The Spider-Man: No Way Home Post-Credits Scene Just Changed The MCU Forever

Spoilers ahead for "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is finally here after (what feels like) years of speculation about what to expect from the web-slinging superhero's third solo outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The threequel follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who scrambles to fix his life when his identity is revealed to the world thanks to The Daily Bugle's release of Mysterio's (Jake Gyllenhaal) doctored footage at the end of "Spider-Man: Far From Home." Peter, aka Spider-Man, leans on another bearded mentor — Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) — for help in this time of crisis. The Master of the Mystic Arts offers him a solution: A spell that can erase all knowledge of Peter's alter-ego from this world.

Unfortunately, when the young hero messes with the spell too many times, it goes devastatingly wrong and pulls in a number of legendary "Spider-Man" villains from throughout the multiverse. Peter is forced to go up against the likes of Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). It's no small task, and he has to get help from his friends along the way — and don't worry, both MJ (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) also have big roles to play in the adventure.

But, when all is said and done, this is a movie featuring a Marvel character; audiences know to expect a post-credits scene as the credits roll. Thankfully, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is no different in this regard. And, with a movie as huge as this one, it's not surprising that the first post-credits scene changes the MCU forever.

The first "Spider-Man: No Way Home" post-credits scene picks up around the same time the events in New York come to a close, with Doctor Strange casting a new spell to make everyone forget Peter Parker again, no matter who they are and or what universe they're from. The scene starts with Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) sitting at a tropical bar and talking to a bartender about the events of the MCU so far. As a reminder, this moment picks up from the "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" post-credits scene, when Eddie and the symbiote drop into the MCU.

He gets the general idea that Thanos (Josh Brolin) used the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life in the universe for five years before the Avengers manage to bring everyone back in "Endgame." But, because Eddie knows a little about aliens, he starts to dispute the idea until Venom tells him he's drunk and starts to force him to walk away from the conversation. Before things can go any further, the Lethal Protector is yanked out of the MCU thanks to Doctor Strange's second spell. 

It's surprising the film doesn't keep Venom in the MCU. It would be a perfect opportunity for Peter to go up against Eddie, but it does have one drastic effect on this universe. When Eddie is zapped from the bar (leaving "Ted Lasso" actor Cristo Fernández to pick up the bill), he accidentally leaves a part of the symbiote behind. Uh-oh.

The symbiote left behind in the MCU sets the stage for Peter Parker to end up donning the iconic black suit at some point in a future movie. We already know Sony is supposedly planning a brand new trilogy with Tom Holland reprising his role as the young wall-crawling hero. We also know Holland's Peter still lives in the MCU at the end of "Spider-Man" No Way Home." However, his circumstances are vastly different because everyone has completely forgotten him thanks to Doctor Strange's new spell. This allows Spidey to go through a total reset in the MCU, as he's clearly going to struggle to pay rent in the small apartment where he now lives, for example.

After Spider-Man first encounters the symbiote in the Marvel Comics issue "Secret Wars #8," he quickly gets enchanted by the enhanced strength and speed it gives him. Now, it's not unreasonable to imagine that the same might happen to the MCU's Spider-Man since he'll be operating without most of his fancy nanotech and will not have access to other Stark Industries resources. As such, it'll be interesting to see how (or if) the Symbiote Suit affects Peter.

This event could still set up a future confrontation between Eddie and Pete further down the line, too. In "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," Venom starts to tell Eddie that the Symbiote Collective Mind knows plenty about other universes, so it's not impossible they'll come looking for the piece they left behind in the MCU. Obviously, Sony and Marvel could choose to take things in a completely different direction, but it's still open-ended right now.