It’s a wonderfully chaotic time to be a Marvel fan. After a slew of exciting announcements and updates during Disney+ Day, only a few quiet days went by before the drop of the second Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer. And while the first one gave us just a little taste of what the film might be, the second paints a bit more clearer of a picture. Let’s break it down.
First and foremost, we have some confirmation on our villains. This trailer gave Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus a little more screen time, while also highlighting the fact that he definitely doesn’t recognize this universe’s Peter Parker. It’s not necessarily directly referencing Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, but it’s certainly hinting at him. Our second peek at Doc Ock also seems to be leaning toward the fact that he might not be a strict villain throughout the film, perhaps more of an anti-hero that helps Peter out here and there.
Other than him, though, we finally get a glimpse of Jamie Foxx’s return as Electro with an extremely well-done upgrade from his time back in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. There’s also, of course, our first official look at Sandman and Lizard. And who can ignore those couple shots of Green Goblin in his classic attire from Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, paired with the beautifully evil rasp of Willem Dafoe?
There could even be another goblin in the mix as well, shown toward the end of the trailer on a glider with no helmet and drones in tow. While it’s hard to tell from the quick fly by and it very well might just be Dafoe in a different suit, it could also potentially be a reprisal of Harry Osborn as Hobgoblin by either James Franco from the Sam Raimi trilogy or Dane DeHaan from Marc Webb’s films.
And, really, at this point there might even be more villains than those already shown. Doctor Strange does mention that they’re coming in from all realities and if what we’re being led to believe is true, this bunch would only be from two. The movie should be sure not to be bogged down by too many villains, but we do kind of still need a sixth member of the Sinister Six if they’re actually set to get their multiversal live-action debut.
In addition to the villains, the second trailer also now gives us some idea of what the structure of the film will look like. Following the aftermath of Spider-Man: Far From Home and the opening of the multiverse from the botched spell by Strange, it seems that the core of at least the beginning of the film will center around Spider-Man struggling with the idea that each of these villains is fated to die at his hands – or some version of his hands. He doesn’t exactly agree with Strange’s dedication to fate and seems like he might be trying to find some way to save them.
Ultimately, it appears to lead to a showdown in the end with some of the villains on the Statue of Liberty that’s being renovated to hold Captain America’s shield. It’ll be interesting to see what that shot looks like in the actual movie as there might be even more villains at play, namely Dafoe’s Green Goblin or Molina’s Doc Ock, and just maybe a couple more Spider-Men. After all, while Holland’s Spider-Man is clearly meeting the giant fist of Sandman, who exactly is Electro and Lizard aiming at in their grand leap?
Marvel has been known to fake fans out with trailers, so this feels like a confirmation without actually confirming anything, which is actually nice. It just means they’re still saving some things to surprise audiences with when they see the full movie.
This second look truly shows just how big in scale this film is going to be. From added details like an in-person appearance by J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson and Doc Ock’s arms integrating with some Stark nanotech to darker tones and homages to previous iterations of the wall-crawler - namely that shot of Zendaya’s MJ falling similarly in style and shot composition to Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy from Andrew Garfield’s film - this is going to be a cultural event of an MCU entry.
Not to mention, that big purple multiversal rift opening up in the sky at the very end of the trailer looks pretty reminiscent of the finale of Loki, meaning this film is very much going to have larger MCU ramifications and likely lead into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
So, buckle up, Marvel fans. This is going to be a crazy one. Tickets go on sale November 29, or “Spider Monday,” and it might be a good idea to snag some seats for opening night of the culmination of the Homecoming trilogy and quite possibly the multiple generations of Spider-Men that have come before it.
Jackson Horvat is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Jackson by tweeting him at @horvatjackson.
