‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’: who wrote the soundtrack, and what famous songs feature?

17 December 2021, 12:07 | Updated: 17 December 2021, 13:58

Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer reveals return of Doc Ock and Green Goblin

The third film in the Tom Holland Spider-Man series has swung into cinemas this week, and here’s what you can expect musically from this latest Marvel movie.

Released in cinemas worldwide in December 2021, the long anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home is finally here.

Fans of the film have waited two and a half years for the return of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and were forced to wait longer than first expected as the film was originally scheduled for release on 16 July 2021.

But now that the wait is over, let’s check out what music the Phase Four flick has in store for us...

Read more: Can Tom Holland dance? Exploring the Spider-Man actor’s background in ballet

What’s the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Tom Holland and Zendaya return to the big screen as Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and MJ respectively in the newest film about the web-slinging superhero.

The pair are joined by Benedict Cumberbatch, who reprises his role as Marvel’s Master of the Mystic Arts, Doctor Strange.

In the film, Parker enlists Doctor Strange’s help to restore his secret that he is Spider-Man after his identity was revealed to the public at the end of Spider-Man: Far from Home.

Strange’s spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who have ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe.

Parker now has to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.

Due to the multiverse concept, characters such as Doc Ock (Spider-Man 2) and Green Goblin (Spider-Man) both appear in the film with Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe reprising their roles respectively, almost 20 years since their original films.

J. K. Simmons also returns as journalist, J. Jonah Jameson, who became the first non-MCU actor to reprise their role in an MCU film, when he appeared in the mid-credits scene of the previous film, Spider-Man: Far from Home.

Who wrote the music?

American composer, Michael Giacchino has written scores for multiple films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the two previous Tom Holland Spider-Man films.

The Grammy-winning composer returns for Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the 23-track soundtrack album was released digitally, after the film’s cinematic release, on 17 December.

Read more: Michael Giacchino’s 7 best film scores

Prior to the album’s release, two singles were released ahead of the film’s premiere; the final track, ‘Arachnoverture’, and a four-minute mid-film piece titled Exit Through the Lobby.

Giacchino has written some of the most iconic scores of modern-day movie history, such as The Incredibles, Jurassic World, and Disney-Pixar’s Up, and Coco.

Watch now: The ‘Up’ theme tune, but it’s played by a string quartet

What other songs feature?

As well as Giacchino’s cinematic score, music by other film composers including Hans Zimmer, James Horner, and Danny Elfman features in the soundtrack.

All three composers have worked on previous Spider-Man films, and a selected track returns from each of their previous scores to add that extra layer of nostalgia to the viewer’s movie experience.

There’s even a piece of 300-year-old classical music in the form of the third movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Violins in G major.

Other famous tracks include the Beastie Boys’ No Sleep ‘till Brooklyn, and Odyssey’s Native New Yorker; so no prizes for guessing where this film is set...

A. Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 violins, strings & b.c. in G major (RV 516) / English Concert

Spider-Man: No Way Home is out in cinemas now.