What those Spider-Man: No Way Home end-credits scenes mean for the MCU's future
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Warning: This article contains spoilers from Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Marvel Studios and Sony, which owns the rights to Spider-Man, took a "one for you, one for me" approach to Spider-Man: No Way Home's end-credit treats.
The final installment of director Jon Watts' web-slinging trilogy, No Way Homes leaps into the aftermath of the world finding out Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man, which throws Peter and his friends' lives into chaos. To set things right, Peter asks Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that would make everyone forget this crucial information. Unfortunately, the spell goes haywire and creates seams in the multiverse. That allows villains from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies who knew the hero's secret identity to invade the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as well as those other Peter Parkers).
Unfortunately for Peter, allowing Strange to complete the original spell — which would make everyone, including his loved ones and the Avengers, forget who Peter is — is the only way to seal the multiversal holes and clean up this mess. So, Peter does the heroic thing and makes that sacrifice. With that completed, all of the crossover guests return to their respective worlds, and Holland's Peter, rocking a new homemade suit, swings off into his unknown future.
Matt Kennedy/Columbia Pictures Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'
Like almost every superhero movie, though, that's not all No Way Home has to offer. The movie's end credits deliver both a scene featuring Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock from Sony's Venom franchise and the first teaser for Marvel's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Let's break them down below.
The mid-credits scene
Columbia Pictures Tom Hardy in 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage.'
It's best to think of the mid-credits scene as the punchline to a joke set up in October's Sony-produced Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which concluded with Eddie and Venom blipping to the MCU while on vacation, presumably, because of Strange's messy first spell. Here at the end of No Way Home, we find the duo at a bar in Mexico, where a bartender played by Ted Lasso's Cristo Fernández has just finished explaining the entire MCU to them. Eddie can't quite wrap his mind around the fact that this world is filled with heroes who fought the Infinity Stone seeking extraterrestrial Thanos ("Aliens don't love stones. They love eating brains because that's what they do!") Meanwhile, Venom simply thinks the Hulk is a bad name. Unfortunately, Eddie doesn't get an opportunity to discuss this alternate universe any further because Strange's second spell sends him back to whence he came. However, a tiny piece of symbiote goo lands on the bar before he fades away, leaving the door open for this world to get its own Venom or the like.
Did this scene satisfyingly pay off Venom: Let There Be Carnage's end-credits scene in which both Venom and Eddie were eager to meet Spider-Man? We'll let you decide. But it does raise some questions. First, why was Venom transported to the MCU in the first place? As Strange explains earlier in the movie, only people who knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man come travel to this universe because of the botched first spell. If Venom didn't know who Spider-Man was before reaching this Earth — which is confirmed in both Let There Be Carnage and No Way Home's credit scenes — why did he come through with the other ones? Yes, you could assume that the Not-Sorcerer Supreme simply didn't know how much he screwed things up in the multiverse (more on that in a second) and the spell opened the door to a whole bunch of people, but this isn't the only hole.
Both Let There Be Carnage and No Way Home's scenes establish that Sony's Venom series takes place in a different universe than Holland's Spider-Man, who remains on the MCU in Earth. But if that's the case, then what's going on with Sony's next Spider-Man adjacent film, Morbius? The latest trailer features an appearance from Michael Keaton's Spider-Man: Homecoming villain Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. Vulture, (or at least that's what we're assuming) and a reference to Venom, courtesy of Jared Leto's titular super-vampire. If Keaton is indeed playing Adrian, is this a variant in another universe? Hopefully, Morbius will answer these questions when it hits theaters on Jan 28.
The post-credits stinger
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'
In the same way that 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger offered up the first teaser for 2012's Avengers, No Way Home unveils the first footage from Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which opens May 6. The new look at the Sam Raimi-helmed sequel shows the titular wizard dealing with the fallout from his actions in the preceding movie. As voices scold Strange for messing with the multiverse ("Your desecration of reality will not go unpunished" and we see a host of intriguing visuals, we're treated to the following: Strange walking through a desolated city scape; the back of the star-spangled jean jacket worn by Marvel hero Miss America, a.k.a. America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), who can smash holes in between universes in the comics (and was EW's Superhero of the Year in 2017); Strange recruiting Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) to help him with his multiversal issue (he assures her he doesn't care about her grief-stricken shenanigans in WandaVision); an alternate reality where Stephen marries Rachel McAdams' Dr. Christine Palmer; Christine and Strange facing down a monster in New York City; some trippy and timey-wimey visuals; and the return of Strange's ally turned enemy Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
"The greatest threat to our universe is you," says Mordo, whose hair has grown up.
And that's when we get the real money shot: an evil version of Doctor Strange emerges from the shadows, presumably the one from What If…? In case you didn't watch Marvel's timeline-hopping animated anthology series on Disney+, episode 3 introduced viewers to a version of Strange who only learned magic after Christine's tragic death. He repeatedly tried and failed to save her with the Eye of Agomotto, and his attempts to amass more power transformed him into the dark, twisty, and corrupted Strange Supreme and destroyed his entire universe. The last time we saw him, he promised the Watcher that he would guard a pocket dimension containing Armin Zola and Killmonger. Is this the same Strange Supreme from the show, or is there another one in an alternate universe?
Overall, the Multiverse of Madness teaser confirms its connection to WandaVision and What If…?; however, it's important to remember that it'll likely tie into Disney+'s Loki, too. The Tom Hiddleston-led drama's first season ended with the splintering of the Sacred Timeline and subsequent unshackling of the multiverse, and Michael Waldron, the show's head writer, co-wrote the sequel's screenplay. In other words, it feels as though this teaser didn't give away the game too much and it's likely Raimi and Waldron have more up their sleeves.
In many ways, it's fitting that Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with these two sequences because it's representative of how the character has fared in the MCU. For all of the enjoyable things in Watts' trilogy — from Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon's crackling chemistry to the memorable villainous performances — this version of Spider-Man has never been able to just live. Each Home film has been tied to and weighed down by other movies. Tony Stark's presence and legacy looms heavily over Homecoming and Far From Home, and No Way Home pits Peter against villains of movies past (which is, admittedly, some good fan service.) In that light, it makes sense that No Way Home's post-credit goodies would have very little to do with Spider-Man and everything to do with heroes from other movies.
While No Way Home only promises that "Doctor Strange will return," we know that producer Amy Pascal is already developing another trilogy that will feature Holland's Spider-Man and hopefully be tied to the MCU.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is out in theaters now.
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