Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailer Breakdown: Villains Of The Multiverse, Assemble!
As was promised and hyped up a great deal by the folks at Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, we got a new trailer for "Spider-Man: No Way Home" recently. Droves of fans turned up to an event in Los Angeles to watch the trailer premiere in a packed theater with Tom Holland in attendance. It was a big deal all around. A whole lot happens in the footage — but the most important stuff may be reading between the lines. As such, we're here to try and break it all down and get a better idea of what's going on. Let's dig in, shall we?
Peter Botches a Spell
The trailer opens with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) being sad in the rain while talking to MJ (Zendaya), saying he's only had one normal week since becoming Spider-Man, which was the week she found out his identity. We then see him swinging through NYC seemingly in the aftermath of that post-credits scene from "Far From Home" we even see this "Public Enemy #1" banner to indicate how public opinion has swayed since it was revealed by J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) that Spider-Man killed Mysterio.
We then get to the heart of the matter, with Peter paying a visit to his pal Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) at the Sanctum Sanctorum, at which time, Mr. Strange reminds Peter of the spell they botched, which we witnessed in more detail in the first trailer.
Before getting to the villain business, it simply cannot be overstated just how weird Strange is acting in both of these trailers. That weird behavior shows itself a few times in the rest of this footage as well, but it's bizarre he agreed to do this spell in the first place that would allow Peter to resume a somewhat normal life. Even Wong warns him against it. Now, the fact that he's not taking responsibility and pinning it on Peter? It's not like the Sorcerer Supreme we came to know in "Infinity War" and "Endgame." Something is up.
A Multiverse of Villains, Oh My!
Doctor Strange lets Peter know that, following the botched spell, "we started getting some visitors," meaning visitors from other dimensions. It's multiverse time, ladies and gentlemen! We then see Green Goblin, once again played by Willem Dafoe, finally revealed on screen. He was merely hinted (rather strongly) at in the previous trailer.
It is made clear that these visitors are coming from "every" universe, and it becomes a parade of teases for villains from past iterations of the "Spider-Man" franchise. We get a little glimpse of Electro (who shows up fully-formed later in the trailer), at which time we also see Spider-Man's new black and gold suit.
If you must take on villains from both the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield era, you might as well look cool doing it. While we're on the topic, neither of the previous live-action Peter Parker's show up in the trailer, though it is still widely believed they will show up in the actual movie, despite Garfield's continued insistence that he's not in the movie. Anyway, back to the villains.
We then finally get to see some of this bridge fight between Spidey and Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) that has been showcased a ton in the marketing up to this point. What is particularly interesting is that, after the scuffle, Peter and Otto seem to set aside their differences and team up. There is a moment where Doc even says, "You're not Peter Parker," indicating that he realizes this is not his Peter Parker, as in Maguire's version of the character. We then find ourselves in a dank basement of sorts where Peter, MJ, and Ned (Jacob Batalon) even have a laugh at the fact that Doc Ock's name is Otto Octavious.
It is tough to say where this little subplot could go. It's especially interesting because the first trailer almost framed Doc Ock as the main villain of this movie. Yet, we find out there may be, at the very least, an uneasy alliance going on. A curious development indeed. Perhaps the inhibitor chip from "Spider-Man 2" is activated and then deactivated again? It's tough to say. Or perhaps someone (or something) else is pulling the strings. I won't say Mephisto. I didn't just say Mephisto.
Playing Clean Up
"There are others out there, we need to send them back" Doctor Strange says rather aggressively to Spider-Man. At this point, we get our best look at the black, magical Spider-Man suit (seen above) to date. This is easily one of the more interesting elements at play here, as it appears the good Doctor is giving Pete a touch of magic to play with. What could possibly go wrong?
We then see things start to turn ugly. We get Electro attacking what appears to be the Daily Bugle headquarters, with J.K. Simmons' JJ looking a whole lot like Commissioner Gordon from "Justice League" during the confrontation.
A couple of ominous warnings then come about. First from Doc Ock who says, "You're flying out into the darkness to fight ghosts." Objectively a cool thing to say, especially when it's Alfred Molina saying it. Then Doctor Strange jumps in saying, "They all die fighting Spider-Man. It's their fate." This seems to relate to the various villains we're seeing from the multiverse. However, Peter rejects this notion, hoping there is another way to go about cleaning up this mess, as opposed to embracing death. Lots of fighting and destruction occurs at this stage of the trailer. At one point, Spidey comes face-to-face with one of the Green Goblin's bombs.
Things then get rather interesting as Peter goes against Strange, stealing a mystical box of some sort that can presumably control how this multiversal mess is cleaned up.
Peter protests, insisting there has to be another way, while Strange insists that these visitors are a danger to their universe. Seemingly, these villains would be a danger to any universe but, given that Strange is the protector of Earth from all realms, he probably is talking about a larger form of danger. Worth keeping in mind.
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Now we've arrived at big villain fight time. Things get a little (a lot) chaotic and there is much to process. The above image shows us some more evil Doc Ock, with his robot arm turning red. What does that mean exactly? It's unclear, though it does look awfully sinister, shall we say. We then finally see Jamie Foxx return as Electro, after having played the part in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" alongside Garfield's Spidey. He's looking significantly less blue here, and a lot more like his character in the pages of Marvel Comics. Though the CGI may leave something to be desired.
Curiously he says, "You're not going to take this away from me." What is "this" and how does it relate to this villain team-up? More questions than answers at this point. We then move onto a chase sequence through the multiverse between Peter and Strange while Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin provides some more ominous voiceover, implying that Peter can have everything he wants, perhaps attempting to lure him to the dark side, as it were.
Now, if we look at the above two Goblin images, something sticks out. One is clearly Green Goblin à la "Spider-Man" 2002. However, the second one looks quite a bit different. Could it be Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin from "The Amazing Spider-Man 2?" Or could it be Ned finally becoming Hobgoblin? Something well worth pondering.
Things get action-y and intense from there. Peter and MJ share a passionate kiss. It appears as though Happy (Jon Favreau) is going to be caught in the crosshairs. Are they going to kill Happy? They wouldn't, would they?
The Sinister Four or Five
Now for the money shot, which sees Electro teaming up with some more familiar villains in the form of Sandman from "Spider-Man 3" and Lizard from "The Amazing Spider-Man." This is presumably the movie's big showdown. Though it seems we are in for some major misdirects, so who knows?
The big assumption/hope here is that this is going to be a full-on Sinister Six movie. But is it? Let's do some math. Three villains are clearly seen during this fight, leaving Doc Ock and Green Goblin. However, Doc Ock seemingly ends up on the good side of things, and Goblin is nowhere to be found here. There is also that mysterious second Goblin to take into account. Even so, we're not quite getting to a full Sinister Six lineup in this fight. Is someone else hiding? Or this is movie merely setting up something bigger in the future?
Here is one of the climactic shots, which sees MJ falling from atop a building, not unlike how Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy fell to her death in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Let's not go too far assuming they're going to retool this to "The Night MJ Died," as Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane fell several times in the Sam Raimi trilogy and was saved. Still, worth thinking about.
To wrap up, we get a showdown at the Statue of Liberty! Some "X-Men" (2000) vibes, anyone? Most importantly, Doctor Strange, in a very concerned voice says, "They're starting to come through, and I can't stop them." Who is they and what are they going to do if they can't be stopped? We'll probably have to wait until "Spider-Man: No Way Home" hits theaters on December 17, 2021 to find out.