2021 has been an arguably difficult year for Marvel. It’s yielded four successful and largely well-received DIsney+ series (“WandaVision” especially), but the big-screen story thus far has been challenged. “Black Widow” underperformed at the box office (in part because it was available on Disney Premier Access), and “Shang Chi” looks poised to do the same underwhelming numbers thanks to Covid Delta surges (And “Eternals“? Kevin Feige says, “we’ll see“). But if any film is really going to be a big Marvel bonanza, this year, (though it’s technically a Sony Pictures movie), it looks to be “Spider-Man: No Way Home” that has released its first trailer.
Tons of speculation surrounds the latest Spider-Man film, hitting theaters this December, and many answers are provided in this new trailer. For one, yep, it’s certainly a multiverse film, Doctor Strange is a big factor in it (Wong appears too) and as rumored, it brings back old villains from Sony’s old Spider-Man films, which could prove to be controversial.
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Here’s what else we know. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” continues where “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and “Avengers: Endgame” previously left off. Tom Holland returns to reprise his role as Peter Parker/Spiderman and teams up with Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Doctor Strange to take on what appears will be villains from other universes that have entered the MCU via the multiverse. Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, J.B. Smoove, Marisa Tomei, Tony Revolori, Angourie Rice, and Hannibal Buress are all back to reprise their roles from the previous MCU “Spider-Man” films.
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The new villains in “Now Way Home” aren’t exactly new, however. Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx have played Doctor Octopus and Electro before, in 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” and 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” the two previous Spider-Man movie series before the MCU got hold of the superhero. What implications does this have for “No Way Home” and future Spider-Man films? There are no answers yet, but given the quantum, multiversal weirdness of other Phase 4 projects and the end of the recent “Loki” finale, cross-over with the old Sony era is definitely in the cards. How much of it beyond Molina seen in this trailer?
While Andrew Garfield has vigorously denied rumors that his version of Peter Parker will return, and Emma Stone has recently said the same things about Gwen Stacy, there’s plenty of buzz surrounding how “No Way Home” will play out (rumors are adamant that Tobey Maguire returns as the original Spider-Man and Charlie Cox reprises his role Netflix‘s Daredevil as well, but none of that is confirmed nor shown in this trailer). Several questions abound. Will this be Tom Holland’s final turn as Peter Parker? Are the returns of Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx just the tip of the iceberg for old faces from the Sony Spider-Verse? With “Morbius” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” on the horizon and a Kraven The Hunter film coming in 2023, will there be an even bigger onscreen collision between Sony’s movies and the MCU?
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All Marvel fans can do now is wait until “Spider-Man: No Way Home” hits theaters on December 17 to finally get some answers. Check out the trailer below to get a taste of what’s in store for Parker and this third Spider-Man film.
