It’s always fun when two Avengers come face to face! While we have seen our favourite heroes going against each but Spider-Man v Doctor Strange is truly the greatest face-off, MCU fans witnessed. In No Way Home, our favourite web-slinger (Tom Holland) proves to be smarter than Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Doctor Strange wanted to send the villains back
No Way Home brought forth many unexpected things but the most refreshing thing was the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange’s chemistry. Marvel is contractually obliged to put a senior Avenger in a Spider-Man movie. So, since Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man sacrificed himself in the Avengers: Endgame Stephen Strange is brought in to fill his shoes. What stole the show was not Spidey and Strange’s team-up, but when they faced off each other.
The duo teamed up at the beginning of the movie and towards the end of the movie. But, in the midst, there was epic combat between the two when Spider-Man snatched the mystical spell box from Doctor Strange and wanted to escape with it.
Doctor Strange wanted to send back all the villains that have come from the multiverse doors back to their respective universes. While Spider-Man, being influenced by Aunt May, wanted to cure them first and then send them back to their universes.
Spider-Man v Doctor Strange Setup
In a recent interview, Holland reveals that initially No Way Home was planned as a civil war between Doctor Strange and Pete Parker. However, the plans changed as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield joined the cast along with Alfred Molina, Willaim Dafoe, Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans.
Nonetheless, the studios decided to keep the face-off in the movies and the outcome was no less than surprising. MCU fans would definitely think that Doctor Strange will overpower Peter to defeat him in matter of minutes, maybe seconds. But, came all prepared and defeated Doctor Strange.
As for the battle, it was an easy guess that Master of Mystic Arts could take Spider-Man to the mirror dimension and leave him there. And that’s exactly what Doctor Strange did but was left to hang in that dimension or as fans says got ‘reverse Loki-ed’.
It’s to be noted that Doctor Strange who is believed to be the most powerful sorcerer was hilariously demoted in his 5-year absence and Wong is now the Sorcerer Supreme. Not that it affects Strange’s magic. Nonetheless, Peter with no special powers but just because of his presence of mind. Peter got rid of Doctor Strange in mirror dimension with nothing special up his sleeve but just geometry. Though we got some cool shots like the cloak of levitation holding Peter evoking imagery from What if..?
The classic team-up
Now, when Doctor Strange was no longer there Peter tried his best to cure all the villains but he was defeated in his purpose. Amidst all this, his Aunt May dies leaving him completely broken inside. The ray of hope came when Ned tried to find where Peter was with a sling ring. Instead of finding Holland’s Peter Parker, he found Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parkers.
So, when all the Spider-Men came together, they decided to cure all the villains and send them back to their universes. They defeated the villains and cured them too but then things went out of hand when the spell broke and several shadows began to come through the multiverse doors.
It was good that Ned mistakenly brought Doctor Strange into the arena so he could use his spell and close the multiverse. When Doctor Strange came back in the scene and realized that Peter Parker’s way of curing the villains is working, he came to terms with what Peter initially wanted to do.
Peter earned Doctor Strange’s respect and they team up to send all the villains back to their respective universes. The only thing different this time was Peter came to terms with letting everyone forget his identity. So, Doctor Strange cast his spell to reverse what has happened and the entire universe forgot Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
Peter Parker did something which Doctor Strange did not even think of. Maybe the Master of Mystical Arts and the best sorcerer in the world needs a kid to do what’s fair.
