not knowing who he is will keep them safe and improve their lives.
He’s back to being the sad Peter who is willing to do whatever it takes to be a hero, even if it ruins his own life. But tragic as it is, this set-up also has me excited for what the future could hold for him—both on a villain level as well as in his personal life. While I’ll get into the MJ issue and why I don’t think she’s fully forgotten him later, the ending of this movie sets up a perfect little moment for Peter Parker to deal with New York-based villains as just the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man without the Avengers instantly swooping in.
Because while they know that Spider-Man exists, they don’t know who Peter is. So we could, in theory, see him show up to randomly help in New York-based shows or movies without anyone knowing what his name is or what the mysterious web-slinging vigilante is up to. We could see Peter take on Wilson Fisk or meet Daredevil (again) or any of the Defenders and they’d have no idea that he’s still just a young man trying to figure everything out, just this time on his own and without a high school diploma.
I’m glad they gave us this trilogy of an origin story for Peter and I can’t wait to see what it means for his future in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as his own movies. But god, it does hurt to know he’s just completely alone with no one even caring who he is. Even Happy has forgotten him, meaning he has no further connection to Stark Industries or their resources.
Personally, I think this will last maybe two movies before the world remembers Peter in some way or another. Or at least those who knew and cared about him prior to Mysterio will remember him. But for a while, I think we’ll have an on-the-street Spider-Man movie and I hope it is with Peter and his own version of Eddie Brock or Wilson Fisk.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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