For many Marvel fans, Spider-Man: No Way Home was a rare high point in the post-Avengers: Endgame MCU era after Phases 4 and 5 have so far been plagued by a general lack of focus, mediocre sequels, and underwhelming origin stories. The question remains: What could make a worthy follow-up to the Tom Holland-starring mega-blockbuster that now represents the concluding chapter to one of Marvel’s finest trilogies?
Luckily, the 2021 film ended on a perfect note to set up a follow-up adventure since it retrospectively made the entire trilogy one long origin story. That final scene of No Way Home finally contained the meat and potatoes of the Peter Parker character in his full-blown glory, living in a humble Manhattan apartment and trying to make it as a superhero mostly on his own after the rest of the world literally forgot who he was. The cherry on top was seeing the webhead wearing a shimmering red-and-blue hand-sewn classic Spidey suit, which he used to swing through a snow-dappled Rockefeller Center with its epic Christmas Tree fully lit up.
This is all leading up to an excellent idea from a Reddit user on the r/MarvelStudios subreddit: What if the next Spider-Man adventure we got with Tom Holland took place entirely during Christmastime?
Marvel has toyed around with this concept in the past, such as Iron Man 3 taking place during the Holidays. And let’s not forget the Disney Plus series Hawkeye, which coincides with No Way Home’s events in the greater MCU timeline (both No Way Home and Hawkeye were released around the same time, too). However, one of the great ongoing Spider-Man sagas, the titular Insomniac games, already achieved this with the release of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, all taking place during the Yuletide, as one Reddit user pointed out.
I personally loved the Miles Morales game, even though it is the only one I have played in the series so far. The snow-draped Manhattan of the game’s setting would make a perfect cushion for Holland’s Peter to put the pieces of his life back together in a No Way Home follow-up, come to think of it. And since that is the aesthetic note we ended on, it only makes sense to go in that direction if you ask me.