Spider-Man: No Way Home was an astounding success and quickly became the highest-grossing movie during the pandemic, ultimately overtaking Avatar at the domestic box office. It marked nearly two decades of storytelling and united three generations of Spider-Man in film. The world has recognized Spider-Man as one of the greatest superheroes of all time. No Way Home honored the spirit of the character, creating something spectacular. While it had great character development, action sequences, and emotional beats, the film was not without its flaws. Many fans have overlooked them due to the film's incredibly effective fan service.
There were several hoops the film had to jump through in order to tell the story people wanted. Yes, it was a work of fiction meant to entertain, but movies are generally expected to respect the rules that they created in their own universe. Tom Holland's third Spider-Man film prioritized servicing the fans at the expense of something that would have naturally occurred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it is still a near-perfect movie, here are three things that did not work in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Spider-Man: No Way Home Broke Its Own Rules
For the first time in the MCU, characters from Marvel's Multiverse made their way into a Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures film. The film's explanation was that Doctor Strange's spell went awry and summoned people from other universes who knew Spider-Man's real identity. Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was one of the villains that were summoned. However, Electro never knew Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker, as further evidenced by a scene where Electro tells him that he thought his Spider-Man was going to "be black." This meant that Electro should not have been summoned by the spell.
Additionally, the film had to write the haywire spell to pull people right before the moment of their deaths. This was done so dead villains such as the Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin could return. Since the spell summoned those who knew Spider-Man's identity and brought people back from the dead, other characters should have been summoned too. By the film's logic, the Harry Osborn from the Raimiverse and Gwen Stacy from the Webbverse should also have been summoned. Both characters knew Spider-Man's identity and had died in their universes. Mary Jane Watson from Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man films was also aware Peter Parker was Spider-Man.
Additionally, major reason why Peter Parker sought help from Doctor Strange was to save Ned and MJ's future. Because of Ned and MJ's association with Spider-Man, the two were unable to get into college and shake off negative press. Flash Thompson, however, became a famous author for being Spider-Man's "best friend" and was also accepted into M.I.T.. For some reason, Ned and MJ were penalized for their connections to Spider-Man while Spider-Man's "best friend" instantly became a successful superstar.
Doctor Strange Was Out of Character
Doctor Stephen Strange has proved to oftentimes be a selfish man. But when the situations did not require him to make the great sacrifice, Strange refused to take unnecessary risks that would endanger the universe. Strange learned in Avengers: Infinity War that he needed to ensure Tony's survival in order to win the fight against Thanos. Before he learned that, Strange told Stark that the protection of the universe was his top priority and that he would not hesitate to let either Tony or Peter die. Doctor Strange did everything he could to create the one timeline where the Avengers win.
It is unlikely that Strange would cast such a significant universe-altering spell for three high school students receiving bad publicity. The risks of casting the spell outweighed the need for casting it. One might think Strange would first use magic to help prove Spider-Man did not kill Mysterio. Additionally, Strange cast the spell without properly briefing Peter, failing to inform Peter about how the spell worked and the potential consequences. It was Peter's requested alterations as it was being cast that led to the corruption of the spell. That would have been avoided had Strange just had a conversation with Peter beforehand. Strange did not know what exactly it was that Peter wanted. Even for a Marvel movie, No Way Home demanded significant suspension of disbelief.
Doctor Strange's Spell Could Have Made People Forget Mysterio Instead
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At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a new spell was cast that erased Peter Parker from everyone's memory. The spell only worked because it removed all visible aspects of Peter Parker's existence. Otherwise, Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones would have been able to find out about Peter through texts, photos, and other memorabilia. At the beginning of the film, Doctor Strange could have cast a spell that erased Mysterio from people's memory instead. Doing so would have prevented Spider-Man's alter-ego from being revealed in the first place. Even if people only forgot Mysterio and still knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, the spell would have solved a lot of problems.
Neither Peter nor Spider-Man would have been framed for murder because there was no murder. The world would have forgotten Mysterio and would have been unable to connect Spider-Man to him. If the world still thought of Spider-Man as a murderer, they would have no proof of Spider-Man ever committing such a crime. The spells would have never been cast, Peter Parker, Michelle Jones, and Ned Leeds would have gone to college, and Aunt May would have survived the events of the film. But the MCU Peter would not have gotten the chance to learn some important lessons. He would never have met Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man or Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. It would not have made for a good movie, but No Way Home required characters to be unable to see more ideal solutions to their problems.