Credit: Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) has become the first motion picture to earn $1 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic era. The movie is the latest in a trilogy about the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. British actor Tom Holland and American actress, dancer, and singer Zendaya star in the new blockbuster.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every aspect of our lives over the last two years. Hollywood is no exception—the movie industry has suffered, with crowds nervous to venture in public and theaters shuttered to prevent the spread of the disease. It appears that Spider-Man, however, has come to the rescue, defeating the pandemic malaise. The motion picture was released on Dec. 17, 2021, and has been drawing out reluctant theater-goers around the world.

Spider-Man was created by the American writer Stan Lee and the American artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared as the Amazing Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy comic book #15, published by Marvel Comics in August 1962. By the end of the 1960’s, Spider-Man had become one of the most popular comic book characters in American publishing history. Spider-Man is the superhero identity of Peter Benjamin Parker. As a high school science student, Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, which gave him superhuman powers.

Spider-Man has been featured in many motion pictures, television series, and video games. Recent Spider-Man movies include Spider-Man (2002), starring Tobey Maguire, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), starring Andrew Garfield.

British actor Tom Holland
© Tinseltown, Shutterstock

Tom Holland has starred as Spider-Man in Marvels’ Captain America: Civil War (2016); Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017); Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019); and now Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). He also played Spider-Man in other Marvel superhero movies of the 2010’s, including Avengers: Endgame (2019). Zendaya has played MJ, short for Mary Jane Watson, in the three Spider-Man films with Holland. She made her first theatrical motion-picture appearance in a supporting role in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

American actress, singer, and dancer Zendaya
© Tinseltown/Shutterstock

The success of Spider-Man: No Way Home is giving hope to the movie industry. There is nothing like the Spider-Man’s “spider-sense” and powerful webs pulling people into the theaters!