Spider-Man: No Way Home is officially entering its second full weekend in theaters, with Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures already reaping incredible benefits financially and critically. Not only is Tom Holland's threequel the highest-rated movie in Rotten Tomatoes history, but it's also winning at the box office by nearing $1 billion in global box office revenue after only a few days.
This movie comes as a celebration of Spider-Man's cinematic adventures with tributes to the hero's live-action movie history, which included more than half a dozen characters straight from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's movies. On top of that, Holland's hero got to experience some of the classic story beats that Spidey is so well known for, both in those old movies and the comics.
While it wasn't touched on extensively, the MCU's Peter gave just a small tease of his origin story when he spoke to MJ about "(being bitten) by that spider" as they talked over a video chat with each other. Following the film's release, Marvel and Sony decided to go further into this moment through a round of social media posts taking inspiration directly from No Way Home.
Betty Brant and Peter Parker Talk Spider Bite
Marvel
The Daily Bugle Official Tik Tok account shared two new videos teasing extra plot details from Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The first video showed a new episode of Burning Questions with Betty Brant as Betty sits down with Tom Holland's Peter Parker. While asking him if he regrets having a spider bite him and give him superpowers, the two Midtown Tech classmates didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on the answer:
Betty: "Tell me, if the spider who gave you your powers were here right now, what would you say? Would you say ‘Thanks’ or ‘Thanks for nothing?'"
Peter: "I would say ‘Thanks...'"
Betty: "…for nothing? And here’s J. Jonah Jameson with the last word."
This came before J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson closed out the video with an assurance that the Daily Bugle would learn the truth behind Peter Parker's "web of lies":
“Rest assured, dear viewers, we here at the Daily Bugle will not rest until we’ve uncovered the truth behind his web of lies."
The full video can be seen below:
A second video showed Betty in a trendy Tik Tok video where she answered questions about her internship at the Daily Bugle.
Betty shared with the MCU's viewing public that she knows Peter Parker and works as an intern at the Daily Bugle, although she also hinted at a potentially sinister reasoning for Jameson to have hired her for the job:
"Do you work for The Daily Bugle?" "Yes! New intern alert!"
"Do you know Peter Parker?" "Yes! We went to school together!"
"Where’s the music?" "My boss was too cheap to buy it."
"Were you hired for your personal connection to Peter Parker in hopes that you have info that can be used to destroy the Spider-Menace once and for all?" "Maybe (smile emoji)"
No Way Home Tackling Peter's Origin Story
Throughout Tom Holland's solo Spider-Man trilogy, the story has only hinted minorly at Peter Parker's classic origin story where he was bitten by a radioactive spider before gaining his arachnid-based powers. Spider-Man: Homecoming showed Jacob Batalon's Ned asking about it before Peter confirmed that the spider was dead, and No Way Home had the only other scene that referenced the event at all.
Spider-Man isn't exactly Spider-Man without that fateful spider bite, although it's been a mystery to MCU fans why that event has barely seen any screentime since the web-slinger arrived more than five years ago. There's a chance it could come to fruition fully in the upcoming animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year on Disney+, but for now, it remains one of the MCU's untold mysteries.
As for the J. Jonah Jameson impact, these videos only add to J.K. Simmons' excellent portrayal of the role he brought back to life from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy in the mid-2000s. He's likely to return to the role in some form in a future Marvel project, which should bring yet another epic verbal battle between he and his web-blessed adversary.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters.
