A SUPER OPENING

Just when you think comic books might be tapped out for exciting movie fodder — and exciting box office returns for those who make the movies — along comes Tom Holland as Peter Parker for his third appearance as a friendly, neighborhood Spider-man. Instead of tanking in the ongoing pandemic, “Spider-man: No Way Home” brought in the second highest-grossing opening weekend in box office history.

Without giving away any more spoilers than you’d see in the movie’s trailer, Spider-man finds his secret identity blown, which places his aunt and friends in peril. His plan to get sorcerer Doctor Strange to cast a spell to fix everything breaks more than it fixes, bringing back supervillains from previous Spider-man movies — even those that starred actors other than Holland.

This introduces to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe a concept familiar to comic book and science fiction fans: That of a “multiverse” — the concept of other realities parallel to our own world. This is already being explored in episodes of Marvel properties being streamed on various TV services and will continue into upcoming Marvel comics movies.

Marvel Comics’ interlocking Cinematic Universe films have become the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, outselling even the “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” Harry Potter and James Bond films.

And despite the yearslong buildup and the two-film climax in “Avengers: Endgame” two years ago, the Cinematic Universe is still going strong, with TV shows streaming on Disney+ and at least six more films in the pipeline for the next two years:

SONY PICTURES Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange also figures prominently in “Spider-man: No Way Home.” Strange will be featured in his own movie in May.

SONY PICTURES Zendaya and Tom Holland in a scene from “Spider-man: No Way Home.”