Why Spider-Man: No Way Home Gets Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Right (But One Villain Fix Bugs Me)

Spider-Man: No Way Home earns its praise for one big reason: it actually uses Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield for something meaningful instead of just bringing them back for fan service.

For anyone who grew up with these Spider-Man movies, seeing all three actors share the screen is a huge deal, but what matters more is what the movie does with that reunion once it happens.

Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Guide Tom Holland Using Lessons From Their Own Films

In my view, the film did not just wheel out Tobey and Andrew for kicks and giggles. Instead, it used what their characters learned in their own movies to guide Tom Holland's Spider-Man through his own crisis. As I put it, "That was the best way to utilize Toby and Andrew." Rather than treating them as nostalgia props, No Way Home turns their past experience into actual mentorship for the version of Peter Parker at the center of this story.

My One Complaint: Curing Villains With an Injection Feels Dumb and Removes Their Agency

The one part of the movie I did not like was how the villains get cured of their evil simply by being injected with something. I called that "kind of dumb," and it is a problem I have run into before. As I said, "I hated it in Black Widow and I hate it here." My issue is that this kind of fix takes away agency from characters when their deep issues can just be solved by, in my words, "sniffing some gas." It is a shortcut that undercuts the weight of what those villains are supposed to represent.

Even with that gripe, it is the only real problem I have with the film. The strength of how it handles Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's return is enough to make No Way Home stand out, even if the villain cure subplot is a weak spot in an otherwise strong story.

Do you think the villain cure in No Way Home was a shortcut, or did it not bother you as much as it bothered me?