Why the ‘Spider-Man: Home’ Trilogy Is the MCU’s Only True Trilogy

Spider-Man: No Way Home was a blast, and while it leaves plenty of room for future films, it also feels like a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy of Spider-Man films. Any continuation of this franchise will have such a drastic change in tone that those films will have to feel different from this series. And while this isn’t the first trilogy in the MCU, regardless of future films, it’s without a doubt the first one that feels like an actual trilogy, even with Infinity War and Endgame taking place between films one and two.

Spider-Man isn’t the first MCU hero to get his own trilogy. Iron Man and Captain America also got their own, while the Avengers and Thor each had quadrilogies instead. However, these do not feel like trilogies in the traditional sense because their stories do not end or feel satisfactorily complete in their solo films, instead ending with Avengers: Endgame. They also don’t have the same composer, resulting in different musical identities across their films, where as all the Spider-Man films all have Michael Giacchino write the music. Spider-Man’s origin story arc feels complete with the ending of No Way Home. We’ll have to see how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will end, but for right now, Spider-Man is the only MCU hero with a true trilogy.

There are two reasons why this is the case and they both deal with how most trilogies are structured. While not every one follows this method, in my opinion, the best and most traditional trilogy method is a stand alone first film, followed by two back-to-back sequels. These sequels don’t necessarily have to be filmed sequentially, but the second film does have to end with a cliffhanger or something unresolved that leads directly into the third, linking both in a close way. (For the record, comedy trilogies are often the exception to the rule.) The Avengers films, while not a trilogy, employed this method to great effect with the massive cliffhanger in Infinity War, which built such audience interest in the unresolved conflict that Endgame, as a result, earned $1 billion on its opening weekend. That would have never happened without that teaser. Spider-Man: No Way Home achieved similar success with its predecessor’s mindblowing mid-credits scene cliffhanger, earning the third highest-grossing opening of all time, which might eclipsed Infinity War for the number two slot if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, but we’ll never know. And in many ways, Homecoming does adhere to the rule of the first film being standalone. Having two Avengers films between that and Far From Home contributes to the sense that they’re both more separate. Last year, I saw the entire trilogy in a marathon in theaters and without being able to see Spider-Man’s scenes in those Avengers films in between, the separation felt more obvious. But there are no MCU films involving Spider-Man between Far From Home and No Way Home and the action slightly overlaps, making it feel more coherent and back-to-back.

The other aspect that makes the Spider-Man: Home series feel like a true trilogy is the ending. While No Way Home definitely sets up room for more stories with the character, it also satisfactorily ties up any major loose threads outside of the minor midcredits scene tease involving Venom (which is almost an MCU requirement at this point). This is one aspect that a good trilogy must have. Because so much story has passed, choices have been made and consequences are building up, so it’s impossible for the narrative to conclude in a satisfying way without some aspect of either bittersweetness or sadness. There has to be some cost to their adventures and choices. Even if the trilogy doesn’t follow the back-to-back sequel structure, it has to get this right to feel satisfactory. Some examples of my favorite trilogies that do this right include Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, Night at the Museum, Star Wars Original Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia (yes, this wasn’t intended to be just a trilogy, but it still works as such because the third published book was initially conceived as the last, so I’m including it here), Pirates of the Caribbean (the fourth and fifth installments feel more like epilogues to the trilogy) and The Hunger Games (considering that the books were a trilogy and are structured as such). The recent Star Wars sequel trilogy is a recent example that doesn’t quite do this well, but that’s a subject for another blog. No Way Home has a fitting end for a trilogy, as the cost of all his adventures is that everyone he loves loses all memory of him, causing him to be a superhero on his own. That isn’t to say that Iron Man and Captain America’s solo series don’t have their own arcs. The former ends with Tony removing the arc reactor from his chest and becoming less reliant on his suits while in the latter, Steve willingly gives up the mantle to maintain the freedom to fight against the institutions he once vowed to protect. They just lack the sadness that a true trilogy should have, instead feeling like stepping stones to a grander story.

Ironically, in many ways, the Spider-Man: Home trilogy echoes the Iron Man trilogy. This isn’t just because Spider-Man is linked to Iron Man when he starts out and Tony’s trilogy has already been completed. Both Iron Man and Far From Home end with identity reveals, granted one intentional and one unwanted. Their follow-ups start in the exact same way, with audio of the news broadcast leading up to the identity reveal, showing that moment right after the opening credits.

Another thing that makes the ending feel unique is that it also feels like the only true end to a superhero trilogy, at least of the ones I’ve seen. For instance, the original Spider-Man trilogy had the intention of a fourth film, so Spider-Man 3 ends with the feeling that there is more to happen before a satisfactory conclusion can come. In some ways, it does work by having a sad ending as is, but it also feels incomplete. I haven’t seen X-Men: The Last Stand but from what I know, it has a lot of death, although it also wasn’t executed well either. I’ve never been a fan of the Dark Knight trilogy and while Bruce Wayne has to retire as Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, it isn’t as sad or bittersweet as it probably should have been. Still, the Spider-Man: Home trilogy is one of the few superhero trilogies that was intended to be one (even if the story does continue) and that truly succeeds in its ending.

Despite Spider-Man’s link to the general Marvel Cinematic Universe, the writers were able to craft a series that is structured like a true trilogy. If Spider-Man does indeed have another trilogy, hopefully it follows his previous one in structure and its ending.