One Villain Outshines All Three Spider-Men In No Way Home

Warning! SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

Despite the meeting of three Spider-Man generations rightly taking many plaudits, one villain still outshines all three Spider-Men in No Way Home. Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s plot quickly became one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood, with the return of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man iterations alongside current incumbent Tom Holland essentially public knowledge ahead of the films’ release. Yet, despite this highly anticipated union of Spideys materializing on-screen, there is one No Way Home villain that still manages to steal the proverbial show.

No Way Home‘s Multiverse-centric plot is the catalyst for all three Spider-Man cinematic universes to date to converge, with Maguire and Garfield’s Peter Parkers thrust into the center of an epic MCU conflict. Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Peter’s dalliance with the Multiverse predictably also ushers in a cadre of classic Spider-Man villains into their universe, which Tom Holland’s Peter must round up and attempt to cure. Among the familiar faces from Sam Raimi’s Spiderverse are Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Sandman (Thomas Haden-Church), while The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) also return to the fray.

It is Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, however, that outshines every other nostalgic character brought back for Spider-Man: No Way Home. The Green Goblin’s malicious presence sets the tone for the second act of No Way Home in a manner no other Spider-Man villain is capable of and announces the film’s highest of stakes to MCU audiences at the same time. This show-stopping performance is courtesy of Willem Dafoe’s utter brilliance in the role he made his own two decades ago, with the Goblin ultimately acting as the driving force behind No Way Home‘s gripping plot.

While all three Spidey iterations are quite rightly taking the plaudits for their fantastic performances (particularly a revitalized Andrew Garfield in the public eye), No Way Home simply would not have worked without the malicious brilliance of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. His character’s transformation in Happy Hogan’s (Jon Favreau) apartment signals an immediate switch in tone for the movie as Peter comes face to face with a maniacal, hate-driven opponent unlike any he has faced in his MCU history before. In the subsequent moments, Peter is thrown through stories of the apartment building in a bone-crunching sequence that marks the first time audiences know Peter is in over his head with a genuinely evil opponent, ensuring No Way Home‘s narrative stakes are instantly raised.

Dafoe’s performance as the Green Goblin is scintillating, with the actor clearly relishing a return to playing the twisted Norman Osborn. The epitome of this statement is the scene in which the Goblin cackles in Peter’s face as he is repeatedly struck, with Dafoe’s wild-eyed expression introducing an MCU opponent even more fearsome than Infinity War‘s Thanos. Dafoe’s character’s actions and blind hatred for Peter Parker are essentially the driving force behind No Way Home‘s emotional narrative that marks him as the best character performance in Spider-Man: No Way Home bar none.

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