How Will Spider-Man: No Way Home Affect the Future of the MCU?

Spider-Man: No Way Home was one of the best MCU movies we’ve seen so far. It had everything a Spidey fan could ever ask for, but there’s more. It expanded on the multiverse concept that Loki and What If…? opened up. 

When you include all the cameos in the movie, the multiverse concept, the vast comic storylines, and some other movies and shows introducing new characters into the MCU, the possibilities after this historically epic Marvel instant-classic are almost as endless as the possibilities within the multiverse. Let’s dig in and play the (educated) guessing game.

WARNING: The text below might contain spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Make sure to watch the movie first before reading further if you want to avoid spoilers.

The Future of Spider-Man After No Way Home

Spider-Man grew so much as a character in the hit new movie. It’s very hard to predict what’s next for the beloved superhero. The romantic story between him and MJ seemingly ends when Spider-Man makes the ultimate sacrifice and lets her and Ned live their lives without him. Where will the Spidey story go from here? It’s hard to say.

First of all, Tom Holland’s contract is completed with this film, and a new contract hasn’t been signed yet. With the complicated relationship between Marvel Studios and Sony, it’s unclear if a new deal will occur, although the executive producer, Amy Pascal, claimed a new trilogy is in the works.

A few months ago, Holland seemed incredibly excited to return for more Spider-Man action. But after No Way Home premiered, he told the reporters that he might be taking a break from acting for a while. Then again, it could all be a play for the audience, just like it was when Holland said that Garfield and Maguire wouldn’t appear in No Way Home.

Also, Tom stated that he believes Spider-Man could go in a more “diverse” direction now, perhaps introducing Spider-Gwen or Miles Morales as the new MCU Spidey.

While it would be cool, I think I’m not the only one thinking, “give us more, Tom.” It seems that the producer Kevin Feige is on board with the idea of continuing the story, as he said in an interview for NY Times when asked what’s next for Spidey:

“Amy and I and Disney and Sony are talking about — yes, we’re actively beginning to develop where the story heads next…” Pascal added:

“At the end of the movie we just made, you see Spider-Man make a momentous decision, one that you’ve never seen him make before. It’s a sacrifice. And that gives us a lot to work with for the next film.”

Fingers crossed it comes through.

The Future of the Multiverse After Spider-Man: No Way Home

We’ve had three major multiversal storylines included in the MCU so far: the two TV shows, Loki and What If…?, and now, the movie Spider-Man: No Way Home. For a while now, it’s clear that the concept will take the stage as the next big event in the MCU, but how did No Way Home set it up for the future of the MCU?

Well, the answer came in the post-credit scene; better said – the short trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, set to premiere in 2022.

The trailer revealed that the fabric of the multiverse keeps opening, and Doctor Strange can’t do anything to stop it, so he asks Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, for help. It seems that the three Spideys and the villains from their respective universes were just the introductions to what’s coming next.

Doctor Strange will have to battle evil, over-powerful version of himself. Also, one particular scene seemed to reveal that Shuma-Gorath, the giant cosmic tentacle monster we’ve seen in What If…?, will also return in the film.

The possibilities to where it’ll go from there are incredibly vast. However, we can narrow them down with more hints from Spider-Man: No Way Home and the small but important cameo roles appearing in the movie.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Cameos and MCU Future Hints

Several big cameos appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home that had the crowd in the theater jumping out of their seats with joy. Of course, apart from the old Spidey duo of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who had roles much more significant than mere cameo appearances.

Their return to the MCU seems unlikely, but seeing that they “cured” villains from their universes – drastically changing those universes in the process – you never know. Perhaps a future storyline rings them back once again. That’s the fan in me speaking – if we’re being realistic, it probably won’t happen.

One particular cameo that surprised many fans is Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil. He appears as Spidey’s lawyer when he gets accused of murdering Mysterio and causing drone destruction across Europe. 

What made the appearance even more interesting is that his biggest nemesis from the Netflix series Daredevil, Kingpin, also appeared in the Disney+ show Hawkeye. 

It seems that the two will play some kind of a role in the future of the MCU, quite possibly with a stand-alone movie. The whole thing could tie up Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Kate Bishop, the new Hawkeye.

The cameo that made me rejoice the most, though, wasn’t Matt Murdock – it was Eddie Brock, appearing in the mid-credit scene. The Venom symbiote-carrying Eddie got sucked into the MCU during the botched Doctor Strange spell, trying to understand what’s going on in a bar.

As the characters from the multiverse get sent back home, so does Eddie, but a tiny drop of Venom stays in the universe. That means we’ll probably see Venom introduced into the main MCU, but likely without Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock as his host, as Eddie got sent back to their original universe.

I’d also like to talk about Morbius. I know the movie hasn’t even hit cinemas yet, but we already have enough information to speculate – especially after Venom’s cameo in No Way Home.

You see, the producers clearly stated that Morbius would be a part of Spidey’s rogue gallery happening outside of the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, at the same time, we’ve seen the Morbius trailer where he encounters Michael Keaton – the guy who played the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, within the main MCU.

We can’t know for sure if the producers did that on purpose to mess with us, having Keaton play another role (or a Vulture variant), or will Morbius get drawn into the MCU just like Venom. After all, they were announced to be a part of the same universe, so who knows?

Last but not least, I’d just like to drop wild speculation here, so if I’m right, I have bragging rights. Shang-Chi was Spider-Man’s mentor in a particular storyline in the comics. So, seeing how close the Shang-Chi movie and No Way Home were released, perhaps the legendary assassin will also get tied up in the Spider-Man storyline.

Overall, what made Spider-Man: No Way Home such a marvelous (pun intended) movie for the MCU isn’t just the movie itself, but the endless possibilities it opened up for the future of Spidey as a character, the multiverse, and the complete MCU.