Hello internet.

Welcome to Film Theory, where I use my Peter Tingle each and every week

to spot and solve lore mysteries. Obviously, get your minds out of the gutter, guys. Okay, so Spider-Man

No Way Home really needs no introduction at this point. It seems like everyone in the world

has seen this thing. Probably has actually, considering that it had the number two opening

weekend of all time of any movie ever. That is insane. seen this thing. Probably has actually considering that it had the number two opening weekend

of all time of any movie ever. That is insane. In fact, it only took that one single weekend to

make the highest grossing movie of 2021. After a year where theaters were really struggling to find

their footing, the old webhead proved that people were willing to come back, provided you have

a huge IP, pay off one of cinema's biggest cliffhangers and tap into 20 years of built-up nostalgia. You know, no biggie.

But this movie really does have it all. Lots of bad guys come together, Toby McGuire getting his back cracked,

great power, great responsibility, all that stuff. Really solid across the board.

But gotta be honest here, anytime you tamper with the Multiverse, you're gonna be getting some questions from lore nerds like me, and this movie leaves open some big ones.

Questions that I aim to definitively answer today.

Or, you know, as definitive as I can until they retcon something to fit the ongoing narrative that they're looking to tell.

First and foremost, why are we only seeing the villains? As a reminder, the entire premise of the movie kicks off when Peter Parker asks

Doctor Strange to cast a spell that makes everyone forget that he's Spider-Man. After Peter tamper's with the spell one too many times, it breaks the fabric of reality, opening the door for villains like Lizard and...

Dr. Otto Octavius. To come through from other universes, because, as the movie tells us, they knew the

Spider-Man Peter Parker connection. At least most of them did, prompting our first major discussion

here. Electro is a bit hazy on this point, since, in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Max Dillon never

explicitly makes the Peter Parker Spider-Man connection. In fact, it seems like no way home acknowledges this.

There's even a joke about it where Electro, upon seeing Andrew Garfield's face at the end of the

...