Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up immediately after the climactic events of Far From Home, in which Peter Parker’s identity as Spider-Man is revealed to the world as part of Mysterio’s plan to ruin and expose the teenage web-slinger. Reeling with this dramatic turn, and having to adjust to life in a world where everybody knows who Spider-Man is, where he lives and goes to school, and who his friends are. This makes life incredibly difficult as the young hero is finishing school and making plans for college, which may be harder than it initially seems as no school will want to deal with the trouble that comes along with Spider-Man.

So, naturally, Peter goes to his friend Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks him to do a spell that will make the world forget who Spider-Man actually is. This results in more trouble, however, as the spell is interrupted and changed too many times and becomes unstable. Because of this, strange and new enemies come out of the woodwork and are hellbent on destroying Spider-Man and Peter Parker.

Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is noticeably different in this new addition to the franchise. He’s grown up and has matured, but is still prone to making mistakes and not considering long-term consequences. In No Way Home, what takes place will have profound consequences and Holland does an exceptional job in portraying a character who possesses, and expresses, a range of emotions as each obstacle comes forward.

Doctor Strange, too, plays an important role in the aftermath of Endgame as Peter Parker is without his mentor and friend Tony Stark. Parker is lost in how to navigate the business of saving the world and Strange, as portrayed by Cumberbatch, is a great replacement to help the young hero. It’s equally exciting to see the character develop and play a larger role, between this and Endgame, as we prepare for the second Doctor Strange film out in just a few months, which is sure to advance the MCU-storyline significantly.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a cinematic experience through and through, and must be appreciated on a big screen and with a crowd. And moviegoers agree. No Way Home has exceeded $1 billion in global box office earnings, the first movie to do so since the start of the pandemic two years ago and when theaters closed or limited operations across the board. It has also quickly become the top-grossing film in the United States, surpassing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which Salt Lake Film Review also reviewed.

If you can, get out there and see the latest addition to the Marvel universe. The world is growing, the stories are becoming more complicated, and the heart and emotion, just as it has been for over a decade now, is still there.