After a long wait and many release date pushbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie “Spider-man: No Way Home” was finally released on December 17, 2021. The response to this movie has been overwhelmingly good with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 93%. In a poll on Instagram, 71% of Western Branch High said they have seen “Spider-man: No Way Home”.

“I would rank “Spider-man: No Way Home” as my number two movie. My number one movie is Avengers Endgame,” Jordan Mickens, 12, said.

For many, “Spider-man: No Way Home” was still able to be a shocking movie with the unexpected characters and the different emotions while seeming like everything about it had already been put out in the trailer. 

“I would describe this movie as unexpected. I was not expecting them to bring back all the old characters,” Katie Borum, 10, said.

While there were many old villains teased in the trailer, it is still unbelievable to many that they actually brought back so many. One villain, featured in several trailers, that many fans were excited to see on the big screen again was Doctor Otto Octavius, with Alfred Molina reprising his role.

“Doc Ock is my favorite villain, he’s smart and actually wants to be good,” Borum said.

There are some movie watchers who want to be able to find the good in the villain while others want the villain who brings the most action and violence.

“Green goblin is my favorite villain from the movie,” Mickens said.

Certain fans have empathy for the Green Goblin because of his human side, Norman Osborn, and the action he is able to add to the movie, but cannot reconcile the decisions he makes as Green Goblin.

“While Norman Osborn would be my favorite villain, I haven’t forgiven him for Aunt May’s death so Dr. Connors is my favorite,” Aireal Delacruz, 12, said. “He liked being a lizard and just wanted everyone to be able to feel as happy as he did.”

Dr. Connors became a lizard in hopes of regenerating his amputated arm but his experiment failed and made him a lizard. A big part of this movie is the existence of the multiverse, not only with the villains, Dr. Connors and Electro being from one universe and Doc Ock and Green Goblin being from another but also the different Peter Parkers too.

“Andrew Garfield is definitely my favorite Peter Parker,” Borum said.

For many, the addition of the past Spider-man actors was the perfect mix of comfort and humor. Many scenes with Tobey Maguire from 2002 Spider-man and Andrew Garfield from The Amazing Spider-man were able to provide closure for many long-time watchers.

“My favorite line from the movie was when Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker says ‘I love you guys’ about the other Peters,” Mickens said.

This heartwarming line was actually improvised by Andrew Garfield according to Pop Buzz. Having all the Peters together was able to make for some of these comforting moments but they were able to blend in some comic relief whenever it was needed as well.

“My favorite scene is when Tobey Maguire’s Spider-man gets his back cracked by Andrew Garfield’s Spider-man. It felt like it was an off-camera moment put on screen,” Borum said.

There are many different reasons why people have their favorite Peter Parker/Spider-man. Some of it is based on the actors when playing Spider-man; some believe that Andrew Garfield is the best. Sometimes it is based more on the actors as Peter Parker, with some believing Tobey Maguire is the best.

“My favorite Peter Parker is Tom Holland,” Mickens said.

In this movie, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker had to go through many different struggles with the hardest one being the death of his aunt. Already facing so many things like trying to get into college and his identity being revealed in the previous movie “Spider-man: Far From Home”, Aunt May’s death is what changes his life forever.

“Aunt May’s death was the saddest moment for me,” Mickens said.

“Spider-man: No Way Home” was full of not only sad scenes but scenes that were stressful, funny, and sometimes annoying. This movie was able to take the audience on a journey of emotions.

“I would have to say when Peter walked into the coffee shop and heard them talking about MIT but decided they were better off/safer not knowing who he is would be my least favorite part of the movie,” Delacruz said.

Though some Marvel fans believe the franchise has had some misses when it comes to certain movies, most will stay loyal through their whole lives.

“I’ve grown up watching the Spider-man movies and Marvel in general,” Borum said.