This weekend, millions of Marvel fans around the world will get to see Tom Holland don the spidey suit once again in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

    On Dec 17, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man joins forces alongside Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange to take on multiversal villains from Sony’s previous Spider-Man franchises, including Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, and Jamie Foxx’s Electro.

    Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel’s twenty-seventh film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is Holland’s sixth on-screen portrayal of the beloved Spider-Man character. His initial MCU appearance was in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. 

    Spider-Man: No Way Home is the ninth installment of Marvel’s Phase Four which was launched with the Disney+ series, WandaVision, in Jan 2021. Since then, theatrical film releases such as Black Widow and Eternals, and Disney+ serial releases such as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki have followed. 

    “I like Phase 4 a lot so far because they’re really expanding the Marvel universe and it’s getting a lot more complex which is exciting,” said junior Riley Freck.

    Junior Jonathan Mason also praised Phase 4. “I’ve always been a fan of Marvel, and I think the new generation of characters and plotlines are pretty cool,” said Mason. 

    Sony has kept the film’s marketing pretty lowkey; they’ve showcased most of the same action set-pieces and have kept the focus entirely on Peter Parker, Doctor Strange, and some of the villains. The multiverse opening up poses a lot of questions amongst fans with many theorizing that more characters from the other Spider-Man films will appear on screen. 

    Most of the online fan community is convinced that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, the previous Spider-Man actors, will reprise their roles to help Holland’s Peter Parker face off against all those villains. After all, one scrawny high schooler can’t possibly take on all those bad guys by himself, right? 

    “I’m looking forward to seeing all three villains,” said senior Jenna Natour. “It’d be cool to see the other Spider-Man characters come up from the multiverse.”

    Sophomore Carter Hendershot also shared what he is most looking forward to seeing on Dec 16, the eve of the official worldwide release. 

    “Zendaya,” said Hendershot with a serious expression. He added, “I look forward to hopefully seeing the other two Spider-Men, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, as well.”

    Hendershot revealed another theory regarding the film, “My favorite conspiracy is that Doctor Strange is actually a villain. That would be a really interesting plot twist.”

    Despite such minimal advertisement for the film, anticipation amongst fans and critics harkened back to the opening of Avengers: Endgame, which went on to have the highest grossing opening weekend box office. 

    Tickets went on sale on Nov 29 and demand was staggering at the outset. Ticket sites like Fandango, AtomTickets, and AMC Theatres crashed as soon as tickets for the film were made available to the public. Spider-Man: No Way Home looks at snagging the biggest opening weekend box office number for a film release in the pandemic era. 

    “I was up till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning waiting for tickets,” said senior Soroush Rohani. “I ended up getting them the next morning because all of the sites crashed.”

    Rohani, who will be watching the film in IMAX, shared why Spider-Man is so special to him. “I don’t know why, but there’s something about him that I just relate to. I think it’s super cool how he goes from a regular high school kid to this superhero with all these powers.”

    Senior Yana Arora also commented on her connection with the Spider-Man character.

    “Peter Parker has always struggled to fit in, while simultaneously saving the world. To see that aspect of realism in a superhero makes it so much more enjoyable,” said Arora. 

    Arora enthusiastically anticipates seeing her favorite Spider-Man on screen. 

    “My favorite Spider-Man is Tom Holland,” said Arora. “I believe he portrays the best Peter Parker because he is closest to the comic book description of Spider-Man. His mannerisms, cute face, likable personality, and the commitment to the character really make him unmatched. He is also wildly attractive, which always helps.”

    With such high anticipation, excitement, and suspense, my spidey senses are telling me Spider-Man: No Way Home is sure to be one of the year’s biggest films.