Peter Parker has found himself in hot water, but it’s nothing compared to what’s next in this third installment of Sony and Marvel’s collaboration with the wall-crawling superhero.

After the fallout of London, which claimed the life of Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, the world knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Having been framed for the murder of Mysterio, Peter’s life has turned into complete and utter chaos. When federal agents plan to have charges against him, Peter is thankfully saved by Matt Murdock, who gets him off on the charges. Meanwhile, Peter, MJ, and Ned are about to start their final year of high school.

The attention has affected Peter, MJ, and Ned to the point where they cannot get into their dream college, MIT. Peter decides to turn to Dr. Stephen Strange to put a spell that would make the world forget that Peter is Spider-Man. When Peter inadvertently messes the spell up for Dr. Strange, Peter’s attempt to rectify the issue with MIT representative results in a battle with Dr. Otto Octavius, who has come from another universe. Peter learns that the spell had opened up a multiverse in which some of Spider-Man’s villains from other worlds have arrived. It is up to Peter to find a way to stop the chaos from happening, but he cannot do it alone.

After the success of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far from Home, this third film in the franchise, which Tom Holland returns front and center as the wall-crawling superhero brings many surprises in without actually overdoing it. While Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had fans critically think things were overdone, it may have felt that way at first glance with this film. However, the structure of the film and a runtime of 148 minutes makes it fitting, as it involves Spider-Man teaming up with Doctor Strange, reprised by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Based on a famous comic storyline, a messed-up spell results in the opening of the multiverse, in which we get to see Spider-Man villains from the Raimi era (2002-2007) and the Amazing Spider-Man era (2012 and 2014). You have to hand it to producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal for helping pull off the impossible thanks to the script by Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna. How we have these villains return is pretty exciting but in the biggest twist of irony, it was the last installments of the Raimi and ASM era that fans complained there were too many villains. But it’s okay for the MCU/SSU era? Well, comme ci comme ça.

In a shocking move, there is a surprise cameo in the form of Matt Murdock, who helps Peter get off on the charges from Far from Home. But the Matt Murdock we see is none other than Charlie Cox, who played the lawyer in the hit Daredevil series formerly on Netflix now on Disney+. Kevin Feige had made it know that he would like to bring back Hell’s Kitchen Man Without Fear back with Cox returning in the role. However, a shocking twist leads to the most shocking third act ever in the MCU since Avengers: Endgame and by now, it is pretty much the world’s worst kept secret; the return of two more heroes who help Peter in his greatest time of need.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the best MCU film since Avengers: Endgame. Tom Holland once again shines and the return of some favorites come back with the film having one of the most shocking third acts, let alone final scenes that becomes the steppingstone for a potential new arc for our wall-crawling hero.

WFG RATING: A+

A Sony/Marvel Studios production. Director: Jon Watts. Producers: Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal. Writers: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers; based on the characters created by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Various. Cinematography: Mauro Fiore. Editing: Leigh Folsom Boyd and Jeffrey Ford.

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Foxx, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Charlie Cox.