How to Get Ready for No Way Home

Happy New Month, everyone! It’s December and the festive season is now pretty much in full flow, but this isn’t an article about festivities. It’s December and that means we’re now only a little over two weeks away from the worldwide theatrical release of what is quite possibly the most anticipated blockbuster movie of 2021: Spider-Man: No Way Home!

This is a movie that promises to deliver strong blasts of nostalgia with the return of fan-favorite characters from previous Spider-Man continuities -the Raimi trilogy and the Garfield duology- but it’s more than just nostalgia. We’re set for some multiversal fun hijinks and anyone who’s familiar with comic lore or has watched CW’s The Flash knows that the multiverse is INCREDIBLE. Of course, the MCU’s version of the multiverse will differ in ways from the DCTV’s version, but it’ll be fun and trippy either way!

I mean, you gotta admit, it’d be pretty cool and hilarious to see this happen on the huge screen when No Way Home hits theatres on the 17th of December. The next installment in the MCU’s Spider-Man franchise will make it a trilogy, and it’s going to be huge, so, here’s how to get yourself prepared for Spider-Man: No Way Home: by watching what I like to call the Spideyverse, which is essentially just EVERY live-action Spider-Man or Spider-Man related movie since 2002.

So here’s every movie to watch, building up to No Way Home IN ORDER.

Here. We. Go!

Spider-Man [2002] — Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Willem Dafoe

The first movie in the iconic Raimi trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire as the fan-favorite webslinging superhero, Spider-Man [2002] was a massive part of every nerd’s childhood. Sure, looking back at it now, it wasn’t a perfect movie but then again, there aren’t a lot of perfect movies, especially in a genre where imperfection is art. For a movie in 2002, it’s safe to say it was ahead of its time to an extent and any OG comicbook nerd probably still has the soundtrack playing in their heads as well as the popular Norman Osborn meme.

Yeah, that one.

If you’re going to prepare yourself for the next blockbuster Spider-Man movie then where better to start than at the root of it all?

Spider-Man 2 [2004] — Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfredo Molina

The poster for this movie is possibly, the most iconic poster for a Spider-Man movie yet which is fitting, considering this was arguably the best live-action superhero movie of our childhoods, certainly the most iconic by a distance.

I remember watching this movie for the first time when I was a kid and even then, there was a feeling about it that made it so different from its predecessor and much more enjoyable. I had an obsession with it and while these movies might seem a tad weird compared to modern day superhero movies, this was a movie that defined the childhood experiences of millions across the globe. It’s iconic.

Tobey Maguire portrays Spider-Man again, this time finding himself up against Molina’s Doc Ock. I do have my qualms with the Raimi trilogy, especially when rewatching them now, but Spider-Man 2 holds up pretty well all things considered.

Certainly a must watch ahead of No Way Home.

Spider-Man 3 [2007] — Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace

I’m just going to come out and say it. I loved Spider-Man 3.

Yes, it’s the most disliked movie of the Raimi trilogy, both critically and by a number of fans, but I genuinely loved this movie and still do love it, and I rate it a lot higher than the first movie in the trilogy, despite its flaws.

It’s a deeply entertaining watch, both then and now and not to mention, it did serve up some iconic memes. Remember Emo Peter Parker? Anyone?

Good times.

The Amazing Spider-Man [2012] — Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans

Anyone who knows me personally already knows this: This, for me, is by far the best live-action Spider-Man movie we’ve ever gotten and Andrew Garfield, for me, remains the best actor to fill the role of Peter Parker and the webslinging superhero.

I’ve watched this movie more than a dozen times and I assure you there’s no exaggeration about those numbers. Every single time I’ve watched this, it’s been a greatly entertaining watch, certainly one I enjoyed much more than the 3 preceeding Spider-Man movies.

The 2012 movie brought something fresh to the character, giving him a certain swagger. The cinematography, acting and soundtrack of this movie were all NUTS, and I can’t emphasise enough just how phenomenal this movie was as a whole. Not to mention, it probably has the best webslinging of any movie in the Spideyverse.

And in case I didn’t mention this earlier, Andrew Garfield is THE GOAT.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 [2014] — Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx

If I had to rank every live-action Spider-Man movie in order of how good and entertaining they were, I’d rank this higher than most would. I am well aware that there’s a number of people who unfairly hate this movie, but allow me to put this on record: This is a great movie.

I don’t care about whatever percentages critic sites slapped onto this or what the Google ratings are, this movie is beautiful and easily in my top 3 live-action Spider-Man movies ever. Maybe the villains could have been executed a lot better, but this movie had a lot of positives that seem to have been overshadowed by the very little negatives it had.

If you weren’t sure just how good of an actor Andrew Garfield was prior to this movie, well, this was the movie that made you sure. An incredible actor with incredible on-screen chemistry with Emma Stone, this movie was beautiful and completely unafraid to hit you right in the feels.

