Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Triumph of Nostalgia
Things we hated can become things we love given enough time
Spoilers below, just in case you haven’t seen a movie that apparently everyone has seen or read a pop culture website in the past 6 months or so.
Months before production there were (vehemently denied) rumors that No Way Home would feature all three live-action Spider-Men (in chronological order: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland) on-screen together; unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what happened. In perhaps closing out the most successful Spider-Man trilogy yet, Sony in conjunction with Marvel Studios brought back the principal heroes and villains of the previous iterations of Spider-Man.
Seeing the movie with a group of like-minded fans on opening weekend, I cheered with my fellow theatergoers when Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield appeared on-screen. The weird part is although I was so excited to see those actors reprise their roles, I wasn’t at all disappointed when those same actors hung up the iconic blue and red suit.
I rewatched the original Spider-Man recently, and I have to say — I’m not really sure it holds up. The original film certainly has its charms and a few iconic moments — that upside-down kiss in the rain!* — but I’d consider it more important for how…
