Spider-Man: No Way Home Predictions

Ever since Wandavision started way back in January the internet has been a buzz trying to connect any multiverse happenings to this project. Those connections were for a reason as rumors spread rampant that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be joining Tom Holland as their own versions of Spider-Man. Of course, this lends itself to the idea of a Spider-Verse in a sense which was an incredible hit, even while an animated film. With Marvel so heavily hinting at a multiversal war in the Disney Plus series, Loki, all of the rumors made sense. The struggle with such grand expectations is that it can be incredibly difficult for the studios to meet them. Marvel and Sony of course are working together on this film as per their contract with one another, and they released the trailer today (even after yet another leak on Sony's side). Needless to say any worries of struggling to meet expectations should be largely quelled. Spoilers ahead for those that haven't watched the recent Spider-Man or Avenger films.

The trailer seemed to focus on the aftermath of Far From Home where Peter Parker dealt with Mysterio, and more in particular, how Mysterio revealed to the world the true identity of Spider-Man. The world has begun to close in on Peter, who is struggling to deal with all this attention as well as being blamed for the death of the villain. This forces him to turn to the friendly neighborhood sorcerer he met back in Endgame to ask for his help and potentially concoct a spell to wipe everyone's memory of Peter ever being Peter Parker. Peter panics, causing the spell to go wrong and wreck the multiverse. Villains from other universes begin to merge into their own, and Strange explains to Peter the core problem is that he is living two different lives. I'd assume the two hurry to fix their mistake and need to discover artifacts scattered throughout that can restore balance to the multiverse. The trailer didn't showcase any hints of other Spider-Men, but with the inclusion of their villains, it makes sense for them to show up along their villains. After all, this trailer is just a teaser and we are likely to get a bigger trailer in October or November. The movie may even benefit from keeping such a reveal out of trailers, even if it angers some fans.

The biggest shock from the trailer would be the state that Doctor Strange is in when Peter approaches him about the spell. The Sanctum is a mess and the inside of it is covered in snow forcing Strange to wear a winter coat as he drinks alcohol. He also is quick to do the spell even after Wong advises him not to and seemingly overconfident about it. Previously, he was always hesitant to mess with time in the slightest bit and protective. My assumption is that after the events of Endgame, where he observed an infinite amount of fights with Thanos and defeats, only to come across the one instance that they won came at the expense of the world's greatest Avenger took a toll on him. He may even believe that he failed to live up to his job, hence why he is seemingly lacking in care.

Another reveal in the trailer came in the form of Alfred Molina reprising his role as Doctor Otto Octavious. It was quick shot where he simply says, "Hello, Peter." It will be interesting to see what state he is in as when we saw him at the end of Spider-Man 2 way back in Sam Raimi's trilogy, he realized his failures and redeemed himself by causing his fusion reactor to collapse into the Hudson River and drowned along with it. Some believe that the redeemed Doc Ock will be present in this film, but with the amount of villains and Sony's desire for so long to build the Sinister Six, Doc Ock will be a villain. Knowing his relationship previously with Peter Parker, as a mentor of sorts, I could see that come in to play again. Lord knows Tom Holland's Peter has loved having a pseudo father figure in his life in the past. Jamie Foxx will also be reprising his role as Max Dillon, aka Electro, from his turn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 alongside Andrew Garfield. Electro was absent in this trailer but an image was released of him absent of the blue eel like skin.

The final reveal was that of Willem Dafoe reprising his role as Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. All that was shown of the character was Dafoe's signature laugh as Osborn along with his Pumpkin bomb rolling toward the camera. I assume, much like that of the missing Spider-Men, that Marvel and Sony will wait to reveal the look of Dafoe's Goblin. Considering Goblin's death in the Raimi Spider-Man film, this take of Goblin will be a bit different and more menacing. The multiverse is after all at play, so I wouldn't be surprised if in the universe that Goblin and presumably Tobey Maguire's Spiderman comes from is one that Spider-Man is a failure and Dafoe's Goblin runs New York with an iron fist. Coming into this universe, Goblin looks around the landscape and looks to conquer it alongside other villains. The long standing rumor has been that Peter's encounter with this version of Green Goblin forces him to keep tabs on his universes version of Norman Osborn, only to find that he is the complete opposite of what he had previously seen. Osborn will at first be portrayed as a good man in politics. Marvel has the intention of turning Osborn evil in a slow burn forming him into a formidable opponent to not only Spider-Man but also the Avengers. This tracks as in the comics, Osborn had a part to play in the formation of the Dark Avengers, which over the course of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney Plus series, Marvel seems to be hinting at. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out, and hopefully No Way Home doesn't get delayed due to potential more Covid issues.