New Spider-Man movie No Way Home is finally in UK cinemas, and you know what that means – frantically scanning the background of scenes and checking Reddit to look out for any subtle callbacks or obscure Easter eggs.
No? Just us? Well, either way, we’ve hopefully done some of the legwork for you this time, by assembling some of our favourite hidden references, cameos and (of course) Spider-Man Easter eggs in No Way Home.
We’re not counting major plot points for the most part – so the return of certain characters doesn’t necessarily constitute an Easter Egg – but hopefully, you’ll find a few of the more subtle nods to Marvel movies, comics and games hidden in the movie.
Warning: from here on out we’ll be dealing in **major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home**, so look away now if you haven’t seen the movie yet. We’re warning you…
**Final spoiler warning for Spider-Man: No Way Home**
Spider-Man: No Way Home Easter eggs and cameos
Homecoming callbacks
As you might expect, the film has plenty of references to earlier films in the Tom Holland series, especially 2017 movie Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Early in the film, Peter wears the same ‘I survived NYC’ T-shirt lent to him by Tony Stark in Homecoming, while the Death Star he built with Ned in the first movie appears regularly throughout the film (including its downbeat ending).
Peter and Ned’s extended handshake also appears – twice – in the movie, after cropping up in both previous Tom Holland movies.
Iron Man nods
!["Tony]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2020/06/Iron-Man-3-small-b1ab1bb.jpg?quality=90&crop=225px%2C150px%2C900px%2C600px&resize=620%2C413" "\"Iron-Man-3-small\"")
Spider-Man isn’t the only film franchise to get a few nods though – Tony Stark’s hapless robot arm assistant Dummy appears in Happy’s (Jon Favreau) apartment, alongside an arc-reactor powered piece of technology and (hidden in the background) a Downton Abbey DVD, reflecting Happy’s obsession with the show in Iron Man 3.
Another Iron Man 3 callback comes from a news photo of Happy shown on TV, where he’s sporting the unfortunate haircut he had in the 2013 film’s year 2000 flashback.
Daredevil
!["Charlie]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/09/daredevil_charlie_cox-4f261d4.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"daredevil_charlie_cox\"")
Yes the rumours are true – Charlie Cox reprises his role as blind superhero Daredevil, last seen in his eponymous Netflix TV series. Given his handy reflexes in the scene (he catches a brick before even Peter is able to), he’s clearly still the same Man Without Fear – and with his old foe Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) making his own return in the Hawkeye TV series, it could be that we’ll see them face off again in a future project.
Raimi memes
!["Alfred]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2020/12/Alfred_Molina_Doctor_Octopus_Spider_Man-85dbd7b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Alfred_Molina_Doctor_Octopus_Spider_Man\"")
In the years since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy swung onto screens, a dedicated community of fans has been sharing iconic quotes from the films back and forth – and even if this film wasn’t trying to cater to them directly, there’s still plenty of familiar lines.
Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock drops his classic “The power of the sun…in the palm of my hand” quote TWICE (overdoing it a bit, Doc) while Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn is happy to confirm that he’s “something of a scientist [him]self,” among other familiar villain quotes.
Music Easter eggs
Also returning from the Sam Raimi films are key musical motifs originally composed by Danny Elfman, including the themes used for Doc Ock and Green Goblin and the main Spider-Man theme used in the earlier trilogy.
It’s subtle, and most easily noticed during Doc Ock’s first appearance on the bridge, but the old scores are there (and acknowledged as such in the credits).
With Great Power…
After avoiding it thus far, Holland’s Spider-Man finally hears his most famous mantra when May (Marisa Tomei) delivers one final message.
“With great power, there must also come great responsibility,” she tells him – and the quote is later picked up by fellow alternate-universe Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield when they turn up to help (though the latter never heard that exact quote in his film series).
Miles Morales
!["Peni]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2018/12/SpiderVerse_nap175.1011_lm_v2-5e3f8fe.jpg?quality=90&crop=1131px%2C243px%2C1760px%2C1172px&resize=620%2C413" "\"\"")
Sadly, there’s no explicit reference to the Into the Spider-Verse movies in this film despite its similar multiversal premise – though there may be a nod to those films’ protagonist, junior Spider-Man Miles Morales.
Upon meeting Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man again, unmasked, Electro (Jamie Foxx) notes that while he has a “nice face”, he’d assumed that with his costume, Queens background and tendency to help poorer people that this Spider-Man was Black.
