Spider-Man: No Way Home
will be the movie to beat this year, assuming Sony and Marvel stick with the current December 17th release date. The new Spider-Man installment has Avengers: Endgame potential when it comes to fan interest. The movie would probably set new records for the Spider-Man franchise if not for the pandemic. It’s not the Christmas release window or the Far From Home cliffhanger that makes Spider-Man 3 so exciting. It’s No Way Home’s big spoiler that makes it so exciting. The movie’s big surprise is something most fans know by now, whether they love or hate spoilers. Sony might not have shown it in the first No Way Home trailer, but the company keeps confirming the spoiler nonetheless. We’ll give you a customary spoiler warning before we continue, but you already know exactly what we’re talking about.
The first Spider-Man multiverse story
We’ve been talking about No Way Home being a multiverse story for months. Rumors said that multiple villains from Sony’s two other Spider-Man universes would appear in No Way Home. And Alfred Molina confirmed not only that he’s coming back as Doc Ock, but also how his resurrection is possible — the multiverse, obviously.
The MCU’s Peter Parker (Tom Holland) will not have to fight all these villains along. As we saw in the teaser trailer, he’ll have help from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). But that’s not all. No Way Home will feature two other Spider-Man variants. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will appear in the massive Spider-Man film. That’s the big secret that Sony and Marvel could not conceal.
Keeping the surprise secret until the film’s premiere would have been a tremendous accomplishment for the studios. But now that everyone knows it, you’d think that Sony and Marvel would want to exploit the in during marketing. And word on the street is that the upcoming new trailers will feature the big reveals. Garfield and Maguire will suit up as alternate Spider-Men alongside Holland.
But we don’t even have to wait that long.
Sony keeps confirming the big No Way Home leak
Someone unleashed a flurry of purported No Way Home photos around the same time that the first trailer was released. One of the blurry images that we saw last week showed us what appeared to be a No Way Home movie set. In it, we could make out two Spider-Men, Maguire and Garfield. Some believed the blurry image was fake. Others said it was real and explained what caused the blur. But as always with such leaks, we had no way of confirming any of it.
Then someone posted a different angle of that image, giving us a closeup of Garfield. That’s when Sony intervened to remove the image from Twitter on a copyright claim. In doing so, Sony confirmed to fans that Garfield is in the film. Not only that, but all the other leaks from the same group of photos might be real. And we did see a picture that appears to be from the same leaker showing what might be the best possible No Way Home Easter egg.
Sony didn’t stop there, however. The company just struck down another purported No Way Home set photo. The Maguire-Garfield picture that leaked initially showed the two actors in Spider-Man suits on top of what appeared to be scaffolding of some sort. We then saw an image from the Spider-Man 3 set showing the same structure but without any Spider-Man variants on top of it. As with other leaks, there wasn’t really any way to confirm its authenticity. At least, not until Sony came to the rescue, filing a copyright claim against it.
Is Sony running a brilliant marketing campaign?
Like I said before, the best way to make the most of the No Way Home multiverse leak is to confirm it all during the marketing campaign. Knowing that Maguire and Garfield are Spider-Men again won’t make the movie any less exciting. Leaks say Sony and Marvel will do that with their upcoming new trailers. Garfield’s Peter Parker will reportedly appear in the second trailer. The trailer after that will then bring in Maguire.
Sony doesn’t have to wait that long to keep the No Way Home buzz going. Removing these photos from Twitter via copyright claims might be a brilliant idea to keep diehard fans entertained. The big Spider-Man 3 secret is already out, and Sony and Marvel can’t do anything about it. Sony must know that filing these copyright claims only confirms that the images are authentic. And that the MCU fans who keep track of all these developments will notice. They’ll then keep discussing No Way Home online, which is exactly what’s happening right now. You don’t even need a trailer at this point because the internet never forgets.
Then again, we have no idea whether there’s any strategy at play here. It might just be Sony’s legal department following internal guidelines. What’s clear is that all these leaks will only make fans want to see No Way Home the first chance they get. Hopefully, it’ll be in mid-December 2021 and we won’t have anymore delays.
