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7 Oddities Worth Exploring in the Final ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Trailer

While this trailer delivers several expected beats, it also suggests several weird turns for the franchise.
Spider Man No Way Home Final Trailer
Marvel Studios
By  · Published on November 17th, 2021

Marvel Explained is our ongoing series where we delve into the latest Marvel shows, movies, trailers, and news stories to divine the franchise’s future. This entry cuts into the final Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer and discusses a few noteworthy oddities.


Sorry, friends. No Andrew Garfield. No Tobey Maguire. The former web-slingers are utterly absent within the final SpiderMan: No Way Home trailer. Or are they? Ooooooh, more on that in a minute.

The walls between the multiverse are crumbling. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) blames Peter Parker (Tom Holland) for mucking about with his perfectly reasonable reality-bending spell. Villains from past movies in past franchises have wandered into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Led by Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), these sinister forces threaten to destroy more than Peter Parker’s superhero side hustle.

What we witness in the trailer is fairly expected but nonetheless pretty darn exciting. While we don’t get direct proof of other Spider-Men joining the fight, we get concrete confirmation on guest appearances from their multiple antagonists. And within the melee, there are seven oddities worth further consideration.

SpiderMan: No Way Home picks up immediately after Peter Parker is outed as Spider-Man by Mysterio. Helicopters swarm on his Manhattan location, and he plunges Mary Jane underground, swinging her through the treacherous subway system. The trailer’s velocity gets the adrenaline pumping, so much so that you might have missed a few critically bizarre details on your first go-around. Let’s swing back to those weird bits now.


Captain America, The Sentinel of Liberty

Statue of Liberty Captain America Shield

Early on in the trailer, we catch this cityscape shot. Scaffolding surrounds the Statue of Liberty, and Captain America’s shield appears strapped to her raised arm. You can also see a poster promising what the finished product will ultimately look like if you zoom in. A fitting tribute to the Super Soldier that gave his life at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Wait, that’s not right.

Steve Rogers is not dead. He went back in time, lived to a ripe old age, and handed the shield to Sam Wilson to wield. But why does The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Hawkeye trailer, and this SpiderMan: No Way Home trailer treat him as if he were a stiff? Clearly, the world believes him to be gone, and Chris Evans is no longer readily available, but the MCU does have to address Old Man Rogers at some point.


Spider-Man: The Training Wheels Sorcerer

Spider Man Electro Suit

SpiderMan: No Way Home gifts Peter Parker a new Spidey suit. Before his confrontation with Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, he used Tony Stark’s technology to craft an appropriate costume for that particular war. It seems like Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) kept the lab doors open for Peter, and the kid has concocted the black and gold suit to counter Electro’s specific power set (that’s him lurking in the background). Although, there might be another use for these garments.

In this shot, we see Peter Parker accessing Doctor Strange’s mystic arts. Did Peter take the time to educate himself, or does this suit help him cobble spells together? The spell does not begin at his fingertips as they usually do with Strange. Rather, the hex originates around the gauntlet. Interesting. This could also be connected to the funky box Peter nabs from Strange’s sanctum.


Electro, Blue No More

Electro Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx is back as Electro, but thankfully, he’s not caked in blue makeup as he was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Why would that be? Well, this Electro could easily not be that Electro. We’re dealing with the Multiverse here, and it’s an opportunity for revision. As we’ve seen throughout the MCU as it progresses, filmmakers are not afraid to tinker and rework past ideas, improving upon them in the sequels. With a Multiverse at their disposal, they can revise concepts even quicker by tossing away one action figure and reaching for a new one in a different toy box.


A Stark Enhanced Doctor Octopus?

Doctor Octopus Iron Man

We get a much better look at Doctor Octopus in this trailer and he’s sporting some fancy red tentacles. Upon his arrival in the MCU, did he, too, swing by Stark Industries for an upgrade, or is he like the Electro above: a Doctor Octopus, but not necessarily Sam Raimi’s Doctor Octopus?

What’s even more fascinating, is that when he encounters the MCU Peter Parker in the flesh, he does not recognize him as the Peter Parker from his realm. Why would Peter Parker appear differently across the Multiverse? It’s a good question. A number of unique genetic choices would have to occur, stretching way back through the Parker family tree. I dunno. But Loki rushed past those quibbles once they introduced Alligator Loki and Richard E. Grant Loki.


The Mighty Morphin Green Goblin

Spider Man No Way Home Trailer Green Goblin

Still no Willem Dafoe face, but we get plenty of his voice as well as his Power Rangers battle armor. Doctor Octopus calls these Spidey baddies “ghosts,” and Strange expands on this notion by mentioning how each villain was killed in battle against their respective Spider-Men. Strange seems to believe that they must die in the MCU reality to save all reality, and this wicked idea will drive a massive wedge between the two Avengers.


Doublemint Goblin

Another Goblin

Willem Dafoe is not the only Goblin in the film. We see this unmasked version swooping into combat with Spider-Man. His outfit and glider look more like Dane DeHaan‘s Gobby from The Amazing SpiderMan 2 than James Franco’s extreme hoverboarder from SpiderMan 3. Or, again, it could be a totally different Green Goblin swept from the Multiverse.

Green Goblin is such a massive presence in SpiderMan mythology, but so far he’s had zero interaction with the MCU Peter Parker. Frankly, Michael Keaton’s Vulture sorta fills Norman Osborn’s narrative role. It would be somewhat conceivable to see his blue-collar baddie complete that function by stealing Osborn-tech and adapting it to his Vulture suit.


Three Against One?

The Sinister Six

This final trailer for SpiderMan: No Way Home concludes with the MCU Peter Parker going up against Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard. As much as I’d love to see Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church reprise these latter two roles, it feels like the budget is already pretty extreme, and we may only end up getting their CGI avatars. There might be some voice work, but I wouldn’t hold my breath hoping for much more.

There’s a lot of space within these frames, and it’s easy to imagine that we’re not seeing everyone who should be here in this battle. We’re all confident that Marvel and Sony are withholding the Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire surprise for the theatrical experience.

The last shot, featuring a plummetting MJ (Zendaya), feels like a perfect introductory moment for another Spider-Man. Just as Tom Holland’s Spidey misses MJ’s hand, Andrew Garfield’s Spidey swings to the rescue, creating a weird redemption for what happened to poor Gwen Stacy during his last outing.


SpiderMan: No Way Home swoops into theaters on December 17th.

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Brad Gullickson is a Weekly Columnist for Film School Rejects and Senior Curator for One Perfect Shot. When not rambling about movies here, he's rambling about comics as the co-host of Comic Book Couples Counseling. Hunt him down on Twitter: @MouthDork. (He/Him)