One leaked trailer and several anxious hours later, the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has netted our attention. The Sony/Marvel Studios movie reunites us with Tom Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man for a pivotal movie in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Scroll down for our trailer breakdown.
1. It addresses the fall-out from Spider-Man: Far From Home
This was pretty much expected. To recap, at the end of 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker was maliciously implicated in the death of treacherous villain Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenaal). Peter's identity was then leaked to the world by loud-mouthed Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, who reprises his role from the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy).
In No Way Home, Peter's life has been turned into a living hell as a direct result of these revelations. He's the subject of public ridicule and suspicion (look out for the 'Peter as devil' sign) and his school friends have all got their phones out to capture this epochal moment.
2. Peter and M.J.'s relationship is central
The redemptive nature of Peter's relationship with M.J. (Zendaya) looks even more profound in this movie. It offers a reprieve from the public hatred that has spilled onto the streets – what's the betting that the trailer's opening rooftop sequence between the two characters is the very first scene of the movie?
3. Doctor Strange is motivated by his friendship with Peter
Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), aka the Sorcerer Supreme, is infamous for taking chances. He bet it all on that microcosmic opportunity to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame, the bittersweet climax resulting in Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) sacrifice. So, the fact that he's willing to reverse time to help his fellow Avenger Peter is, perhaps, not too out of character, but it still seems reckless. Does Strange not remember the rules of Back to the Future or any other time travel movie?
Either way, against the express orders of Wong (Benedict Wong), Strange reverses the polarities and makes it so that the entire world doesn't know that Peter is Spider-Man. This includes M.J., Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), all of whose memories will be wiped. And this sets up the most critical element of No Way Home's plot...
4. It definitely, 100% is establishing the multiverse
Again, this is hardly a surprise – we've suspected this for a while. Strange's time-shift experiment blows apart the fabric of time and space, resulting in what look like the most conceptually ambitious action sequences in a Spider-Man movie so far (that folding cityscape is reminiscent of the first Doctor Strange movie from 2016).
Exactly how the multiverse will be articulated in this new movie remains vague. Strange says that very little is known about its boundaries, so theoretically the filmmakers could go anywhere with this. The multiverse established its big-screen currency in 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, in which several Spidey characters shared screentime to deliriously entertaining effect. Speculation is still rife as to whether the previous Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will show up, but we do know that several notorious villains are due to make an appearance...
5. At least two supervillains are due to make an appearance
OK, make that three – we know that Jamie Foxx's Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) appears in the movie, just not in this trailer. There is the expected appearance from Alfred Molina's multi-limbed, diabolically devious Doctor Octopus, who electrified the screen as a superior comic book villain in Spider-Man 2 (2004), directed by Sam Raimi. But it's that brief shot of the energy grenade belonging to a certain Green Goblin that's got us most excited. Say it – does the possibility of the multiverse extend to Willem Dafoe's return as the character? He tussled with Tobey Maguire in Raimi's first Spider-Man movie, released in 2002, before Dane DeHaan picked up the mantle in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
We imagine that important links are being forged between this new Spider-Man film and Doctor Strange's next movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This extends beyond the multiverse connection: Sam Raimi is directing the Sorcerer Supreme's next adventure, due for release in March 2022. Could Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin again fall under Raimi's jurisdiction as the MCU expands? Nostalgics are poised to celebrate like it's 2004 all over again.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is set for release on 17th December.
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