Spider-Man: No Way Home ending explained: Who lives? Who dies? Who is still in the MCU?

After years of waiting, Spider-Man: No Way Home has finally arrived. The film, which hit theaters this Friday, is just as massive and game-changing as Marvel fans hoped it would be, and it’s practically brimming with exciting cameos and crossovers.

The climax also sets up a future for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker that few could have seen coming. In doing so, the film puts Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man franchise in the position to start telling some very interesting — and very different — stories.

With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Spider-Man: No Way Home’s ending, including who makes it out alive, who doesn’t, and which of its characters are still in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the time its end credits roll.

Major spoilers ahead.

Who is still alive at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Spider-Man: No Way Home’s core trio — MJ (Zendaya), Ned (Jacob Batalon), and Peter (Tom Holland) — are all still alive at the end of the film. The catch is that neither MJ or Ned know who Peter is as a result of the spell he asks Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast in No Way Home’s third act.

All the film’s villains, including Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), and Electro (Jamie Foxx), survive as well. The same, fortunately, goes for both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parkers, who are still breathing when they’re returned to their universes at the end of the film.

Follow all of Inverse’s Spider-Man coverage at our No Way Home hub.

Unfortunately for Holland’s Peter, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) also lives to lie another day, which means his smear campaign against Spider-Man isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Who dies in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

While most of Spider-Man: No Way Home’s characters make it out of the film in one piece, it does say goodbye to a beloved MCU figure: Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Done in by Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin, May tragically dies in the arms of Holland’s Peter Parker around two-thirds into No Way Home.

Her demise isn’t in vain, though. Before she meets her untimely end, she gives her nephew a piece of wisdom that he’ll carry with him for the rest of his life: “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Hey, he had to hear it from someone.

Who is still in the MCU after Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Everyone who comes into the MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home is returned to their original universe by the time the film ends, including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, as well as their respective villains. As far as we know, none of the film’s multiversal characters are still in the MCU after No Way Home.

That includes, as the film’s mid-credits scene reveals, Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, who disappears at the exact moment he starts thinking about going to New York to talk to Holland’s Spider-Man. However, Eddie leaves a piece of himself behind, with one strand of his symbiote companion separating from him and remaining in the MCU.

Where that storyline will lead is unclear, but it looks like the MCU has its first symbiote. That opens the door for Marvel and Sony’s future Spider-Man movies to go in numerous directions, and with all of No Way Home’s multiversal characters still alive in their own universes, there’s a chance that some of them could return as well.

Spider-Man: No Way Home may bring Tom Holland’s first MCU trilogy to an emotional end, but it also sets up an exciting new chapter for the character — one filled with infinite possibilities.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is playing in theaters now.