The hype around Spider-Man: No Way Home has been exceptionally high ever since the year began and it is by far one of the most anticipated films of the year. First, it was people asking Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures to release the official trailer, and once the first official trailer dropped, the situation turned into hardcore fans analyzing every single scene. In the past few weeks, several reveals related to the upcoming film have been made. It makes one wonder whether the much-awaited flick will be a victim of its own marketing.
Fan theories surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home have been circulating online for months. Some of them have already been proven correct. At this point, fans already know that Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange will officially be a part of the film, and he will be assisting Tom Holland’s Spider-Man after the events of Spider-Man: Far from Home. With two major heroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe coming together, will this movie be able to handle all the content?
The first trailer of Spider-Man: No Way Home has also revealed that Doctor Strange will be activating the Multiverse, leading into future MCU projects. The next film in Phase 4 is confirmed to be Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and fans already know that the character will be dealing with the chaos that has ensued in this past year of MCU content.
However, Doctor Strange’s true identity in the film has turned into a topic of debate online, with many fans speculating that it isn’t in fact Stephen Strange but instead an imposter. Fans have found it strange that the Sorcerer Supreme could mess up a spell to the extent that it activates the Multiverse and has creatures and villains from different worlds colliding into each other.
One of the biggest reveals came when the studios confirmed that Alfred Molina would be reprising his role as Doctor Otto Octavius, aka Doc Ock, in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The character first appeared in 2004's Spider-Man 2, and went on to become a fan-favorite villain from the franchise. Fans were quite excited to see Molina in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, even though it was just a quick appearance.
In recent interviews, director Jon Watts has spoken about the lengths that the production team went to in order to recreate the iconic Doc Ock character. Official images from the film show Molina’s Doc Ock in battle with Holland’s Spider-Man, and have led fans to reminisce over the fight scenes in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. At the time, Molina had received a lot of praise from both fans and critics for his portrayal of the villainous character, and his influence on Peter Parker’s life. However, with his return, fans are now convinced that it is a direct nod towards Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man making a comeback as well.
A running theory since Spider-Man: No Way Home was announced has been that Maguire and Andrew Garfield will be returning to reprise their respective versions of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The possibility of a 'Spider-Verse' is quite high at this point, with many fans having potentially spotted multiple actors on the sets of the film during filming. However, this is perhaps the only piece of information that has not been confirmed by the studios so far.
What supports the theory is the potential appearance of multiple other villains in the upcoming film. It seems like the studios are assembling multiple Spider-Man villains into the Sinister Six to face off against Spidey. Apart from Molina returning as Doc Ock, the trailer has teased the return of other villains, including Rhys Ifans as The Lizard, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman, and Willem Dafoe’s iconic Green Goblin.
Ifans is already confirmed as a cast member on IMDb, and he was last spotted in Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Keen-eyed fans have even spotted The Lizard in the first Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer and claim that he is hiding in plain sight. In one of the scenes in the trailer, Holland’s Parker is startled when he is seemingly attacked by a figure from behind. While it isn’t very clear who the individual, or creature, is, some fans have worked on the footage to increase its brightness and point out that it is in fact The Lizard.
While the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer doesn’t explicitly show Dafoe, fans catch a glimpse of one of Green Goblin’s iconic pumpkin bombs on a highway, while Dafoe’s wicked laugh echoes in the background. This in itself is a massive reveal, and confirms the return of Green Goblin in the upcoming project. He last appeared in 2002’s Spider-Man and was the main antagonist against Maguire’s Peter Parker.
At this point, several secrets related to Spider-Man: No Way Home have already been revealed and multiple other fan theories are still spiraling. Let’s not forget the possibility of Charlie Cox returning to reprise his role as Daredevil, even though the actor has repeatedly denied his involvement in the project. While the reveals have obviously helped in marketing the upcoming film and increasing the hype surrounding it, it has many fans wondering if there is much more left to reveal. Aside from explicitly revealing that the much-awaited film will include multiple Spider-Men, the marketing has pretty much confirmed most fan theories.
Holland, who is infamous for revealing big secrets related to MCU films, has been trying very hard to not spill the beans on the Multiversal action in the film. However, the multiple villains from previous Spider-Man films have all but confirmed that fact. With Doctor Strange, the Multiverse, multiple villains, and potentially more than one Spider-Man, Spider-Man: No Way Home will clearly have a lot to offer to MCU fans. But, is it too much?
The official runtime of the film has not been revealed yet, but rumor has it that it will stand at 150 minutes, which is a runtime of two and a half hours. If the rumors are true, this will be one of the longest MCU films. Considering the amount of content that film will hold, the runtime seems reasonable. But, at the same time, it makes one wonder whether the film will be far too overloaded. Is Marvel Studios being too ambitious by bringing in so many characters into one MCU film? Fans will have to wait and find out.
Spider-Man: No Way Home premieres in theaters on December 17, 2021.