How can we already have new Spider-Man: No Way Home footage just days after Sony and Marvel released the highly-anticipated No Way Home trailer 2? Well, it just so happens that different trailer cuts were released in different markets. One of them features an editing mistake so big that it practically confirms that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are in the movie. The other No Way Home trailer 2 version contains additional footage that teases the epic confrontation between Avengers that we’ll witness in the movie. Mind you, various plot spoilers might follow below.
The No Way Home Avengers confrontation
Sony and Marvel released a shorter version of trailer 2 tailored for social media. That’s the clip with the massive editing mistake that has everyone talking. As a reminder, we see The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) being punched in the face with incredible power by… a ghost.
The scene features a single Spider-Man facing off against three villains. That’s Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, who jumps at Sandman while The Lizard is punched (by no one) in mid-flight. That scene likely contains three Spider-Man versions, but two were edited out.
Maguire and Garfield will join the MCU’s Avengers to battle these villains. And Maguire and Garfield are in that scene, right alongside Tom Holland.
While we don’t expect Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to be in that fight, the Avenger will appear elsewhere in No Way Home. That might be because not all Avengers see eye to eye, even when they have to work together.
The first trailer already offered us the premise of the movie. And in doing so, it set the stage for a confrontation of epic proportions between two Avengers.
We see Strange and Peter getting friendlier than before in the first trailer. After all, they saved the world together. But the same trailer points out that Peter and Strange will fight each other in the film.
The first trailer teases an epic battle in the mirror dimension and tells us that Strange will ultimately win that argument. He’ll push Peter’s astral projection out of his body, which should conclude an incredible chase full of magic. And trailer 2 further expands on that conflict.
The international Spider-Man trailer 2
The new clip explains why Tom’s Peter and Strange end up disagreeing, and it matches the rumors. The sorcerer wants to capture the non-MCU villains and send them back to their realities. That means all the bad guys will die at the hand of alternate Spider-Men in different universes. That’s why Peter decides to steal the magical cube that appears everywhere in trailer 2.
Also, we get to see more footage of the fight between Avengers in the clip. We see Strange’s brilliant tricks that allow him to capture Spider-Man. And we get the same amazing astral projection scene that lets Strange get back control of the cube.
But it’s the international version of trailer 2 that offers us a different angle of the scene in the street. As you can see in the following image, Strange opens two portals just as Spider-Man slings a new web to escape. That web goes through the first portal and exits on the other side of Peter, grabbing his own foot.
Essentially, Strange uses Peter’s powers against him, which is absolutely brilliant. That’s not to say Strange is the better Avenger of the two, having captured Peter with such ease. It’s just another example of epic Avengers using their powers to settle their differences.
But it gets even better.
The darker version of Spider-Man
The same international No Way Home trailer 2 contains additional dialogue. “This is why I never had kids,” the wizard quips just as Peter ends up stranded between two of Strange’s portals. We then see Strange producing a magical whip and grabbing Peter. That’s the scene that precedes the one with the astral projection.
Right at the end of the trailer, we have Peter’s reaction to experiencing the outer body event. “That might be one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me, but don’t ever do that again,” Peter says in typical Holland fashion. This is the same nerdy excitement that we expect from Spidey. And let’s not forget that Tom’s Peter traveled to outer space to fight the same dangerous villain on two planets. And he was dead for five years in between those events.
But there’s an exciting change in tone here. Peter, who is still a teenager and makes plenty of mistakes, might be threatening one of the most dangerous Avengers. It might all sound like a hilarious comeback, but I can’t help but wonder what Peter would do if Strange tried it again. Maybe I’m reaching, but the way Holland says the line signals that Peter is growing up.
Of course, all the rumors say No Way Home will be a lot darker than any of the previous Spider-Man movies. Even Holland teased that. So I might be already biased.
It’s safe to say, however, that Strange will remember none of that. If rumors are accurate, the spell will eventually work, and everyone will forget that Peter is Spider-Man. That includes all of the Avengers. So who knows, maybe Strange will get to astral-project Peter Parker out of his body again in a future rematch.
