This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
All spoilers are unmarked on moment pages.
The jackpot of the multiverse of horrors was hit in
Spider-Man: No Way Home. And because of that, don't expect sweet dreams after dealing with the multiverse, Spidey. As the Green Goblin himself said, just remember:
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.
Film
- The film takes a page from Avengers: Infinity War by forgoing the Columbia Pictures music and Michael Giacchino's peppy theme tune for Marvel Studios. Instead, there's ominous music
playing while audio from the news transmission shown in the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home can be heard throughout the opening logos. It's a hauntingly sharp contrast to the previous movies, letting us know that this will be the darkest Spider-Man movie ever. - The beginning of the film, where Peter is outed by Jameson. The crowd immediately surrounded him and MJ, with a few citizens actually ready to assault them. One woman even tried claiming Peter hit her when Peter took MJ out of the crowd. And another citizen tried jumping onto and grabbing Peter before he swung away.
- In general, imagine being known throughout the world as a murderer and criminal for something you didn't do (meanwhile, the person you were accused of killing is lauded as a real superhero and innocent despite nearly killing millions of people and physically and mentally torturing you). Your friends and family are hounded and interrogated by the media and authorities who forcibly try to get a confession out of them. Peter doesn't even have the support of Nick Fury or the Avengers.
- You thought the Green Goblin was terrifying in Spider-Man? This time, he manages to be even worse.
- His entrance into the movie, throwing a Pumpkin Bomb onto the bridge and blowing it up before descending from the smoke with his all-too-familiar cackle looking like a demon from Hell itself. It's short and the only time in the movie he's wearing his full costume from the original film, but it's still a chilling sequence that perfectly demonstrates that after twenty years, the original Green Goblin has returned to the big screen.
- He’s the only villain out of the five who wants to torment Peter and the Big Bad of the entire film, and is positively demonic, managing to achieve what The Vulture, Mysterio or even Thanos himself could not; enraging Peter Parker to the point of being willing, not forced by a swarm of snarling monsters, to cross the sacred Thou Shalt Not Kill line, by murdering Aunt May and mockingly placing the responsibility for her death squarely on the poor boy's shoulders. Watching the same sweet and adorable little scholar who spared Adrian Toomes' life pounding the Goblin into a bloody mess as his once warm-and-kind eyes burn with vengeful hatred, then straight out trying to murder the helpless villain by pulverising him with his glider is as horrifying as it is heartbreaking. Even the sound design emphasises this brutal descent for Peter: his angered grunts during every punch start to distort and muffle to the point where it's completely and unnaturally deep. And even when Raimi-Peter jumps in to stop him, Peter initially pushes back. That’s how bent on killing Goblin he is. This also shows what would happen if Peter doesn't have Harry as his best friend. Since one of the reasons that Raimi Peter stop MCU Peter was because he was afraid about what Harry might feel.
- The music as Peter almost beats Goblin to death is terrifying too. It's not unlike the music when Luke Skywalker almost kills Darth Vader, with ethereal voices screaming in terror at the All-Loving Hero being completely consumed by hatred and fury.
- The entire sequence wherein the Goblin returns, and all goes wrong, is ripped straight out of a horror film, easily making Norman's evil side one of if not the most terrifying villains in the history of the MCU, heck the whole dynamic between Norman and the Goblin when combined with Goblin's vileness and Norman's Adaptational Nice Guy comes across almost like Demonic Possession. The Lizard sums it up perfectly. "And so it begins..."
- Peter's Spider-Sense starts screaming at him out of nowhere, deafening his senses as he steps out into the condominium, trying to figure out where this omnipresent sense of absolute danger is coming from. Apart from the ringing sound that represents the Spider-Sense, he can also hear a faint series of laughs. It only truly dawns on him then that that he's surrounded by super-powered maniacs, and warily begins parsing them out. Finally, as they all circle him mostly of concern, he shuts his eyes, lets his senses guide him - then opens his eyes, glares, and fires a web at the threat. It's then revealed to the audience that he's webbed Norman's hand to one of the machines. Norman's face immediately contorts into a dismissive sneer. "That's some neat trick ... that sense of yours..." The Goblin is officially in control. It's at this point that one would be served to remember that the last time Peter's Spider Sense went completely batshit insane, he died.
