Spider-Man reaches the end of a trilogy, which in its way now feels like the culmination of a trilogy of Spider-Man sagas. In what we can best describe as the end of the “Son of Stark” era of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, our hero goes big. Thanks to an ill-advised team-up with a wizard, heroes and villains from other continuities and past movie franchises show up, including a bizarre cameo from a drunken wild card trying to make sense of this madness. Here are the many, many references and easter eggs sprinkled throughout Peter’s crazy, magical adventure into the multiverse, which leaves him with No Way Home.
Peter Parker
– The Marvel logo unfurls over the sound of news reports that serve as a quick recap of the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Is it our imagination, or do they really up the volume/linger on the tidbit about Spider-Man wanting to be the “new Iron Man,” something which, until this movie at least, did at least seem to be the trajectory they were trying to put Peter on. – Peter is now 17 and he and the rest of the Homecoming crew are all high school seniors now. It’s generally considered canon that Peter got his powers when he was 15 years old. – Protesters use devil imagery over Peter’s face. As the movie is loosely inspired by One More Day, it only makes sense that we get some kind of devil reference. One of these days the MCU will give us some actual Mephisto moments. One of these days… – Spider-Man briefly gets to wear the Doctor Strange cape. In the Marvel Zombies episode of What If…?, Spider-Man wore the cape prominently enough to get an action figure for it. – If we are allowed to jump all the way to the end of the movie, the apartment Peter moves into in midtown looks an awful lot like the apartment Tobey Maguire ate cake and battled doorknobs in during the last two-thirds of his Spider-Man trilogy. – The final suit Holland’s Peter wears when he swings through a cold and blue Christmas NYC looks like a spitting image of the original Marvel Comics Spidey costumes drawn by Steve Ditko, right down to the rich navy blue and bright red color pattern. It also resembles the “Vintage” Spider-Man costume from the PS4 game for this reason.
MJ
– At the beginning of the movie, when Peter saves MJ from the crowd of angry folks who have been given a dose of the conspiratorial brain worms by the Daily Bugle, they briefly take refuge on top of a bridge. And as we all know, bridges and Peter’s girlfriends (well…in other universes) are not a good combination. It also works as foreshadowing for later in the movie, when MJ takes a fall from the Statue of Liberty’s scaffolding. – It’s also worth mentioning the bridge in question is specifically the Queensboro Bridge, which is the same bridge where Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin dropped Kirsten Dunst’s MJ so many moons ago. – When MJ is being questioned by the authorities, she’s referred to by a full name of Michelle Jones-Watson. She bristles at that, and doesn’t like to go by that name. Nevertheless, even though she’s “Michelle Jones” and not “Mary Jane” she is indeed MJ Watson. – Peter and MJ sharing a quiet moment reading papers and making googly eyes at each other on the top of a building feels like a cinematic version to countless quiet moments in the Peter/MJ marriage before One More Day. Speaking of which… – MJ having her memory wiped of all memories and traces of Peter Parker–as well as Ned Leeds going through the same–is a bitter repeat of the ending of the controversial 2007 comic saga by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada. In that generally despised four-part story, Peter and MJ make a deal with a literal devil (the demon Mephisto) to save Aunt May’s life by erasing their marriage and all memory of it. The movie plays it better though with at least Peter being aware of what he gave up afterward, and thus growing from the sacrifice, and both Peter and MJ making the choice to help others instead of alleviating their own sense of guilt. – What is up with the weapons on the wall in Ned’s house and what is on the sewing machine? It looks green and gold? – Interesting that Ned Leeds asks about other Ned Leeds in the multiverse after meeting Norman Osborn. In the comics, Ned Leeds became the Hobgoblin, completely stealing Norman’s style. At one point, Ned tells Pete that he’ll never turn into a supervillain and try to kill him… – Ned’s laptop has a sticker of the “This is Fine” Dog. It’s taken from a 2013 webcomic called “On Fire” by KC Green. Doesn’t seem to be a reference to anything within the story, but at least it wasn’t a Dickbutt sticker.
