The
has finally dropped down from the tall towers of
MCU
HQ to street level, after a year of anticipation – and, of course,
lots
of speculation. Ever since the
MCU
announced its Phase Four films, fans were quick to spot the subtitle for the third entry in the Spidey series – which suggests that Peter will find himself in the stickiest situation yet (although he's already been to space, so how bad can this outing be?).
Consistent with its two predecessors,
Homecoming
and
Far From Home
, the subtitle also teased the long-awaited Multiverse scenario for our favorite web-slinger, which the subtitle for Phase Four's
,
In the Multiverse of Madness
, also supported. The Multiverse is a long-established story within
Marvel Comics
, and was also explored in the 2018 animated movie
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
, and was even hinted at by Mysterio in
Far From Home
. Check out the
below:
Now, many questions have been answered by the new trailer, and though we've known for some time that the film will see the return of actors and their onscreen counterparts from
outside
the
MCU
, seeing them in action in the new trailer gives us chills, and indulges long-lived desires to see the return of fan-favorite characters, along with the actors who helped bring them to life in the early 2000s. So, which original villains are returning in
Spider-Man: No Way Home
? Spidey senses at the ready...
Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina)
Doctor Octopus made his first live-action appearance in Sam Raimi's
Spider-Man 2
in 2004, playing nuclear scientist Otto Octavius, who, following an accident during a public demonstration in which his wife is killed, winds up with powerful cybernetic tentacles, which fuse themselves to his spine and destroy the inhibitor chip that prevents them from overpowering their user. Ultimately, after a series of villainous escapes, Doc Ock manages to regain control over his robotic arms and sacrifices himself in his laboratory on the harbor, to prevent a nuclear explosion.
But now, Doc Ock is back – as seen right at the end of the new
Spider-Man: No Way Home
trailer, in which he simply says, "Hello, Peter," looking very much the same as he does in the 2004 movie. With the Multiverse open, it looks like Doc Ock has found his way into the
MCU
reality – or perhaps vice versa, which isn't made clear in the trailer. Either way, this version of Doc Ock is very much alive – likely because
encounters him before his death at the end of
Spider-Man 2
. Needless to say, fans are welcoming Alfred Molina's villain back with open tentacles.
Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe)
While he isn't seen in the new trailer, we do hear the Green Goblin's maniacal laugh and also see one of his pumpkin bombs rolling around on the ground, ready to explode. And if you're still in doubt, then we can confirm that
will indeed be reprising his role of the psychotic villain in
Spider-Man: No Way Home
. In the original 2002 film, Dafoe played Norman Osborn, who, for some time, serves as a surrogate father figure of sorts to Peter after Uncle Ben is tragically killed.
However, he had already lost his mind by that point (yes, in a science laboratory experiment gone wrong, what else?) and was battling with his alter ego, the ‘Goblin'. At the end of the movie, Osborn is killed by his own glider, but as we know, the mantle (along with the glider and flight suit) is passed onto his son Harry (James Franco) in 2007's
Spider-Man 3
. Now, the original Green Goblin is back, and it looks like he'll also be crossing paths with Tom Holland's Spider-Man. The question is, will this cause Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's spidey senses to tingle too?
Electro (Jamie Foxx)
There might be no sign of him in the new trailer for
Spider-Man: No Way Home
, but Jamie Foxx
has
been confirmed to be returning to the role of Electro, as seen in 2014's
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
. Max Dillon, the Oscorp employee who acquires incredible electrical powers after being attacked by electric eels (yes, of course, it happens in a science laboratory) was one of the saving graces of the critically-panned sequel, which suffered from a bloated line-up of characters, not unlike
Spider-Man 3
(though it does leave us slightly worried about the upcoming movie).
While relegated to something of a side villain in the third act, in exchange for an extremely weak version of the Green Goblin, Foxx's Electro was still a force to be reckoned with, and his introduction in Times Square was memorable and, well, electrifying. His role in the new movie also suggests that Peter Parker will enter
The Amazing Spider-Man
universe, or at the very least, that the occupants of
that
universe will be entering the
MCU
.
Related:
Before we swing out of here, we also have an honorable mention…
Fans were delighted when they saw J.K. Simmons reprise his role of the original
Spider-Man
trilogy's J. Jonah Jameson, the abrasive editor of the Daily Bugle, where Peter Parker works as a photographer. In fact, fans had been expecting the actor to make an appearance in 2012's
The Amazing Spider-Man
and its 2014 sequel, but his existence within that universe was merely teased in email form (which was still pretty funny and oozed with J.K. Simmons nonetheless).
So when Simmons finally showed up in
Far From Home's
mid-credits scene, fans lost their minds with joy. With that said, his presence in the
MCU
Spidey-verse is not without some confusion. Presumably, just like in the Maguire movies, he is also the
MCU's
version of J. Jonah Jameson, because the ‘opening' of the Multiverse is yet to be introduced. Perhaps this should be taken with a pinch of salt, but either way, we're thrilled to see the grouchy, cigar-smoking editor back in the seat.
Over the past year, there has been a web of rumors suggesting that the new film will also see the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective wallcrawler's – no surprise considering the film will revolve around the concept of the Multiverse. However, these rumors have been swatted away like flies in recent months, so we'll just have to wait to find out.
But now that the Multiverse is about to open, who knows whether this film will be part of the same web of realities as
and its upcoming sequel
.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
also stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Benedict Cumberpatch, Jon Favreau, and Benedict Wong, and is set for release on December 17, 2021.