Why This Scene in SPIDER-MAN No Way Home Is PER...

Why This Scene in SPIDER-MAN No Way Home Is PERFECT

Andrew Garfield No Way Home

Ok so Spider-Man No Way Home built upon the last 20 years of the Sony Spider-verse to bring us a film that broke the MCU in order to make one of the biggest events in comic book movie history.

Seeing Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire appear on screen together alongside Tom Holland was something that we never thought could happen but Marvel delivered this massive event to make it the biggest film this side of the pandemic.

I hadn’t felt that hyped since Jay-Z and Nas appeared on stage together during the I Declare war tour and it’s still something that gives me Goosebumps to this day.

(I know you can feel the magic baby)

Amazing Spider-Man Legacy

What I think that the film excelled at though was giving Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker a much deserved redemption arc. When you hear everything that went on behind the scenes with him it’s difficult not to feel sorry for the actor and when he played the character he had several things riding against him.

The Amazing Spider-Man released in 2012, just a mere five years after Tobey Maguire appeared as Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 dropped two years later in 2014 and it would be a mere two years after that in which he was replaced by Tom Holland in a complete reboot of the character.

Garfield was actually due to announce The Amazing Spider-Man 3 at a Brazilian Comic Book Movie event but he called in sick and then the project was scrapped. It was only after the Sony Email Hack that we found out Amy Pascal had been in talks with Kevin Feige to reboot the character in the MCU and Garfield’s version was swept under the rug by the studio.

Online though there was still a massive community that supported him and just in the same way that The Snyder-cut had several supporters, Garfield did too. Thus seeing him back on the big screen alongside Tobey and Tom was a major moment that not only righted the wrongs of the past but it also showed the growth of the character.

For the last decade, lots of people have argued who the best live action Spider-Man is and after seeing them on screen at the same time I actually think that Garfield is by far the standout. In my opinion, he swings circles around the other two and it’s easy to see why he’s had a massive career outside of this movie.

Now not only does the film give us redemption for Garfield but it also gives us redemption for his Peter Parker.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ended with the love of his life Gwen Stacy falling to her death and after he misused his webs he ended up breaking her neck.

It’s arguably one of the most tragic moments in a Spider-Man Movie ever and though the death of Uncle Ben and Aunt May are definitely up there, this hits a lot harder because it was caused somewhat directly by him.

In the movie we discovered that this very much broke the character and that after the death of Gwen, he stopped pulling his punches. This took him down a darker path in which he became more vengeful and less forgiving. He had seen first hand that even when you try to do good that it can still lead to loss and had just stopped giving the villains the benefit of the doubt like he had in his past.

Andrew Garfield The Amazing Spider-Man

The Theme Of No Way Home

Now a theme that is very prevalent in No Way Home is the idea of Responsibility. The two other Peter’s that Tom’s version meets very much act as a warning in the wake of Aunt May’s death.

Not only did Andrew losing Gwen make him go down a darker path but we also see how something similar happened with Tobey’s Peter. He recounts the night that Uncle Ben died and though he says he managed to stop the quote unquote killer, it didn’t make him feel better.

Now Tobey very much saves Tom’s version from receiving this same fate.

In the movie we watch as Green Goblin kills Aunt May and come the final battle, Peter completely beats the crap out of him. Just in the same way that Tobey led to the death of his apparent uncle’s killer, Tom’s is about to do the same thing and finally get revenge on the person that killed the parental figure in his life.

Also side note, I have to keep saying the guy who apparently killed Uncle Ben because of that stupid Sandman retcon but yeah, to me it’ll always be this guy who did it.

Anyway, it’s a great moment watching Tobey stop Tom from shoving the glider into the Goblin which is of course also the way that he died in the original film.

It’s a very heroic moment but that stops him from becoming vengeful and filled with anger.

However, the way that Andrew spares him from this path is far more subtle and it not only saves Tom’s soul but also his own.

After Osborn arrives at the Statue Of Liberty he hurtles his Goblin bombs and he destroy the scaffolding holding the structure in place. This causes the entire thing to collapse and during this destruction MJ starts to fall to her death much in the same way that Gwen did.

Tom’s Peter leaps out to grab her but The Goblin catches him mid-air, stopping him from saving the girl he loves. Much in the same way that comics have shown the Goblin killing the person he loves it seems like history is repeating itself and this is made even worse by the fact that Osborn also killed May.

However, Andrew’s version leaps after her and he ends up breaking her fall which in turn saves her life.

Just in the same way that Tobey stopped him from travelling down a dark path due to him killing his Aunt’s killer, Andrew has stopped him from going down the same one he did after losing his love.

He even refers to MJ as his Gwen at one point and Andrew’s carrying this out here also redeems another person from suffering the same fate that Gwen did. Rather than using a web to latch onto her, he takes the impact himself and this shows that he hasn’t made the same mistake. It’s a really powerful moment and Andrew completely acts his ass off as MJ asks him if he’s ok.

Now even though we all watched the second trailer about 500 times and figured out that this moment was coming, it still hit home so hard. That’s the power of the movie and it showcases that even when things are telegraphed they can still be impactful due to the performance and also what it means for the character and actor.

It’s so well done and it makes you truly see the impact of exactly what his Peter is going through.

It saves Tom’s version much in the same way that Tobey stopped him from killing the Goblin and it stops him from being a Spider-Man that refuses to pull his punches.

The movie is very much about saving The Villains and throughout it we see as Peter does this even when it’s the more difficult choice.

However it’s also about saving Peter as well and stopping him from becoming someone that his elder versions wish that they hadn’t become.

It’s such amazing storytelling and the scene not only works on a number of levels because of what it means for the character but also because of the actor behind it all.

Garfield no longer feels like he was robbed of playing the character that he was obsessed over as a kid but instead we can leave the film knowing that he finally got the opportunity to be classed shoulder to shoulder with the more favoured people that have played him.

MJ Spider-Man No Way Home

Amazing Spider-Man Legacy

Where we go from here we don’t know but I really hope that the rumblings about Garfield returning are true.

Whether it’s in Venom 3 or his own Spin-off movie I think he’s someone that really shines in this movie and it shows that when given the right material he can be the perfect Peter Parker.

Watching his two solo films and NWH tied into it really brings his arc to a close but from this point on there are several directions that they could take things. We know that he hasn’t found someone after Gwen left the hole in his life, and though that may never be filled, I think we all just wanna see the guy happy.

All in all though that’s a story for another day and after rewatching the movie, knowing what this moment means to the actor and the character, I don’t think it’s anything other than perfect.

 

Andrew Garfield No Way Home

 

 

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