May Parker
– It’s revealed in this movie that May runs a homeless shelter called F.E.A.S.T. This is based on an idea introduced by Dan Slott to the comics in 2008, although it also feels like a more prominent nod (or lift) from the Spider-Man PS4 game where May’s volunteer work at F.E.A.S.T. is central to the game’s plot, and is a meeting ground for both heroes and villains. (May also dies at the end of that game.) – There’s a bit where May appears to be burning sage while the villains are all in the apartment with them and that is just perfect and hilarious. – May’s death here is, of course, a slight inversion of the old (and unseen in the MCU) Uncle Ben death, right down to May delivering the “with great power there must also come great responsibility” line. But her death, with Peter feeling responsible, is also a bit of a nod to the loathed One More Day comics story, where May is mortally wounded in an attack meant for Spidey after Peter’s identity is revealed, forcing him to make a literal deal with the devil to bring her back. Unfortunately, his deal with Doctor Strange to get his identity back in the box doesn’t bring his aunt back. – After May dies, Peter says “I wanna tear him apart” about Norman Osborn. This could be a coincidence, but it does echo a line in Richard Donner’s Superman, where a teenage, bullied Clark Kent mentions to his father that he wants to do the same to someone giving him a hard time, before Pa Kent talks him out of it. – May’s tombstone reads “when you help someone, you help everyone,” which is honestly a perfect balance to “with great power comes great responsibility” and something we should all take to heart.
J. Jonah Jameson and The Daily Bugle
– Even though The Daily Bugle isn’t the traditional, old-school media outlet that it is in comics and previous movies, we do finally get a VERY traditional Daily Bugle “Spider-Menace” headline. – Jonah showing up with a camera crew to witness a battle between superheroes and supervillains, and then using the footage to paint Spidey as evil, is pretty much classic JJJ, especially since the ‘90s where it was introduced on The Animated Series that he also owned and ran a local New York news station. – In the film’s final moments, to drive home the point that the memory of Peter Parker’s existence has been wiped from the MCU, we hear J. Jonah Jameson offer one of his famed critiques of Spidey, that “only a coward conceals his identity.” It’s a nice counterpoint to how the movie opens with him fixated on knowing who Peter actually is.
Daredevil
– Charlie Cox is back as Matt Murdock! This is Daredevil’s first big screen appearance in the MCU, and it’s a very big deal indeed. It comes the same week that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk made his official return to the MCU in Hawkeye episode 5. The official continuity status of Marvel Netflix shows like Daredevil remains a little in question at the moment, but there’s no reason to assume they AREN’T part of the Sacred Timeline. Just maybe don’t expect some of the more gratuitously violent elements to make it to the movies or Disney+ any time soon. – Anyway, none of that matters. How great is it to see Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock again? His “I’m a very good lawyer” crack after catching the brick being thrown through the window may not necessarily feel much like the Netflix/Frank Miller version of the character, but we can imagine something more akin to Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s incredible run on the character making sense in the MCU proper. – Matt Murdock has also offered to represent Peter Parker in court several times throughout the Spidey comics, although the most memorable and fleshed out variation of this occurred in the 1990s’ Spider-Man: The Animated Series cartoon where Wilson Fisk framed Peter Parker for espionage, and both Murdock and Daredevil took up his case. One imagines had No Way Home not turned into a multiverse movie that we might’ve seen more of something along these lines.
Green Goblin
– Before Willem Dafoe’s cackling Green Goblin properly returns, the production design had some fun teasing his arrival given the Halloween decorations at the diner where MJ works. For starters, there appears to be what looks like Frankenstein dolls with a green and purple color scheme behind her. Additionally, there is a silhouette of a witch flying on a broomstick, which seems like a deep cut nod to the Green Goblin’s first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 where Gobby is introduced not on a glider but on a hokey sci-fi broom. – Norman’s rejection of the Green Goblin mask in the alley is something of a mirror to the iconic “Spider-Man No More!” imagery. – Dafoe has a chance to repeat his Spider-Man line “I’m something of a scientist myself,” a quote that has been memed into oblivion in the ensuing years since the first film’s release 19 years ago. – The idea of Norman having bouts of amnesia to completely separate himself from his Goblin identity is something that goes back to some of the earliest Green Goblin stories, and was also a frequent device on animated series like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. – Interestingly, Oscorp doesn’t exist in the MCU. But does this mean that there’s NO Norman Osborn? That would be something of a shame if this movie robs the Marvel Cinematic Universe of the potential to use one of the best villains in comics in a future Spider-Man movie. It also would seem to eliminate Harry Osborn and that iconic rivalry from the MCU stable. – When the reformed Doc Ock talks about curing Norman, we get a good look at Norman’s appearance from behind. His purple hood is very reminiscent of the Green Goblin’s cap in the comics, foreshadowing his true state of mind. – Meanwhile, Norman has one hell of a spinebuster! What, was he bitten by a radioactive Arn Anderson? Why wasn’t he the one wrestling Bonesaw?
