Boba Fett Proves What Spider-Man: No Way Home Got So Right
The fan service shortcomings of The Book of Boba Fett only serve to prove what Spider-Man: No Way Home got so right. The projects are the latest entries in two of the entertainment industry's biggest franchises. Spider-Man: No Way Home broke box office records and earned widespread critical acclaim, fueled by its emotional storyline that paid tribute to all three generations of live-action Spider-Man films. The Book of Boba Fett finally gave a fan-favorite Star Wars character his moment in the spotlight, but some feel the creative team botched the execution. After some flashback-heavy episodes that lacked a sense of direction, the most damning indictment of The Book of Boba Fett is its best episode didn't feature Boba Fett at all.
Like so many major franchise installments these days, both No Way Home and The Book of Boba Fett feature fan service moments throughout their respective runtimes. Over the years, "fan service" is a term that's earned a negative connotation, since it implies a development in a movie or show was included solely to elicit a cheap response out of the audience. However, fan service isn't always necessarily bad. Just like any other aspect of a project, what matters most is the execution. Seeing Captain America wield Thor's hammer in Avengers: Endgame is fan service, but it works because the moment felt earned after a decade of the MCU.
With Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Book of Boba Fett releasing so close to each other, it creates a fascinating juxtaposition with regard to approaches to fan service. While No Way Home earned raves - to the point where Sony and Marvel gave it a legitimate Best Picture push - Boba Fett has lost his own Star Wars show as The Book of Boba Fett takes detours to focus on other characters. In many ways, The Book of Boba Fett's failures prove No Way Home got it right.
By incorporating the multiverse into its narrative, Spider-Man: No Way Home was always going to be full of fan service. The marketing campaign was built around the return of villains from Sam Raimi's and Marc Webb's Spider-Man movies, selling viewers on seeing Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, and Jamie Foxx playing their famous antagonists again. Even more monumental, No Way Home brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their iterations of Peter Parker. In addition to the returning faces established in the MCU's Homecoming trilogy, No Way Home had a lot of characters to integrate. Previous Spider-Man movies crumbled under the weight of balancing too many characters, but No Way Home made it work.
The key is director Jon Watts never lost sight of the fact No Way Home was Tom Holland's movie. As thrilling as it was to see the Spider-Man movie veterans return to their roles after all these years, it was all done in service of the story they were telling around Holland's Peter 1. Maguire and Garfield's roles go beyond the excitement of watching Holland's predecessors suit up again. The Peter variants actually play a meaningful part in No Way Home's third act that builds upon Peter 1's arc in a thematically resonant manner. They help Holland's Peter grieve Aunt May's death and show him that he's not alone; there are others who (quite literally) know exactly what he's going through. Garfield has spent much time talking about the brotherly bond the three Spider-Men shared, and that chemistry is apparent onscreen. It's why No Way Home made such an impact upon release.
A balancing act Watts somehow pulled off is knowledge of the earlier Spider-Man movies, while beneficial, wasn't necessarily required. Maguire and Garfield's first appearance in No Way Home is presented from the perspective of Ned and MJ. The audience learns along with those characters other Peter Parker variants are in the MCU. Technically, Peter 2 and Peter 3 could have been played by any actor and the scene still works within the context of the story. That it's Maguire and Garfield is an extra treat for the longtime viewers who have been following Spider-Man for years. The same can be said for the villains. Their emergence from the multiverse is more of a consequence of Peter 1 tampering with Doctor Strange's spell than anything. This forces him to confront and accept his responsibility, culminating in No Way Home's emotionally devastating ending. In theory, the villains could have been anyone and the narrative still stands on its own merits because it's (rightfully) focused on Holland.
In contrast, Jon Favreau and company did lose sight of the fact The Book of Boba Fett - as the title suggests - is supposed to be Boba Fett's story. After "Return of the Mandalorian" focused entirely on Din Djarin, the show took an even wider detour with "From the Desert Comes a Stranger," which spends a significant amount of time depicting Luke Skywalker train Grogu at his Jedi Academy. Obvious Empire Strikes Back references aside, there's nothing inherently wrong with Star Wars showing Luke teach Grogu the ways of the Force. The problem is The Book of Boba Fett isn't the place for that, since it does nothing to serve Boba's own story. The material is far better suited for The Mandalorian season 3; it's so disconnected from The Book of Boba Fett's main Tatooine underworld thread, it's puzzling why it was included here.
The time spent abruptly pivoting to Mandalorian season 3 content could have been used to further develop Boba's character, fleshing out his conflict with the Pykes and tying it to the Tusken Raider flashbacks. Instead, the titular character essentially didn't have a role in two consecutive episodes, giving the impression the creative team lost either interest or faith in the Boba-centric story they started telling and decided to prop it up by continuing The Mandalorian's core narrative. By shifting back to Din and Grogu, the creative team also cost themselves an opportunity to establish Cad Bane earlier in the season as a de facto antagonist, shedding light on his history with Boba for viewers unfamiliar with Clone Wars. Cad Bane's scene builds up to the big reveal another animated character made the leap to live-action, but it's crafted in a way it only works for Clone Wars fans who know who Cad Bane is. Casual audiences meeting the bounty hunter for the first time have little to be invested in.
Ironically, The Mandalorian season 2 toed the fan service line similarly to No Way Home. Despite concerns appearances by animated characters like Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano would hinder The Mandalorian's accessibility to newcomers, the season still worked regardless of Clone Wars or Rebels knowledge because it was always focused on Din and Grogu and any legacy character inclusions felt organic to their story. It was an impressive accomplishment that unfortunately didn't continue in The Book of Boba Fett. What could have been a longtime fan-favorite's moment to shine in the spotlight curiously morphed into a hodgepodge of various Star Wars ideas that are largely unrelated to each other. Hopefully, future Star Wars shows skew closer to The Mandalorian season 2 and are able to avoid the fan-service pitfalls that doomed The Book of Boba Fett.