IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, STOP READING!!!
Spider-Man: No Way Home is among the most exhilarating,
satisfying and emotionally exhausting films I have ever experienced. The highs
are incredibly high in Spidey’s eighth live-action solo outing, which not only
elevates the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Peter Parker (Tom Holland’s best MCU performance
to date), but also wraps a bow around 20 years of The Wall-Crawler on the silver
screen.
But no film is perfect, especially one as ambitious as this
one. Director Jon Watts and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers spun a tale
that brings different cinematic universes together in a bombastically satisfying
way, but there’s one detail that continues to captivate and confuse moviegoers,
sparking much debate on social media.
Here’s a refresher. To undo Mysterio’s Far from Home
revelation that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, our hero enlists the aid of Doctor
Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to make the world forget The Web-Slinger’s identity.
Peter tries to change the parameters of the spell a few times during its
casting, drawing people who know Peter’s identity from other universes into
his. Prior Sony Spidey villains Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin
(Willem Dafoe), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Electro
(Jamie Foxx) against their will, united in the fact that they all know Peter
Parker is Spider-Man (albeit versions played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew
Garfield in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and the Marc Webb Amazing Spider-Man
films, respectively).
But there’s just one problem: Electro never knew Peter
Parker was Spider-Man.
This issue has been on my mind since a friend brought it to
my attention a mere two days after the film’s release, and based on the
collective complaining of the internet, I’m not alone. But there are several explanations for the apparent inconsistency – two being that we’re overthinking it and that any way to get Foxx back to knock it out of the park as Electro is worth it whether or not it really makes sense.
Rational thinking aside, though, let’s dive into three theories as to
how Electro could have known Spidey’s identity, even though he had never seen The
Wall-Crawler with his mask off (as evidenced via dialog near the end of the
film) or heard his full name.
FIRST-NAME BASIS
Near the conclusion of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, moments before Spidey
defeats Electro, Gwen calls our hero “Peter” out loud as they are devising a
plan to defeat the super-charged villain. The exact rules for Doctor Strange’s
spell aren’t exactly clear, and he himself states that the Multiverse is still
something no one fully understands. Assuming Electro heard Gwen, was that
knowledge enough to cross over?
IDENTITY THEFT
Moments before his apparent “death,” Electro was absorbing an immense amount of
data from the grid, which would presumably give him access to all kinds of
information stored on the internet and digital devices. Could Electro have perhaps
gained access to text messages, Oscorp files or other encrypted information
that would grant him knowledge of who his “best friend” Spidey truly is?
VARIANT EDITION
The Multiverse is host to a seemingly limitless number of realities, many
of which could be like ones we’ve seen but with slight differences. What if
this Electro is from an adjacent reality from the one we witnessed in The Amazing
Spider-Man 2?
In any event, until we get an official answer from the
director, writers or Sony itself, theories will continue to abound. Until then,
I guess I’ll keep crawling up the walls … metaphorically, of course.