Garfield’s Peter apologises, but Electro/Max isn’t too worried, noting that given the multiverse “there’s probably a Black Spider-Man somewhere”. Cue chuckles of recognition from the cinema audience.
Other Spider-Man villains
!["Spider-Man"]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/12/Paul-Giamatti-Rhino-7ea36dc.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Paul")
At the close of the film, as yet more multiverse foes begin pushing through cracks in reality, eagle-eyed fans might notice a few others from Spidey’s classic rogues’ gallery attempting to join the already-arrived Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro and Lizard.
We definitely spotted the outline of The Rhino – did you notice any others?
Ned Leeds IS (not) Hobgoblin
!["Tom]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/11/spider-man-3-53a29c9.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C396" "\"spider-man-3\"")
When working with Peter’s multiverse counterparts, Ned (Jacob Batalon) wonders whether there are other versions of him too, and asks about the other Spideys’ best friends.
Tobey Maguire’s Peter recalls how his best friend (Harry Osborn) became a supervillain and then died in his arms, leading Ned to tearfully promise his own (slightly bemused) Peter that he won’t become a supervillain himself.
And this may be a nod to Ned’s comic-book counterpart, a journalist at the Daily Bugle who does, briefly become a Green Goblin-inspired supervillain called the Hobgoblin. So better not make promises you can’t keep, Ned…
The Amazing Spider-Man
!["Andrew]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/11/Andrew_Garfield_Amazing_Spider_man-7cc114f.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Andrew_Garfield_Amazing_Spider_man\"")
In a very meta moment ahead of the final battle, the three Spider-Men compare notes, with both Maguire and Holland’s incarnations noting they’ve fought aliens (the latter in space), much to the chagrin of Garfield’s version.
Sadly, he notes that he’s less impressive than his counterparts (archly hinting at his two-movie franchise’s more muted reception), only for Maguire and Holland to assure him, “You are amazing” – itself a reference to the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ branding for both his movies.
Saving MJ
And soon, Garfield’s Spidey gets the chance to redeem himself. Earlier in the film, he recalls how he couldn’t save his girlfriend Gwen (Emma Stone) in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and is still visibly guilty about his failure.
But when MJ (Zendaya) is similarly plummeting to the ground, and Holland’s Peter is unable to catch her, he springs into action. Ably saving MJ, he has an emotional moment on the ground, recalling the Spider-Man love interest he couldn’t catch.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Game
!["Spider-Man"]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/12/Marvels-Spider-Man-f80af80.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Marvel's")
You might not have expected a new Marvel movie to reference a 2018 PS4 game, but hey – Marvel’s Spider-Man was clearly more influential than we thought. As in that game, Peter’s Aunt May works at homeless charity FEAST, and later on (spoiler alert) after she’s killed during the events of the film her headstone bears the same quote put on Aunt May’s grave in the PlayStation adventure.
“When you help someone, you help everyone.”
Venom
!["Tom]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/10/venom-2-61c1f35-e1638889359228.jpeg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412" "\"Venom")
It’s no surprise that one final alternate-universe Spider-character turns up in the first post-credits scene, after Venom: Let There Be Carnage hinted at the movies’ crossover in its own end credits sting.
Still, it’s fun to see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Venom briefly appear, learning about the MCU before being zapped back into their own world… but leaving a small piece of symbiote behind. Time for Tom Holland to face his own black goo alien, perhaps…
Marvel’s What If…?
!["Benedict]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/09/evil_doctor_strange_what_if_no_way_home-0d9bd68.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"evil_doctor_strange_what_if_no_way_home\"")
And the second No Way Home end credits scene also draws from the well of recent releases. Essentially just working as a teaser trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the footage picks up the story of Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) after the events of WandaVision, and also drops the surprise debut of ‘Evil Dr Strange’ (aka the troubled Strange Supreme) introduced in animated multiverse series What If…?
In other words, like Paul Bettany in WandaVision it looks like Cumberbatch will be doing double duty in his next Marvel project. Just when we thought we were done with multiple versions of the same superhero after No Way Home…
Read more:
- Spider-Man: No Way Home ending explained
- Are Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man: No Way Home?
- Spider-Man: No Way Home review – “The best superhero movie in recent years”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is in UK cinemas now. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.
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