[Spoilers ahead: What, you haven’t watched Spider-man: No Way Home yet?]

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) is not a perfect movie. As Paris Marx reminds us, a Peter Parker with the patronage of Tony Stark and now Stark Enterprises is not the poor boy from a working-class background that Steve Ditko and Stan Lee gave us in 1962. This changes the dynamics of the story. And as Phang Khee Teik writes:

I want to point out that between Spiderman and Dr Strange, Dr Strange is the adult here. Why the . . . would he indulge in a teenager's idea of erasing consequences??? And why are we not holding Dr Strange accountable for casting the spell in the first place? He is the one who should be responsible but the movie kinda blamed spiderman instead!

Agreed. How many teenagers would love to wave a magic wand and change circumstances they don’t like? Adult mentors have to guide their younger mentorees to help them find the tools they need to navigate life when the going gets tough. Granted, Peter Parker’s problems were more than what the usual teenager would go through. Still . . . cast a spell to change reality? What is the lesson here?
 
Having said all that, though, it was a good movie and Bernice and I enjoyed it. It was really cool to see three Spider-Men (?) from three franchises in the same cinematic reality. We can only guess at how lonely each of them must have been to now discover someone who was like them but not them. One of the most poignant scenes was when they all discovered that they had experienced painful personal losses. Here indeed was a fellowship of pain: how the first two Spider-Men had worked through their losses and grief, then moved on with life; and now the Tom Holland (TH) Spider-Man must, too.
 
Aunt May was the hero of the movie. While Doctor Strange and Spider-Man (and I suspect many of us) wanted to solve the mess they had created as fast as possible though this meant sending all the villains who had come through to the present universe back to their original universes and to their deaths, only Aunt May saw this situation as an opportunity to save the villains; to help them turn from their evil and to live. She convinced the [TH] Spider-Man to delay sending the villains back to their universes and try to save them.
 
They only succeeded with Dr Octopus (Alfred Molina) but failed with everyone else. (Well, the Sandman was never a true villain.) Their most spectacular failure was with the Green Goblin (Willem Defoe). Molina and Defoe were in top form in this movie. As a result, the Goblin killed Aunt May. One would have expected to see Aunt May recognising the futility of her redemptive agenda but she was true to her convictions to the end. Remember this scene?

May stumbles through the smoke. Finds Peter and hugs him tightly.
 
PETER
May! Yeah, I’m here. Are you okay?
 
MAY
Uh huh. Uh huh…
 
She stumbles back. Peter catches her.
 
PETER
May… it’s okay. We’re okay, right?
 
MAY
Yeah, got knocked on my ass.
 
PETER
Yeah, me too.
 
MAY
That’s all.
 
PETER
I think I broke my ribs.
 
He clutches his side, wincing. A beat as they catch their breaths, take in all the destruction…
 
PETER (CONT'D)
This is all my fault, May.
 
MAY
No.
 
PETER
I should’ve just listened to Strange and let him send them back.
 
MAY
You did the right thing. They would have been killed. You did the right thing.

Aunt May is the Christ figure in this movie. The attempt to save people is the right thing to do. We do it whether we succeed or not. We do it even if it costs us our life.
 
Indeed, with great power comes great responsibility. To be entrusted with the gospel is a great responsibility. We know it is a mystery why some respond to the gospel and some do not. But our duty is to love and to share. Even when it costs us.
 
I don’t know about you but I found myself wanting the Green Goblin to get his just rewards. It was a nice twist to have the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man save the Green Goblin since he was his nemesis in his timeline.
 
I am reflecting on the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) these days. I find myself often more like the older brother, angry that justice had not been done. In truth, I did not deserve to be saved but God thought it was worth it and Jesus gave His life to save me.