Tom Holland Is Wrong: No Way Home Should Be The End For His Spider-Man

The 2021 movie Spider-Man: No Way Home should be the last time Tom Holland plays the iconic role of Marvel’s Spider-Man. Even though he may not want to retire his Peter Parker, the MCU would be better off hanging up Tom’s spidey-suit for good. While he has done a great job portraying the character in his own unique way, there is no need for him to continue doing so.

Tom Holland has been playing the role of Marvel’s Spider-Man since the release of Captain America: Civil War in 2016. After this initial appearance, he has acted in two Avengers movies and three Spider-Man films with No Way Home being released in 2021. Over the course of these five years, Tom’s Peter Parker has grown exponentially, leaving behind questions of whether or not Tom will continue to reprise his role. In a recent interview from Deadline, Tom mentioned that though he is satisfied with what his Peter Parker accomplished, he is “not ready to say goodbye” to Spider-Man. Though Marvel could explore Tom’s story beyond No Way Home, its bittersweet ending is the perfect way to see him off.

Peter Parker’s final scene in No Way Home showed him moving into a barren apartment with only a single box of his belongings. In this apartment, he was sewing up a costume and listening to a radio, ready to jump into action whenever his city needed him. Despite losing his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), and all his comrades in the Avengers, Peter was still willing to be the superhero that caused an end to all his meaningful relationships. This scene signified that even after hitting rock-bottom, Peter’s resolve to continue helping others remained as strong as ever. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker doesn’t need another movie to prove that he will always be a hero.

Rather than enriching Tom Holland’s version of the friendly web-swinger, continuing where Spider-Man: No Way Home left off could harm all the progress his character has made. One of Spider-Man’s defining traits is his ability to do the right thing no matter the cost. While Tom Holland’s Peter Parker made minor sacrifices in his early feature films like abandoning his date in Spider-Man: Homecoming and giving up precious vacation time in Spider-Man: Far From Home, neither of these sacrifices were quite substantial. No Way Home rectified this problem by having Peter lose not just his Aunt May, but his place in the hearts of all the people he cared about in order to save the villains in both the original Spider-Man trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man duology. Though heartbreaking, this sacrifice perfectly encapsulated what it means to be Spider-Man. Any further exploration of this Peter’s story would risk having someone potentially remember him, tainting the gravity of his sacrifice.

Though Marvel would be better off ending the journey of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man with Spider-Man: No Way Home, there would be plenty of opportunities for other spider-people to take up the mantle. Marvel’s push to create bigger and better spectacles with the exploration of a multiverse in upcoming movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness leaves plenty of room for characters like Miles Morales or Gwen Stacy to join the MCU. It is time for a new Spider-Man to show off their power and take on more responsibility.

About The Author