Percy Bartelt, staff writer 

After waiting two and a half years, Marvel fans everywhere were more than thrilled to flood theaters everywhere on Dec. 16 and 17 of 2021 myself included. Leading up to the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” release date, I had managed to dodge all spoilers from various social media platforms, and though it wasn’t easy, especially with people that felt the need to leak supposed spoilers, I succeeded. 

Walking into that theater at 8:00 p.m., Dec. 17, 2021, my friends and I were jittery with excitement and anticipation! Finally, we would see our beloved Spider-Man villains from both Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man movies and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies mysteriously showing up. Prior to the movie’s release, Dr. Otto Octavius’ “Hello, Peter,” as well as Green Goblin’s explosives rolling into frame, completely broke the internet the day the official trailer was released. I know for a fact I was on the ground screaming- who doesn’t love Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe? No one loves spoilers, so I will refrain from giving explicit detail to the movie’s contents or things that otherwise didn’t appear in official trailers, but go see the movie when you can! 

Like almost every Marvel movie out there, I absolutely loved this movie! I had not felt that same rush of child-like, excited adrenaline since I left the theater of the first Avengers movie in 2012! This Spider-Man movie had everything and was balanced very well: action and comedy, as well as, incredible suspense and heartbreak. Seeing the beloved characters from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies and the star of “Dr. Strange,” Benedict Cumberbatch, was incredible! You can really see how the young actors Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon, are all starting to grow up and their acting only gets better, even more personable, as time goes on. 

What I did find interesting with Dr. Strange’s role in the movie is that at the beginning he has an active role in the driving force of the plot – along with Peter Parker not knowing when to shut up – but over time he starts to become one of Parker’s antagonists. Now, being an antagonist doesn’t necessarily make him a villain, moreso that he’s in the way of the protagonist’s story, and you can clearly see the shift in when that happens. With the addition of past Spider-Man movie villains, it was the icing on the wondrous ten layer cake! Seeing how Holland’s Spider-Man interacted with both Maguire’s and Garfield’s Spider-Man movie villains made my brain explode in the best way possible. I do have to warn you, if you haven’t seen “Spider-Man: No Way Home” yet, like every Marvel movie there’s an end credit scene, but there are actually two end credit scenes, so watch out for those!

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is amazingly credited as the highest grossing film in a small duration of time, completely beating “Titanic” and “Avengers: Endgame” in that respect. As of Jan. 18, 2022, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” sits comfortably at the no. 4 spot on the All Time Box Office list! This movie has just passed the $700 million mark and that’s only for its domestic product. Recently, as of Jan. 14, 2022, the film was finally released to theaters in China, which only added to their already high profits internationally and globally. This movie has received an 8.7/10 from IMDb and an incredible 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Seeing as how I’m an avid Marvel fan, I suppose I’m a bit biased when it comes to reviews, but truly, this movie was incredible and it holds a special place in my heart.