It is an understatement to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) take on the beloved character of Spider-Man has been an outstanding success thus far, especially with 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home’s release it landing it as the 4th highest grossing film in box office history, along with receiving nothing but critical and audience acclaim across the board.

Everyone now seems to be a Spider-Man fan, even those who never had interest in the character before No Way Home’s release. 

But Spider-Man: No Way Home has done something much greater for the character than just bringing a new entry into the MCU: it revitalized the character by including some of his other interpretations from across other Spider-Man franchises. Turning simple MCU fans into Spider-Man fans.

No Way Home brings back villains from Spider-Man’s last two film interpretations, The Amazing Spider-Man movies directed by Marc Webb, and Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy, reintroducing characters such as Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Jamie Fox’s Electro.

But most surprisingly, No Way Home brings back both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s version of Peter Parker, as the two Spidermen unite forces with Tom Holland’s version of the webslinger.

These character’s aren’t just cameos for the sake of nostalgia. These characters, especially the Spidermen and their respective villains, are integral to the story, and each gets their time to shine.

This can especially be said about Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, whose performance brought many back to what were once forgotten films, finally giving him the respect he deserved for being one of the best portrayals of the character to date.

The Amazing Spider-Man movies did poorly at the box office, which prevented a third movie from being made, but with No Way Home, a large vocal group of new fans have requested them to finally finish the trilogy, despite the last movie being more than half a decade old.

The film’s story also reinforces the message of Spider-Man finally growing into his own hero, rather than relying on other MCU characters like Tony Stark and the Avengers to spearhead his story.

Not only has Spider-Man outgrown the MCU, but so has the fanbase, as they have started to appreciate all of the previous Spider-Man films, which didn’t feature any other superheroes, just him and his wide array of villains.

Before No Way Home, you would barely hear anyone mention Spider-Man without the context of the MCU. Now, everyone seems to know about all the different Spidermen, their stories, and their villains.

This opens up a world of possibilities. Will we ever see another entry in these other Spider-Man franchises supposedly ended long ago? Will Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire get their own spin-off shows or even end up meeting the Avengers?

Since the MCU’s Phase Four is all about the multiverse, this is absolutely a possibility. It is clear that Spider-Man has now grown a fanbase far surpassing the boundaries of the MCU, and the world famous webslinger is not going anywhere anytime soon.