Kevin Feige, the head honcho at Marvel Studios, is a big fan of the trilogy format. Telling serialized cinematic stories in three parts is one of the many ways theStar Warssaga has influenced the MCU. From Iron Man to Captain America to Thor, Feige and co. have generally stuck to the trilogy tradition with their superheroes’ solo adventures. TheAvengersseries is technically a quadrilogy, butInfinity WarandEndgameare essentially two parts of the same story (and were even billed as such early in development), so it has the familiar “beginning, middle, and end” feel of a trilogy.
Until recently, the MCU didn’t have any perfect trilogies. All the franchise’s previous trilogies had been let down by at least one weak installment that hurt the series as a whole.Age of Ultronis by far the weakestAvengersfilm, acting as too many stepping stones between other MCU projects to really flesh out the apocalyptic threat of its titular cybernetic villain. Before the Russos revamped Captain America’s dull goody-two-shoes characterization inThe Winter SoldierandCivil War,The First Avengerkicked off Cap’s solo trilogy with a generic superhero adventure. TheIron Mantrilogy got off to a fantastic start with one of the greatest comic book movies ever made, butIron Man 2had an overstuffed plotfocused more on universe-building than character development andIron Man 3has a wildly controversial twist that revealed Tony Stark’s fearsome terrorist leader arch-nemesis to be a foolish actor playing dress-up.
RELATED:Spider-Man: No Way Home Is The Perfect Ending For One Particular Character
The MCU hadn’t quite stuck the landing with any of its trilogies until a few weeks ago. The resounding success ofSpider-Man: No Way Homehas solidified Jon Watts’Spider-Mantrilogy as Marvel Studios’ first truly great standalone trilogy.Homecoming,Far From Home, andNo Way Homeare all strong movies that hold together as their own three-part story. Audiences can clearlyfollow Peter Parker’s journeyfrom a young, naive superhero to a seasoned, competent crimefighter, and there’s noIron Man 2orThor: The Dark Worldto drag down rewatches.
Jon Watts’ Vision
WithNo Way Home, Jon Watts became the first director to see an MCU solo trilogy through to the end. The Russo brothers inherited theCaptain Americamovies from Joe Johnston, Jon Favreau directed the first and secondIron Manfilms but bowed out of the third, andLove and Thunderwill make Taika Waititithe first director to return for a secondThorfilm. James Gunn will follow in Watts’ footsteps withGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3– and Ryan Coogler and Destin Daniel Cretton are sticking with theBlack PantherandShang-Chifranchises, respectively – but Watts made MCU history with his direction ofNo Way Home.
FromHomecomingtoFar From HometoNo Way Home, the MCU’sSpider-Manmovies have always been guided by a singular vision. One of the mainproblems with theStar Warssequel trilogywas switching hands between directors. As a result,Episodes VIItoIXare composed of opposing viewpoints: J.J. Abrams embraced nostalgia, while Rian Johnson took a more deconstructive approach to the past. Unlike theDollars,Matrix,Before, andLord of the Ringstrilogies, it’s hard to look at theIron Man,Captain America, andThortrilogies as complete eight-hour works made up of three interconnected chapters, because different filmmakers with their own ideas took over along the way.
The MCU’sSpider-Mantrilogy isn’ta traditional three-part storyby any means, but Watts spearheaded the trilogy from beginning to end. He tackled each movie as its own entity, but he always kept an eye on how the MCU’s Peter Parker was growing as a character and what he could learn from his past experiences as he journeyed ahead into new conflicts.Homecoming,Far From Home, andNo Way Homeeach offer their own standalone adventures, but they also hold up if fans watch them back-to-back as a complete piece (unlike Marvel’s other trilogies).
Each Movie Has Its Own Identity
Each movie in Watts’Spider-Mantrilogy has its own identity.Homecomingis a John Hughes-style high school comedy;Far From Homeis likea superpowered version ofNational Lampoon’s European Vacation; andNo Way Homeis a Frank Capra-esque fantasy parable. Each one tells its own standalone story. But there’s also a strong emotional throughline connecting all three movies (and not just the use of the word “home” in all their titles). Peter is constantly paying the price for his mistakes. In the spectacular finales that wrap up these standalone stories, Peter makes up for those mistakes in heroic fashion.
Like every great trilogy’s middle chapter –The Empire Strikes Back,The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,The Matrix Reloaded,Back to the Future Part II–Far From Homeends on a devastating cliffhanger: the Daily Bugle revealing Peter’s identity to the public. This set upNo Way Hometo be the kind ofEndgame-sized finale that the MCU’s non-Avengersfranchises rarely get to enjoy. Once again, Peter makes a grave mistake, but this time, it has multiversal consequences. He asks Doctor Strange to brainwash the world into forgetting he exists, then tampers with the spell mid-cast and unwittingly invites inenemies and selves from parallel universes, paving the way for familiar characters from Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’sSpider-Manmovies to appear in the MCU.
No Way Home Shouldn’t Have Worked
By all accounts,No Way Homeis an idea that shouldn’t have worked. It’s easily the most ambitious franchise crossover of all time, as three separate versions of the same hero team up to fight two previous generations of their villains. A trio of Spider-Men trying to get their rogues’ gallery to return to the universes of the movies they came from could’ve disappeared down the meta rabbit hole. But Watts made it work beautifully.No Way Homedoesn’t useits multiversal shenanigansas a crutch to avoid real storytelling. Watts uses all the resources at his disposal to fill the movie with emotional closure and give the audience a sense of finality.
A live-action Spider-Verse could’ve been a cheap gimmick, butNo Way Homeavoids that label with a classicalIt’s a Wonderful Life-inspired fable about giving second chances and making wishes carefully. The threequel could’ve slipped up if it didn’t keep its focus on Holland’s Spidey. If Watts had indulged in makingNo Way Homea version ofSpider-Man 4andThe Amazing Spider-Man 3, then it might’ve been too muddled and disjointed. Mercifully, the directorremained focused on Holland’s Peter Parkerand his journey even when the story turned into a wildly self-aware experiment in blockbuster fan service. With its sights set squarely on Holland’s Spidey and his most meaningful relationships,No Way Homeis the perfect finale for the story that began withHomecoming.
As much asNo Way Homefeels like the end of Spidey’s journey in the MCU, it also acts as a soft reboot for the franchise setting up a whole new journey. All of Peter’s friends have forgotten who he is and he can no longer rely on Aunt May or Stark Industries, so he’ll finally become the self-sufficient underdog seen in the comics. There have beenrumors of a newSpider-Mantrilogyin the MCU, and afterNo Way Home’s ending provided a true origin story for this incarnation of Spidey, a new trilogy taking him back to his roots sounds incredible.
NEXT:Scream, No Way Home, Matrix Resurrections & The Rise Of The Self-Aware Sequel
