It’s been twenty years since Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy was released. Back in 2001, superhero films were far from the only kind of mass entertainment available in cinema, and seeing the origin story of Peter Parker, Mary Jane, their friends and foes brought to life with such filmmaking style and heart felt very special. It was a feeling of “don’t miss it”, because it could very well be the last time. Two decades and three different incarnations of Spiderman later, there are more superhero films and television shows every year than you can count on the fingers of two hands. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven to be a hugely successful enterprise which easily dominates every corner of pop culture, ruling supreme over other titans of mass entertainment like Star Wars or Harry Potter . And, with the MCU came its own Spider-Man, played with boyish naiveté by the talented Tom Holland, who can effortlessly fill the shoes of both Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter ego. This conclusion of his own trilogy is a heartfelt addition to the mythology of Marvel’s best superhero; part of the Marvel Machine in many ways, but most importantly a culmination of twenty years of Spiderman legacy on screen. And, although the availability of superhero films makes it difficult to feel excited about any new release in the genre, Spiderman: No Way Home is a rare outing where the feeling of “this is special, don’t miss it” comes back in a big way.

In the wake of Spiderman: Far from Home , in which the villainous Quentin Beck a.k.a Mysterio shockingly told the whole world the identity of Spiderman, Peter is dealing with this revelation’s negative repercussions to his personal life. He still has his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacon Batalon) by his side, but the dark side of celebrity does not take long to show its teeth. Unable to cope, he turns to none other than the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Stephen Strange, for help. With the help of a dangerous spell, Strange tells Peter that he can make the whole world forget about his identity. Due to Peter’s characteristic over-eager attitude, the spell goes wrong, which is where director Jon Watts begins his own conjuration, one of movie magic, where the spell follows the rules of script convenience, which means that Peter is immediately faced with a whole new collection of villains pulled from multiple parallel universes and previous Spider-Man films (the idea of the multiverse is the main attraction of Marvel’s Phase Four of films that are being released after Avengers:Endgame ).

It is in this interstitial space between the casting of this oblivion spell and its completion that Spiderman: No Way Home lives. This playground of multiple foes pulled from three different dimensions (three different franchises) would usually be a recipe for disaster: the overstuffed Spiderman 3 (2007), with four villains, seemed to be living proof that too many antagonists can muddle a plot. But something far more interesting than a large gallery of villains is being done in No Way Home . The dark side of bringing together these three generations could be called a cash-grab, or simply fan service, and it is unmistakably that too, but it’s more. This is a different kind of Marvel film because, where the company sometimes manipulates its power in pop culture to get what they want immediately and artificially (such as placing a screen legend like Tony Leung in the messy Shang-Chi film to lend it some gravitas), this time they are using their own twenty year cultural DNA to create something unique.

If nothing else, Marvel’ staying power over two decades has earned the company a history, a mythology. This mythology exists in the comic book universes of companies like Marvel and DC quite easily; the characters have existed on the page for generations and they do not age, or change more than strictly necessary. Their own immutability is their attraction. But seeing the characters of twenty years ago come back in a new film when you thought they were long gone, a thing of the past, can be a powerful, sometimes emotional experience. It’s like running into a friend that you haven’t seen since your school days and realising that they are now older, maybe a little bit wiser, but fundamentally the same person you once cared about. This is indeed fan service, but it is fan service done right, earned by the passing of time itself and not wasted on a cheap cameo appearance.

Spiderman: No Way Home has its problems, and visually doesn’t deviate from the boring Marvel CGI pre-fabricated cinematography. Some characters, like Zendaya’s MJ, are completely sidelined to make way for the avalanche of older characters that pop into this universe. Some cameos are indeed leaning towards the cheap fan service side of the spectrum, such as Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, the blind lawyer, showing up to represent Peter Parker (although this is also a very comic-book thing: Peter needs a lawyer? What lawyer character do we have to throw in there?). Despite the film’s surface flaws, it accomplishes its main storyline admirably, especially keeping sight of what is most important, which is to finish the character arch of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. It would have been easy to lose track of him in the midst of the explosive final third film, but the script stays with its protagonist throughout. At the beginning of Spiderman: Homecoming, Peter Parker was an over-excited high schooler. By the end of No Way Home , he is an independent young man.

Spiderman: No Way Home proves that Marvel’s presence in our screens for the last twenty years has created a reserve of emotional and personal connection for those fans who have been along for the ride since the beginning. Intelligently, the doesn’t waste this reservoir of goodwill on a cheap guest appearance or two, but it doesn’t lean so heavily on the legacy of those older films that it forgets about it new hero. By striking a well-calculated balance, this is an incredibly satisfying film that will resonate with fans for a very long time, as evidenced by the box office numbers and the viewer ratings, as well as the overwhelmingly positive critical reception. This trilogy capper of Holland’s run also proves that Spider-Man is in a league of his own, a part of Marvel but not beholden to the cinematic universe in order to achieve its universal appeal. This may be part of the endless Marvel Cinematic Universe, but in reality it is the last piece of the puzzle of the eight-film Spiderman Cinematic Universe, a puzzle that was started in 2001 and, after some ups and downs, now finally feels complete.

Bernardo Leyte (Vigo, Spain) is a Paris-based filmmaker. He grew up in Spain, Germany and the UK, graduating as a director from the London Film School. He is a passionate cinephile whose eclectic film playlist includes a bit of everything, from his idols, Kubrick and Tarkovsky, to superheroes, horror, anime and everything in between.