Marvel Studios and Sony Picutres are well underway with their theatrical run for Spider-Man: No Way Home, the MCU's last movie of 2021 and the 27th film since 2008. Tom Holland's third solo outing as the web-slinger is making its impact in a big way with massive financial success at the box office and impressively positive reviews from critics and fans alike.
No Way Home took some of the biggest swings of any solo movie in MCU history, which included bringing five classic villains into play through the Multiverse along with both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's heroes of the past. However, along with the highest of heights came some of the lowest moments in any Spider-Man movie to date, particularly as No Way Home came to an end.
Specifically, the closing scenes showed Peter Parker completely alone as he attempted to start a new life; unfortunately, this meant a likely end to his friendships with Ned and MJ after they forgot about him ever existing. Recently the actors behind Peter and MJ shared their own feelings on the movie's happy ending never coming to be.
Holland and Zendaya on Sad Spidey Ending
Spider-Man: No Way Home stars Tom Holland and Zendaya spoke with Marvel about the ending to Peter Parker's story in the MCU threequel.
Although the young hero regained his life as a secretive hero, Holland called it "bittersweet" and "brutal" to see the sacrifice Peter made in regards to his relationship. However, Zendaya only chose to use the "bitter" half of the former word in her description of the movie's final scenes:
Holland: “It’s brutal. It's tough. It's bittersweet.”
Zendaya: “Is it though? Because it's very much just bitter. Like I'm not getting the sweet part.”
Holland continued to explain that the movie shows Peter "starting a new chapter" after stopping the Multiverse from wreaking havoc and "(clearing) his name." The man behind the web-slinger started to hint that he had saved everyone close to him, although Zendaya made it clear how much he lost in the process"
Holland: "And he's cleared his name. He's free of all that stuff. And the people that he loves—”
Zendaya: “He's lost everyone he loves.”
The loving couple continued to quip back and forth arguing whether Peter's loved ones are safe, with Zendaya even commenting that nobody's truly safe within the MCU:
Holland: “The people that he loves are safe, and they're alive.”
Zendaya: “They're never safe!”
Holland: “It’s very sad, the ending."
In the end, Holland simply wished for Peter and MJ to have some kind of "happy ending," but he came to the conclusion that it was something that wasn't going to happen. Regardless of Holland's hopes for Peter and MJ to head off to college and have that classic happy ending that fans may have expected, he's still happy with how the story turned out:
"I wanted them to have a happy ending. We're still here, we're feeling good. We're proud of the movie. It would have been so nice for them to go to college, and just swing off into the sunset. Unfortunately, this is the way it is.”
No Happy Ending for No Way Home
More so than many of his Marvel counterparts, Peter Parker is all too familiar with not getting the classic happy ending that others are fortunate to get at the end of the journey. This is particularly the case in No Way Home as the 17-year-old had to give up his best friend, his girlfriend, his Avengers ties, and more to make sure the world stayed safe; this all came on top of already losing his Aunt May not long before.
Although Peter said goodbye to Ned, MJ, and Stephen Strange at the Statue of Liberty before the spell was complete, the sadness truly set in when Peter visited MJ at the bakery where she worked. He only got as far as his name before backing out of his plan to tell her who he really was, confirming the fact that he was leaving his longtime ties behind for the foreseeable future.
The ending of No Way Home showed the sacrifice Peter made to continue being a hero in New York City with no guarantees that he would ever find friendships like the ones he had with Ned and MJ again. Their status for future movies is still a mystery, but for now, Peter is in for the most difficult time of his life, especially as he takes it on alone.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters worldwide.
