And so it was said that the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer would be released and that world peace would surely follow with it – and lo, it proved to be true and mankind did live forever in harmony forevermore…
Ok, so maybe I’m over egging the pudding a little bit, but the world did breath a huge, euphoric sigh of relief when the teaser for Spidey’s newest foray in the MCU was finally allowed to roam free on the internet where it belongs – and what a teaser it was!
While there’s still no footage of any of the other Spider-Men rumoured to appear, the footage we got sets up the story nicely without too many spoilers so let’s swing over and see what goodies are available from Spidey’s most epic outing yet…
5) Major Tom
Any fears that Tom Holland would be swallowed whole by the sheer size of a movie that’s not only rumoured to contain two other Spider-People, Matt Murdock and a multiversal Sinister Six (more on them later), but also has a sizable role for Doctor Strange is immediately quelled by the opening shots of Peter Parker chilling with M.J. enjoying a rare quiet moment after Mysterio let the Spider-Cat out of the bag. After building up Zendaya’s M.J., Jacob Batalon’s Ned, Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May and a steadily increasing role for John Faveau’s Happy Hogan, it’s a genuine relief to see them represented in the footage seen as is shows that not every second of the movie will be affected by the Multiverse of Madness. To sideline Holland in the final movie of his trilogy after everything he’s been through would be a real shame but as Captain America: Civil War managed to keep the Cap/Bucky story at its centre, hopefully our Tom will managed to keep his head above water.
4) Guilt Trip
Featuring scenes that carry on immediately where Far From Home finished with J. Jonah Jameson outing Peter with footage provided by a (possibly) dead Mysterio, we get a selection of scenes that show how out hero’s live has spectacularly turned to Spider-Crap as he’s questioned by police, gawped at in school and generally treated like a criminal in the streets. Peter having his identity blown is nothing new in the comics and all feels very One More Day – an infamous arc written by J. Michael Straczynski that saw Spider-Man make a deal with the demonic Mephisto to save Aunt May and restore his secret identity at a terrible cost.
I’ll quickly pause here while we all get our “Mephisto Confirmed” jokes out of the way….
Done? Good. So with this in mind, it isn’t so suprising that Peter turns to a stranger option.
3) Strange Days
Simultaneously limbering up for the Multiverse Of Madness that’s on the verge of tearing loose and slotting neatly into the revolving door that is Peter’s interchangeable MCU father figure, is one Stephen Strange. Taking the role of Tony Stark in Homecoming and Nick Fury (technically) in Far From Home, Benedict Cumberbatch’s easy chemistry with Holland is bound to be a high point and this with prove to be the next, sizable stepping stone in Phase 4’s Multiverse storyline after Loki.
Seemingly going from allies to opponents during the movie (there’s blatantly a chase through the Mirror Dimension) it seems the next crack in reality is caused by Peter not being able to keep his trap shut as Strange’s spell goes horribly awry.
Rumours are abound that whatever comes through the multiversal rip is actually contained by Strange midway through the movie only for Spidey to take pity on them and break them out – but who’s to say the villains come here? How do we know Stange and Parker haven’t traveled to them? Either way, expect Mysterio’s awesome reality warping bit from the previous movie to be expanded on exponentially with folding cities and warping trains.
2) Bad Guys, Assemble!
No, we aren’t teased with the triumphant returns of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield wrapped up in glorious red and blue spandex and we aren’t given much concerning Pete’s new wardrobe – but we are teased about numerous bad guys that spring from the other, MCU adjacent Spider-franchises, most tantalising of all being a very familiar pumpkin bomb tolling across the ground… Admittedly we get no actual glimpse Willam Defoe’s Green Goblin or Jamie Foxx’s confirmed Electro, but we get plenty of yellow lighting and Defoe’s throay Goblin laugh – but more interestingly there seems to be a familiar looking clump of sand which may hint at a return of Flint Marko. Also, a murky split second of footage shows a creature lunging at Peter out of the dark which has a suspicious Lizard feel to it; now while this doesn’t necessarily confirm a return for Thomas Hayden Church or Rhys Ifans, it does up the number the bad guys toward a very significant number…
1) Fully Armed
While that number isn’t eight, flying the flag for octopods everywhere is the triumphant return of Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius still sporting the same tentacle design and trench coat combo we last saw him in in the closing moment of Spider-Man 2 waaaaaaay back in 2004. This, potentially, brings the villain quota up to five which could finally confirm that Marvel and Sony are finally going for the Sinister Six, a insidious cabal of wrong doers who united to take down Parker – but if I’m right, and alternate arachnids Maguire and Garfeild are drafted in to help, who’s gonna be the sixth member? Is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio still alive; how about Michael Keaton’s incarcerated Vulture – or even Michael Mando’s underused Scorpion – either way, returning director Jon Watts needs to tread carefully if he’s going to juggle three Spider-Men, six villains and a Sorcerer Supreme into a single movie…
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