Since at least June, fans have been rabidly awaiting the first trailer for December’s Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer—so much so that the movie’s official Twitter account has commented on the situation multiple times over. For those not plugged into the MCU hype cycle, there’s a very good reason that Tom Holland’s third solo Spidey flick is receiving so much attention: the movie has long been rumored to feature the return of several villains—Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, among others—who first appeared in the Spider-Man films that starred Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Oh, and if the rumors are to be believed, those two Spider-Men will also appear to help Holland’s version of the character. It all sounded crazy—and then Loki introduced the famous-from-the-comic-books idea of the “multiverse,” or multiple realities, into the MCU.
As such, one intrepid fan spoiled Sony and Marvel’s fun over the weekend It all built to a crescendo—one intrepid fan leaked the trailer ahead of time to TikTok (of all places!), forcing Marvel to react and release the official trailer. There’s a lot to dig into—like, many Spider-Man universes’ worth of stuff.
Things appear to pick up where the previous film, Far From Home, left off: just after Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) has revealed Spider-Man’s secret identity to the world. MJ (Zendaya) and Peter are hanging out on a rooftop reading a paper that’s speculating on Peter’s abilities as Spider-Man. The Jordan 1s are a nice touch, Pete.
JK Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson has officially declared Spider-Man “Public Enemy #1.” Always nice to have Jonah back.
And here’s the first big surprise: Doctor Strange is in No Way Home. Much like Iron Man played the sage veteran in Homecoming, it seems like Peter’s getting a new mentor/partner, but this time he’s fully roping Strange into his hijinks: Peter asks if Strange can whip up any magic to help undo what Mysterio did.
Before continuing with Strange, we see a brief shot of Peter in a cafeteria, rocking a black suit with gold accents. Some recent announcements about forthcoming Spidey toys imply that this is a new suit Peter will get that’s infused with some magical upgrades courtesy of Strange.
These particular story beats—Spidey uses illicit magic to mess with the universe—seem to draw inspiration from the One More Day and One Moment in Time storyline in the Spider-Man comics. One More Day, in 2007, saw Peter cut a deal with Mephisto, Marvel’s version of the devil, to save Aunt May—but also made it so that Mary Jane and Peter had never married. 2010’s One Moment in Time features Peter asking Strange to cast a spell to make people forget he’s Spider-Man.
The events of One More Day/One Moment in Time remain some of the most controversial publishing decisions Marvel ever made—primarily because fans loved the dynamic between married Peter and MJ. However, in true MCU fashion, it looks like One More Day will serve as inspiration for No Way Home, rather than being a true one-to-one adaptation.
Back to the trailer: Peter, suited up as Spider-Man, falls through the sky as Strange talks about time, space, and the multiverse. The whole bit feels much more like the Inception-influenced Doctor Strange than it does a Spider-Man movie.
As Strange talks about the multiverse, we see some lightning hit cars outside somewhere. Say hello to Jamie Foxx’s Electro, folks! Oh, and peep the Daily Bugle van on the right.
One striking moment: Peter’s astral form is removed from his body, just like Strange experienced in his own solo movie. But note that Peter is carrying some sort of cube device. Why does Peter need it? But more importantly, why does Strange seemingly want it back?
Naturally, the danger Strange is talking about arrives in the form of something attacking Peter— it’s hard to make out what it is—but it looks like there may be an arm of some sort if you run the trailer back. There’s some speculation it might be the Lizard, but it’s hard to tell one way or another.
We see another blast from Electro with Spider-Man in the black suit in the corner. Also, all that dust… any chance the Sandman is about to take Peter off to never-never land?
Then we’re treated to a very specific-looking pumpkin-shaped bomb, complete with a very specific laugh, which promptly explodes on a bridge. Green Goblin is back, folks!
Upon one final warning from Strange—“Be careful what you wish for, Parker”—we’re treated to one hell of a last moment: As Peter turns away from a car, a metal tentacle slams into the ground, and digitally de-aged Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock appears to say hello to Peter.
So what should we make of all this? Most notably: after a false start in The Amazing Spider-Man, No Way Home seems to promise the formation of the Sinister Six on screen for the first time. The Six are the Avengers of Spider-Man villains, whose goal is to defeat Spider-Man once and for all. With teases for Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Foxx’s Electro, Molina’s Doc Ock, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, and Rhys Ifans’ Lizard, we’ve got five out of the six already. Might we see the return of Michael Keaton’s Vulture, or maybe Paul Giamatti’s absurd take on Rhino? And, uh, what about those other Spider-Men? We’ll have to wait until December—or the next trailer—to find out.