- It's even scarier when you remember how the Green Goblin made his full debut 19 years ago: Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Sense actually went into high alert well before the villain arrived at the "Unity Day Fair". In other words, watching this scene with this vital piece of information only builds up the dread and chaos that the Green Goblin will bring on everyone.
- And there's a subtle moment where you can see the Goblin in the moment of his return. One minute, he's Norman, working on a cure, and his old friend Otto asks him how it feels to know that he'll soon be free of his darker half and be just him. We only see the back of Norman's head, but the subtle change in tone lets us know that the Goblin has just returned. When he says, "Just me," it's in a raspier voice than how Norman usually speaks, which was a clue to the difference between Norman and the Goblin back in Spider-Man. Then he turns around like nothing is wrong and smiles. The Goblin has gotten better at pretending to be Norman... if only Peter's spider sense hadn't gone off.
- The Goblin begins setting into what he does best: his tried and true Breaking Speech. With all else in absolute silence, he drones on in a Soft-Spoken Sadist tone, about how he wasn't going to let his power be taken away, about how Peter's let himself be chained down by May's "holy moral mission", and that they don't need to be fixed. Then, he changes his tone, and begins addressing the others. They're all listening. But the one the Goblin is most directing his attention to? Max. Otto, who had formed a friendship with Norman and sees what's happening, pleads with him to stop — earning a dismissive snap to be silent before he continues on, giving the renowned line from the trailers, but continues on with how it ends: "Gods don't have to choose. We take." And Max, a man who has been mocked and bullied all his life, before gaining powers that make him feel like a god, has heard the exact words he needed to hear. Peter mutters for May to run seconds before Max makes a grab for the Fabricator's arc reactor.
- It all goes to hell. Flint, having heard enough, quietly steps away. He's seen the winning side — he won't be helping Peter this time. Otto, seeing Max equip himself with the arc reactor, makes a plea for him to stop himself before he goes over the line. This gets Otto blasted out the window by a reactor-enhanced bolt of lightning. Peter's officially alone, and he needs to get him and May out of there now. He manages to duck Electro, and has a brief moment of respite, but the Lizard who's been anticipating the flashpoint of events, throws him straight back into the hands of the Goblin. Peter engages the demon, and quickly realizes that the Goblin doesn't need his bag of tricks: he's stronger than Spider-Man. In an ensuing Curb-Stomp Battle, Peter is brutalized. Thrown through walls, powerbombed clean through the floor; even when he manages to get a few shots in, the Goblin just doesn't care and keeps grinning and laughing maniacally through it all. It's all capped off by the Goblin piledriving Peter through every single floor of the condo complex down to the ground level. Spider-Man hasn't just lost, he's been crushed utterly.
- When Peter deals several direct strikes to Goblin's face, the first hit causes his grin to drop momentarily. But when Peter punches again, the grin returns. The Goblin knows Peter's still holding back, and laughs because he knows he's already won.
- Throughout his entire time in the MCU, Peter has avoided using his great strength to solve problems through physical violence, not even striking or hitting enemies but rather subduing them via other means like his webbing. This despite this version of Peter being one of the physically strongest Earth-based characters in the MCU, having overpowered the likes of the Winter Soldier with relative ease. Yet the threat of the Goblin is so great that Peter finally unleashes his full strength on this opponent. Only not only does the Goblin take the punishment, he doesn't even flinch. Peter fights with a ferocity never seen before for his character, and the Goblin not only keeps coming, he fights back with even greater strength. To the point where it's evidently clear that despite how powerful Peter is, the Goblin is merely toying with him and he uses Peter as a battering ram through the condo complex.
- Peter is left broken, beaten and barely able to move. Before the Goblin can make any further moves, May comes from behind him, successfully jabbing the syringe of the Goblin formula cure into his neck. It doesn't work. It is then that the worst comes to pass as the Goblin returns to the train of thought he had earlier: that Peter could be "free", be like him, if it wasn't for her presence in his life. This gives him an idea. As May brandishes a hammer, preparing to defend herself and try to save her nephew, the Goblin Glider comes crashing through the wall, blowing the completely-mortal woman to the ground. Hopping onto his glider, the Goblin chastises Peter, stating that No Good Deed Goes Unpunished... and then, adding "you can thank me later," as he very deliberately and predatorily looks towards the fallen May, giving Peter just enough time to realize what's about to happen... and throws a pumpkin bomb with a sadistic grin on his face. Peter just barely manages to jump in the way and shield the blast with his own body before it goes off, and, as the Goblin flies away, he throws one more behind himself for good measure, firebombing the entire condo building behind him.