Doctor Octopus
– Otto comes back infuriated about where his “machine” is and how it had the “power of the sun in the palm of my hand.” This is a reference to his nuclear fusion reactor in Spider-Man 2 and his recurring line about what it could do. – The license plate on the car used by the MIT administrator appears to be 63-A5M3. A5M is almost certainly “Amazing Spider-Man.” Taking that a step further, A5M3 would mean Amazing Spider-Man #3…which was published in 1963. And what happened in The Amazing Spider-Man #3, you ask? Why, that was the very first appearance of Doctor Octopus, so it’s fitting that gets shouted out in his first appearance in the MCU. – Doc Ock saying “I should have killed your little girlfriend when I had the chance” is a callback to poor possessed Otto referring derisively to MJ as “the girlfriend” after throwing a car through a window in Spider-Man 2. – Spider-Man takes control over Doc Ock’s body, which happened in a far darker way in the comics, giving us a run of Otto as the Superior Spider-Man.
Electro
– Jamie Foxx’s Electro is the character who by far got the biggest glow-up in this movie, and it starts from literally his first moment on screen with that cool, eerie, “charging” moment in the background. The constant jokes about his ridiculous origin story from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 are warranted (especially the bit about his fixed teeth), but perhaps a little tiresome. – When Electro gets his new powers courtesy of Stark Technologies, yellow lightning bolts shoot in five directions from his face quite frequently, alluding to the character’s goofy, classic comic book appearance.
Sandman
– Flint Marko almost behaves downright heroically a couple of times, which is, of course, in keeping with his arc in Spider-Man 3, but in the comics, Sandman did fully reform a few times, even briefly serving as a member of the Avengers at one point. – Sandman saying he too fell into a particle accelerator is a nice knock at the unoriginality of some comic book villains’ origins.
Doctor Strange
– Wong is now Sorcerer Supreme because Strange was snapped and was gone for five years. This is the first time it’s been outright explained, though it does cause the ending and mid-credits of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to make a little more sense. He appears to take this job very seriously… except when he’s off doing karaoke with the cast of Shang-Chi. It certainly adds a wrinkle to the open-ended relationship with Abomination. – You can see the Sanctum Sanctorum’s address plaque of 177A right by the door, which is exactly what it is in the comics. There is a 177 Bleecker Street, but it looks nothing like the Sanctum. We’ll just assume that 177A just kind of exists between dimensions and regular folks like us can’t see it. – Strange says that “they shot an episode of The Equalizer here in the ‘80s” about the Sanctum. The Equalizer was an action procedural that ran on CBS from 1985-1989. – In the comic event House of M, Spider-Man lived in a reality where everyone knew his secret identity and he was married to Gwen Stacy. In the aftermath, as reality went back to normal, he begged and angrily demanded Strange to remove his traumatic memories of that whole episode. Strange refused to do so. – It’s interesting that Doc Ock and the other multiversal villains don’t know that magic is real. While it doesn’t necessarily mean that magic DOESN’T exist in their respective universes (see J. Jonah Jameson’s “Doctor Strange” joke from Spider-Man 2 for evidence that it might), it certainly would make sense that it isn’t as mainstream/commonplace as it is in the MCU. – Strange says “if they die, they die” about sending the villains back to their own corners of the multiverse. Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago infamously said “if he dies, he dies” after killing Apollo Creed in the ring in Rocky IV. In a more Marvel-related take, it is similar to the old editorial mandate that “dead means dead,” which was meant to relay that characters could only come back from the dead if there was a really good explanation for this. Yes, lots of people brought it up to make fun of it for not being very true. – Strange’s “I have been dangling over the Grand Canyon… for TWELVE HOURS,” is a nod to when he made Loki fall through nothingness…for thirty minutes… in Thor: Ragnarok. – There’s a lot to unpack with the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness post-credits teaser, but that might be for when the trailer proper hits YouTube. Either way, we do see direct references to the events of WandaVision and what appears to be Strange Supreme from the animated What If…? show. At least we’re getting some follow-up on Baron Mordo’s anti-magic quest. Took him long enough.
