Spider-Man No Way Home Characters Ranked

Spider-Man No Way Home Characters Ranked

We have made it to the last of my Spider-Man rankings this December. And today I’m going to be ranking the main characters in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Let’s get started!

NOTE: I think this goes without saying but this post will contain MASSIVE SPOILERS for this movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, go watch it then come back and read this blog post! This is your only warning. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! 

9. M.J.: Now to be clear, I don’t hate M.J. in this movie. I think that the main characters didn't make any big mistakes with them. But I thought she was underused a bit more than I would have liked. I thought M.J. was a scene stealer in Homecoming and Far From Home, but here her personality felt a bit on the backburner. And what made her more interesting was her dating relationship with Peter (Tom Holland). So I wish we got more of the personality that was done so well in the previous movies. To be clear, we do a little bit of it but not as much as I would have hoped. On the positive, Zendaya is still really good as the character. I think the chemistry between her and Tom Holland is great here, and it’s the best of it between them. And she is used in one of the best moments in the finale where she falls from The Statue of Liberty, and Tom tries to catch her but is stopped by Mr. Goblin, and so Andrew saves her. And he was in this situation with Gwen Stacey he didn’t save her, but here he did. She was used to that, and it was done really well. 

8. Ned Leeds: This seems to be the movie in which Ned was the prominent and the most important. Because Ned is really the one that brings Tobey and Andrew into the finale of the movie. And I like the joke of him being a sorcerer and having magic in his family’s history. It’s fun stuff that I never knew that I wanted and with where this movie ends I’m guessing we aren’t going to see more of this in the future. He also gets some great moments where he’s talking with Tobey and Andrew about the fact that their best friends tried to kill them and Ned says he’s not going to do that. And Andrew taps him on the shoulder and tells him good job. It’s a funny moment that I think really works. That’s really what I thought Ned did best in this movie is provide a bunch of really solid jokes. So in a lot of ways, he was the funniest character in the movie for me. Because he just got a number of jokes that really worked for me. 

7. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus: Now this character has never been a personal favorite of mine, so I was still excited to see him in this movie but not as much as others. And I thought continuing the arc from where they left his character in Spider-Man 2 was a good thing. But I wish his arc was spread out over more of the film. Because it seemed pretty rushed as you moved into the finale of the movie. When it first happened, I was pretty confused as to what was happening because it came out of nowhere when he started helping out the heroes of the movie. But I think Alfred Molina was better in this movie then he was in Spider-Man 2. And thought the character of Doctor Octopus was used much better in this movie then in that movie. So I do think this was an improvement as a whole for the character, but still not used the best in my opinion. 

6. Max Dillion/Electro: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is often regarded as the worst Spider-Man movie out there. And Electro was one of the worst Spider-Man villains out there, they wasted all of the potential they had. Because they had a world class actor in Jamie Foxx playing the character, which is great casting. But here I thought they used the character a lot better and you get more of Jamie Foxx’s acting abilities. If you have seen him in interviews then you know that he is a really fun guy with lots of energy. And he gets more of those moments in this movie like when he first shows up and asks Peter if he’s freaked out that he’s from a different universe or that he is butt ass naked. Even seeing him interact with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man villains was really cool. While it was fun to see this character back, I wish he got more of an arc, more of a story in the movie. That was lacking a bit for me, but not a big issue in my opinion. 

5. Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange: This is a bit frustrating for me to rank, but so many things are great about him in this movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is as great as ever as the character, and he’s been playing the character for 5 years now. And so he just knows what works so well about this character. And I liked that his relationship with Peter was a mentor figure and a young one. But it’s more of some antagonistic relationship where they fight for like 5 minutes and it’s a really cool fight scene. And I’m very curious to see where they take this character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But I felt like certain parts of the character changed depending on if the script needed them to. What I mean by that is in one scene Doctor Strange is quipping and having fun with Peter. Then in the next scene, he’d be a bit too harsh towards Peter. And it would change around like that, and it was a bit jarring and did pull me out of the movie just a little bit. But in general, I think this is a good usage of Doctor Strange

4. Aunt May: And for me, this is the best usage of Aunt May in any of the Spider-Man movies. And I think that Marisa Tomei is better than Rosemary Harris and Sally Fields as Aunt May. What I appreciated about Aunt May in this movie is that she is Tom Holland’s Uncle Ben. And Aunt May is the center of this story when it comes to the story’s emotions. May is the one that tells Tom Holland “with great power comes great responsibility”, and that is a really powerful and important moment in the character of Peter Parker’s life. And finally in his third movie, he gets told that. And so when her death happens you feel it, you feel it. You feel like Peter lost somebody and that really sets in motion Peter’s actions in the finale of the movie. So I wasn’t expecting much from Aunt May in this movie, because she was kind of just there in the previous 2 movies. But here she is one of the best characters of the movie. 

3. Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield): Now, one of the big rumors going into this movie. Is that Tobey Mauire and Andew Garfield will return as Spider-Man and team up with Tom Holland to defeat the villains. And after Andrew Garfield lied in dozens and dozens of interviews about him not being in the movie. We finally got to see Tom Holland interact with Tobey and Andrew and it was just great to see. And when they showed up in the movie, my theater went nuts and was so excited to see them back..and together in one movie. I love their interactions in the finale of the movie and two of the best jokes come between the three of them. The first one being Tobey and Andrew not knowing what The Avengers are. And the second one is making a joke about Andrew Garfield being “Peter 3”. Which is kind of funny because Andrew is widely regarded as the weakest Spider-Man. I’m not sure if we will ever see Tom, Tobey, and Andrew together again. But if we do, it’ll be epic and awesome to see again. 

2. Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: The villain’s main antagonist was one of the best characters of the entire movie. And I thought this was a better usage of the Green Goblin character from the Sam Raimi universe then in Spider-Man (2002). Don’t get me wrong, that was a great version of the character. But here, it’s just elevated to the next level. And the big thing with this character is he is played by the legendary Willem DeFoe who is a fantastic actor and can switch between characters so quickly and so well. When he is Norman Osborn helping out Peter he is great at that, but when you have been the crazy and chaotic Green Goblin he plays that even better. Also, he does things in this movie that change and affect Peter’s life and causes Peter to want to kill him in the finale of the movie after he killed Aunt May. Once again, I sure hope we see more of this version of Green Goblin because it is awesome. 

1. Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland): The central and title character of the movie is the best character for me, and for three reasons. First up, they give Peter this emotional character arc that really works. He feels guilty about what is happening with his friends and his family and tries to help that. But then he tries to fix it but that causes him to lose his motherly figure, Aunt May in the process. And that changes Peter as a person who becomes a much darker and more viscous Peter Parker. Leading to the final 5-10 minutes of the movie which is so satisfying and you feel like it’s the end to his arc. Second, I think that Tom Holland gives his best performance as the character. He is fun and charming but this is also the most dramatic that he has ever been. Third, it’s just fun to see Tom interacting with Tobey and Andrew. Put all of it together, and I think this is the best usage of Spider-Man in the MCU. 

There you have it, my ranking of the 9 main characters in Spider-Man No Way Home. What is your favorite character from the movie? Also, I’ve already done a bunch of Spider-Man related rankings. And this is the final one I’m doing this year. Thanks for reading!