- Early in the film, Norman destroys his mask in an effort to stop the Goblin's influence. Clearly, it didn't work. As a result, when the Goblin reemerges, we're treated to Willem Dafoe going all-in on his horrifying facial expressions, especially before he throws a pumpkin bomb at Peter and May. Which just proves that Weird Al was correct; he is scarier without the mask.
- Other MCU villains have a grand plan, some kind of understandable if twisted ideology or Freudian Excuse. The Goblin? Sheer, unquestionable For the Evulz. All he wants is to cause as much mayhem and pain as he possibly can for as long as he can.
- When Goblin makes his entrance to the Statue of Liberty fight, the first person to react to hearing his unmistakable voice is Peter-2. The terror that flickers across his face in that moment is palpable: if the guy who defeated the Goblin the first time is still this scared of him, what does that say about what the Goblin still capable of?
- The scene of Peter looking for Goblin in the woods, but instead coming across Electro. The music and slow buildup make it especially eerie, making it feel like a slasher movie. Max showing up as a nearly unstoppable being of pure energy is frightening in itself, with the score sounding like it belongs to something not of this world (which, to be fair, is the case here).
- When the Green Goblin successfully destroys the Macchina di Kadavus which contained the identity spell, the whole scaffolding on the Statue of Liberty starts coming down. Among those caught in the chaos are Ned and MJ. While the former manages to hold onto a beam, MJ has no such luck and is sent hurtling down, all too similarly to how Peter-Three’s Gwen met her tragic end. Peter-One jumps to save his girlfriend, and they are merely inches away from grabbing each other’s hands before the Goblin returns and crashes into him, cackling madly as he does everything in his power to take one more loved one from him. MJ only has a split second to realize what just happened and that he’s not going to be able to save her in time. Earlier, MJ had shown sadness hearing that for all effects and purposes, she died in Peter-Three’s universe (by proxy of being Peter’s love), but she nonetheless stood by her Peter, willing to pay the price if need be - and for a few moments, it looks like the bill was coming due. Thankfully, Peter-Three was fast enough to stop the same thing from happening in this universe and saves MJ.
- The Multiverse cracking sequence in itself. After the Green Goblin bombs the Macchina di Kadavus, the magic is set loose, creating enormous purple tears in reality that treats skies and entire cities as nothing more than paper. And if one takes a moment to think about it, everyone who knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man are coming into the MCU (for the best and most likely the worst). While none of them make it through fully, the forms of Rhino, Scorpion, and Kraven the Hunter can be seen clearly and close to the edge of the rift. The five villains that made it through caused enough damage but the situation came very close to being even worse with more of Spider-Man's enemies entering the MCU.
- Not to mention, Strange made it clear that due to the nature of the Multiverse, there are an infinite number of people who know Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Good or evil, there’s no telling what would happen if they all landed in the MCU...
- They wouldn't get to do anything, in reality, and the reason why is even worse. As Strange realizes and as begins to happen in the film's climax, infinite is infinite, as in it never ends or exhausts, and beyond what even the entirety of the universe can contain within its boundaries. The result of all of them trying to come through at once is that the fabric of reality begins to shred to pieces from being so horribly overwhelmed by an impossible and incalculable mass.
- The SSU Venom only appears for a short comedic mid-credits scene before he and Eddie are sent back to their universe but unbeknownst to them, a piece of Venom is left in the MCU. Let that sink in; a brain eating alien that is capable of bonding to any living host is out there in the MCU, waiting for the right one. And if this spawn is anything like Venom's previous "child" or if the host is not as nice as Eddie, Anne or Mrs. Chen, Spider-Man will need a lot of help.
- It could be even worse than that: Symbiotes are known for attaching to people in particularly rough spots in their life, as we've seen with Eddie. With everything Peter has been through, there's a chance he'll fall into that same bitterness Webb-Verse Peter mentioned if he happens to come in contact with it.
- Peter's situation at the end of the movie. No one, not even his close friends, family, and acquaintances know nor recognize him. Along with that, he has to drop out of school and get a GED all while trying to support himself. He is all alone and no one knows who he is. Couple that with, as mentioned above, a Symbiote now being out there in his universe and looking for him, and the implications for the path that Peter will take are not good. In essence, he really does have no way home, because there isn't a home to find a way back to.
