All The Moments Where The Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailers Misled Us
Movie trailers can be misleading, and that's always not a bad thing. After all, what would be the fun of watching a movie for the first time if everything is handed to us in the previews? There would be no surprises, nothing to look forward to.
In the case of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and the trailers that preceded its release, a little deception was essential in order to hide the movie's biggest reveals. Some things weren't quite what we thought they'd be, and that's okay! Let's take a look at some of the major moments where we were misled by the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" trailers.
Warning: major spoilers for "Spider-Man: No Way Home" ahead!
Doctor Strange's Presence
First of all, Dr. Strange didn't say "Scooby Doo this crap," as shown in the trailers. Instead, he says "Scooby Doo this s***." This isn't actually a big deal (trailers often censor or tone down language in order to get a green band from the MPAA), but it's worth mentioning because I'm just happy whenever the powers that be let our favorite heroes utter curse words. They've been through a lot. It's just realistic.
More importantly, we were led to be believe that Dr. Strange would be featured much more heavily in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" than he actually was. While Strange definitely played a major role, in that his desire to help Peter ease his troubles is the catalyst for the ensuing madness, we don't actually see much of him beyond that because he spends the majority of the film trapped in the Mirror Dimension. He reappears at the end of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" to do his part in setting things aright the best way that he can, which fits in nicely with the themes of personal accountability and making amends that color the film. I was personally hoping that he'd have more a physical presence, as the trailers suggested, but it ultimately worked out.
MJ Didn't Die (Yay!)
One of the major things we notice in the official "Spider-Man: No Way Home" trailers is that MJ suffers a dangerous fall, and Peter may not be able to catch her in time. It seemed as though MJ was going to be a major character death in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," but thankfully this is not the case. While the trailers teased a tragic demise that mirrored that of Gwen Stacy's, she is saved in a bittersweet twist of fate by Andrew Garfield's "Amazing" Spider-Man, offering the hero a sort of personal redemption since he was unable to save the love of his own life.
I'm definitely not upset by this particular case of trailer-trickery, because I have a heart and didn't want to see MJ die. Who would? Unfortunately, not all characters in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" were able to evade death's eternal grasp, but that's another story.
Peter Parker vs. The Law
When we see Peter Parker sitting handcuffed in an interrogation room, it's natural to assume that legal troubles will follow him throughout the film. But the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" trailers made Peter's legal troubles out to be more significant than they really were. While he does have to answer for his alleged crimes to some extent, in the grand scheme of all things "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Peter Parker's potential day in court was actually resolved fairly quickly and early on. In fact, once the real action begins to kick off, his temporary entanglement with the scary side of the law pales in comparison to the lasting troubles that plague the MCU's Peter Parker and this particular universe. It was practically a non-issue, despite what we were led to believe.
The Specifics of the Spell
Obviously, the details surrounding the spell and its impact on the events that take place within "Spider-Man: No Way Home" were one of the biggest ways in which we were misled by the trailers. In what could be gleaned from the previews, it seemed as though Dr. Strange's forgetting spell worked, but had unintended consequences due to Peter's interference. In reality, we find out that this is not exactly the case. Initially, the spell was stopped and had to be contained before it was even finished because, as stated by Dr. Strange (or Stephen, or Sir, depending on how annoyed he is), Peter's interruptions caused it to become so unstable that it could not be completed without causing mass destruction.
Rather than outright creating the "Multiverse of Madness" incident that many of us anticipated, the villains from other universes who found themselves suddenly plucked from their own worlds and dropped into the MCU were a mere handful who managed to slip through the cracks before the spell was stopped. There was not yet a major rift between universes that everyone came pouring through, intentionally or otherwise. This isn't to say that the spell and events of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" won't have an impact at all, because they most certainly will; it's just that things didn't quite play out as we may have anticipated, given the trailers.
Ultimately, none of the ways in which the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" trailers misled us were major enough to feel like a betrayal. We were teased just enough to be invested in the story, while still getting to experience the highs and lows of finding out just how much what we thought we knew would come to pass. Isn't that part of the fun?
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is in theaters now.