No Way Home: How Strange’s Spider-Man Relationship Compares To Iron Man’s

Benedict Cumberbatch breaks down the difference between Doctor Strange’s relationship with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in Spider-Man: No Way Home with Iron Man’s (Robert Downey Jr.). The sorcerer joins the upcoming Jon Watts-directed flick as the mentor figure for the wall-crawler. Considering the multiversal predicament that Spider-Man finds himself in, as revealed by the first No Way Home trailer, Strange’s presence and guidance seem to be very much needed.

Spider-Man: No Way Home follows the trend of its predecessors by teaming up Peter with a more veteran figure in the MCU. In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) showed up and roped the web-slinger into a European adventure that ended with a battle with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Before this, however, Spider-Man’s first mentor was Tony Stark. It was the genius, billionaire Avenger who introduced Peter to the bigger superhero universe he now exists in. Peter and Iron Man became extremely close to the point that they almost had a ‘father and son’ dynamic. However, after Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame, Doctor Strange is assumed to be taking over as Peter’s mentor, as hinted at by the marketing for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

In an interview with Empire (via Reddit’s u/x-y-z-), Cumberbatch opened up about the nature of his character’s relationship with Peter in the upcoming Marvel Studios and Sony collaboration project. He compares Spider-Man and Doctor Strange’s connection to what fans have seen between the young hero and Tony. The actor says that it’s “not as intimate,” at first, although it becomes “parental” at one point, shifting as Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s story progresses. Read Cumberbatch’s comments below:

“There’s a shade of the Stark relationship. It’s not as intimate to begin with. Because of how experienced he is, it’s a strange dynamic and it kind of shifts into something far more parental and corrective. And then it shifts again.”

When Cumberbatch was first announced to be joining the Spider-Man franchise threequel, there was some backlash. Critics argued that at this point in his MCU journey, Spider-Man should be able to navigate his upcoming adventures on his own. In fact, this was also a recurring criticism about his relationship with Iron Man. That being said, considering that Spider-Man: No Way Home is dealing with a multiversal storyline, it makes sense that Doctor Strange is somehow involved. This is especially true since Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will deal with the same concept. In any case, it seems like Marvel Studios and Sony are well aware of fans’ comments about how Spider-Man should be on his own, given Cumberbatch’s latest, more measured comments.

Meanwhile, the actor’s note about the changing nature of Doctor Strange’s relationship with Peter is also interesting. As seen in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, the pair initially team-up to address the wall-crawler’s problem of his revealed superhero identity. However, a particular shot in the same clip sees the sorcerer punching Spider-Man out to his astral form, hinting at a potential falling out between the pair in the movie. Given that Cumberbatch has revealed a “shifting” relationship, it will be very interesting to see if a conflict between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange comes to fruition.