Tobey Maguire Spider-Man
– There are multiple jokes made at the expense of the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man having organic webshooters while the other two use mechanical devices, a la the comics. It’s amusing since the Holland and Garfield Spideys sound a lot like the baffled comic fanboys on the internet circa 2002, minus the anger. – The Maguire Peter being the one to tell the story of Uncle Ben’s death and repeat the line “with great power comes great responsibility” is a nod to how those foundational elements of the Spidey character were most important on-screen to his version. – The Maguire Peter telling Ned he had a best friend before “he tried to kill me and died in my arms” is a humorous, if still sad, acknowledgment of poor, poor Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 3. – Tobey/Peter complains of back problems, a reference to a moment where a de-powered Peter injures his back in Spider-Man 2, but which was ALSO a joke at Tobey Maguire’s expense in that film, when a back injury he sustained on the set of Seabiscuit temporarily endangered his ability to return to the role of Peter Parker. – Tobey’s Peter also mentions he fought a black ball of alien goo once, clearly referencing Venom from Spider-Man 3. – Tobey’s Spidey being the one to stop Holland’s Peter from killing Norman Osborn seems like a somber nod to the fact that he never wanted Mr. Osborn to die in the original movie.
Andrew Garfield Spider-Man
– Tobey’s Peter tells Andrew’s Peter that he is “amazing.” This… certainly doesn’t need us to explain it, does it? – Garfield’s Peter talking to/reasoning with Electro is such a nice moment, a genuine moment of kindness from a version of Spidey who was often defined so much in opposition to Maguire (and later, Holland’s) “nice guys.” It’s also pretty funny considering The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has him refuse to try and cure Harry Osborn. It’s progress. – Andrew’s Spidey being the one to save Zendaya’s MJ is a redemption moment for the character who is haunted still by the death of Gwen Stacy. And thanks to how well Garfield sells the scene where he talks about Gwen, it mostly works. – Garfield referring to himself as Spider-Man “number three” seems to be a self-mocking wink at how his tenure is generally viewed as the weakest of the three actors. – Garfield’s feeling of inadequacy is hinted when he and the whole world has a laugh at how bad Paul Giamatti’s Rhino was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Which, fair enough. – Garfield refers to his counterparts as his brothers, which is how Peter and his clones Ben Reilly and Kaine considered each other in the comics.
Captain America
The bulk of this film takes place within a year of Avengers: Endgame. We see there are renovations underway on the Statue of Liberty so that she’s holding Captain America’s shield. Of course, that all gets destroyed during the big final battle with the villains. But in Hawkeye episode 5, which apparently takes place at least a year after this film, Yelena Belova wants to visit the “new and improved Statue of Liberty” on her first visit to New York City. So it looks like they were able to repair the damage and complete the project after all!
Miles Morales
Electro’s line about how “there’s gotta be a Black Spider-Man out there somewhere” is, of course…true! And he recently starred in the best Spider-Man movie of all time with Into the Spider-Verse! It’s only a matter of time before we get Miles in live action…
Damage Control
– It looks like the main Damage Control agent who is making Peter’s life miserable is meant to be Agent Albert Cleary, who is indeed one of the original Damage Control members from the comics. – When Peter brings up Nick Fury, it’s pointed out that Fury has been off-world for a year. That raises some interesting questions. Why would somebody at that level know that? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having Skrull impersonators?
M.I.T. and the Continued Influence of Iron Man
– Peter, MJ, and Ned are dying to go to M.I.T. together, and of course Tony Stark had all kinds of connections at M.I.T. But it’s also worth noting that a future MCU star who we haven’t yet met on screen, Riri Williams, is also an M.I.T. student… one who is right around their age. – DUM-E pops up in Happy’s condo. The robo-arm, part of a set of Tony Stark helpers in the Iron Man trilogy and Spider-Man: Homecoming, has been MIA for a while. Glad to see someone is looking after at least one of Tony’s robotic children! It knocks over the LEGO Death Star on Peter’s table, a reference to Ned dropping and destroying his in shock during Homecoming (and the crew being annoyed at the many, many takes they had to do before they got it right). – When Peter Parker returns to Midtown High, a picture of Howard Stark can be seen among the school’s collection of iconic inspo. In the top right corner you can also see Hank Pym.
Happy Hogan
– There’s a Downton Abbey DVD in Happy’s apartment, a callback to his obsession with the show as revealed in Iron Man 3. The photo of Happy shown on the news is another callback to that movie: in a flashback to the year 2000, we discovered that Happy was seemingly so enamored with John Travolta’s Pulp Fiction character, Vincent Vega, that he’d grown his hair out and started dressing like him. Happy is understandably embarrassed by the episode. – The idea of Peter and May being sent to a “safer place to live” that is a high-tech, Stark-tech protected penthouse comes from the Civil War-era Spider-Man comics. There, Peter willingly revealed his identity to the world, but of course had to keep May safe. It was a little swankier than Happy’s souped-up bachelor pad, but the basics are the same.