This was a movie that portrayed the beauty of Spider-Man and focused on the struggles of the hero, both within and externally and truly showed just why he’s one of the most beloved comic book characters in the world, only behind Superman and Batman.

Hate me for it, but this movie, regardless of what the critic reviews are, is a lot better than the first and third Raimi movies, and I’d rank it much higher than Spider-Man: Homecoming too.

Captain America: Civil War [2016] — Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Holland

Not a Spider-Man movie but like I said, this list contains every movie related to the webslinging hero, regardless of whether or not he’s the lead. Tom Holland’s first MCU appearance as Spider-Man came in 2016 when he showed up during the Civil War in which the Avengers split into two warring factions, Captain America leading one faction while Iron Man led the other.

While I was TeamCap all the way, Spider-Man did lineup for the opposing team, siding with Iron Man in his first outing in the new threads, and his debut was fantastic. From making lightwork of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, to throwing it down with Captain America himself and pulling a quick one on Ant-Man, he quickly showed that he belonged amongst the best of the best.

What’s incredible is that he was only FIFTEEN at the time and he was handing out ass-whoopings to veteran heroes twice his age, and in the case of Captain America, probably like ten times his age?

Trust me, you’re going to want to watch this in the build-up to No Way Home.

Spider-Man Homecoming [2017] — Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Downey Jr, Michael Keaton

The first MCU Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland in the lead role as the webslinging superhero. Well, not much of a lead role, he technically was still in training wheels with Robert Downey’s Iron Man sugardaddying him for a majority of the movie, but this was kinda still Holland’s movie. I guess.

A while after going toe-to-toe against some of the strongest Avengers, Peter’s back in New York and finds himself going up against Keaton’s The Vulture in a relatively entertaining movie. Other than the lack of chemistry with his supposed love interest, and the deeply underwhelming final fight with the Vulture, this was a pretty decent movie all in all. I guess.

Regardless of what my actual feelings about this movie are, it’s an absolute must-watch ahead of the release of No Way Home.

Avengers Infinity War [2018] — Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Scarlett Johanssen, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin

Another non-Spider-Man but Spidey related movie on the list, with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man linking up with the Avengers once more in the fiercest battle of their lives as they fight to keep the cosmic Infinity Stones out of the hands of a genocidal alien conqueror who intends to save the world by destroying half of it.

History’s known a lot of genocidal maniacs, but I think Thanos is the one that’s actually kinda relatable? I mean, he did have a point. A fair one, at that.

Infinity War is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time and easily a pop culture classic, a movie that will remain eternally iconic in the superhero genre and possibly the definitive superhero crossover movie. I’d encourage DC Comics to not attempt to pull something like this off anytime soon since the last time they attempted to rush things in order to compete with Marvel, we ended up with the atrocious Josstice League. To be fair, history did correct itself in 2021 with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League but still.

Apologies, I digress.

As part of the build-up to No Way Home, you’re going to want to watch Infinity War which is actually a really important part of the MCU’s Spider-Man arc. As is the next movie on this list which is:

Avengers: Endgame [2019] — Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, Josh Brolin

To be fair, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is absent for most of the movie but this does still play into his story arc within the MCU, and this is a must-watch ahead of No Way Home.

While it doesn’t quite stack up to Infinity War, Endgame is a blockbuster worthy of the name and one of the most entertaining superhero flicks of the past three to five years.

Spider-Man: Far From Home [2019] — Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Jake Gyllenhal, Zendaya

A much better movie than Homecoming, and one of my favorite Spider-Man movies ever [maybe I’ll release an official ranking of the Spider-Man movies after the release of No Way Home], Far From Home picks up in the aftermath of Endgame and focuses on Peter’s attempts to adapt to all the things that have changed while being forced to contend with dark new threats.

In this movie, Tony Stark isn’t his babysitter anymore. No, that role has now gone to Happy Hogan who was Tony Stark’s butler? Yeah, it’s weird.

That said, the above are all of the movies you should be watching ahead of No Way Home and just in case it wasn’t clear, this list was ordered in the order in which the movies should be viewed. A movie I was going to put on here but decided against was Venom: Let there Be Carnage and the reason the Venom movies are exempted from this list is because they’re actually straight-up awful movies.

Sure, if you don’t want to do any thinking and all and just want to be entertained by mediocre humor and the hijinks of a symbiote, then it isn’t so bad. But I’m not going to recommend this movie to anyone because I think that’d be an asshole thing to do. I don’t hate these movies, I actually found them slightly entertaining but I’m not under any delusions that they’re good movies. They’re garbage and I think that’s part of the appeal to them, I’m guessing. Fun watch, not a good one. But if you did want to watch Let there Be Carnage ahead of No Way Home then by all means, go ahead.

Till December 17 then, webheads!!