Steve Ditko
When MJ and Peter are sharing a quiet moment on a rooftop, there’s a graffiti tag that reads: “Ditko.” Steve Ditko co-created both Spider-Man and Doctor Strange and here they are sharing the screen in an MCU flick. Ditko almost certainly would have hated this (he was a weird/interesting guy), but especially because he barely ever saw a dime from all the Spidey and Strange merchandise through the years.
Venom
– The post-credits scene is a continuation of the post-credits scene from Venom: Let There Be Carnage, in which Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock was inexplicably pulled from the Sony Universe to the MCU. Here, it seems we’re meant to understand that he was pulled there by Strange’s spell, and then sent back at the same time. But… didn’t Strange say that the folks pulled through were ones who knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man? That… is not the case here. Then again, in the Let There Be Carnage post-credits, the Venom symbiote claimed to have endless knowledge from a hivemind it can tap into. It’s possible that said hivemind might reach across realities, meaning that, for instance, it knows information privy to the Venom symbiote from Spider-Man 3. Anyway, the more important thing is that a tiny piece of the symbiote is left behind, opening the door for someone else to merge with it. Could we get a future movie where Tom Holland’s Spidey does the traditional “saga of the alien costume” beats? Or will a new character (perhaps Flash Thompson?) end up as the MCU’s Venom? And, of course, we suspect Eddie isn’t quite done trying to figure out a way to talk to Peter Parker… – Venom tells Eddie, “You thought Lethal Protector was a shit name” which… it is. But Lethal Protector was the name of the first solo series starring Venom way back in the ‘90s.
Flash Thompson
– Flash’s super cringe-y “No Sleep ‘Til Boston” on his M.I.T. sweatshirt is a riff on The Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn.” – Flash’s autobiography is called Flashpoint. Flashpoint was a comic issue that collected Flash’s initial few appearances as Agent Venom. Why yes, it did happen to come out while DC had an event called Flashpoint. It’s like Marvel trying to release one of those martial arts movies starring “Bruce Li.”
Miscellaneous Stuff
– Apparently one of the non-Stark bits of technology in the movie is an old Donkey Kong Jr. arcade cabinet. Granted, it’s only mentioned and not shown, but still. – MJ’s forced/fake optimism about the New York Mets is her typical dry wit and sarcasm. But as any Mets fan will tell you, it’s basically what we tell ourselves each year. Also, don’t forget that Peter is canonically a Mets fan both in the MCU and in the comics (he’s from Queens, after all), so it’s nice that MJ is humoring him here. Also worth noting that Doctor Strange appears to be a Yankees fan (based on magnet briefly visible on the refrigerator in the basement). – Betty Brant is almost given one of Mary Jane’s (not to be confused with this universe’s MJ) lines when she tells Peter to, “Go get ‘em, tiger,” on her broadcast about the first day of school. This, by the by, is the actual final line of dialogue, said by MJ, in Spider-Man 2. – Another meme re-emerging in No Way Home? The beloved “Spider-Men pointing at each other” during the scene where Ned is trying to get Peter’s attention in the lab. We saw the meme make it to the big screen previously in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. – The same meme also happens during the flashy end credits sequence where two of the three Spider-Men point to each other. – The final battle occurring around the Statue of Liberty seems to be an homage (or lift) from the Spider-Man theme park ride at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure in Orlando. In that ride, Spidey (and the tourists) must stop the Sinister Syndicate from stealing Lady Liberty’s torch. The five villains from the movie even match up pretty well with their ride counterparts. Both have Doc Ock and Electro, and there’s the goblin type (Hobgobilin/Green Goblin), the shapeless elemental (Hydroman/Sandman), and the bloodthirsty beast (Scream/Lizard). – Is that an Avi Arad cameo in the coffee shop at the very end? If so, this um…controversial Spider-Man movie producer is “the original true believer” who gets a special dedication at the start of the end credits. – The film ends with De La Soul’s “The Magic Number.” This is now three perfect end-credits songs in a row, and like using The Ramones in Homecoming, it brings back a New York group to honor Spidey’s New York roots. And honestly, more of you should be listening to De La Soul on a daily basis, or at least certainly more often than you are.
