Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment have released the first trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, due out in theaters on December 17.
The trailer opens with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and M.J. (Zendaya) relaxing on a rooftop, reading a newspaper’s speculation about Peter’s abilities after Spider-Man’s identity was revealed to the world. Peter is struggling with the ramifications of his identity being public, with the trailer depicting him being questioned by police over the death of Mysterio, and also being hounded by protesters and schoolmates on his return to school.
But as the trailer shows, and Peter acknowledges, it isn’t just him dealing with the scrutiny, but also his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). As result, Peter travels to see Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to see if he can help him. Despite Wong’s (Benedict Wong) strong warnings against it, Strange chooses to cast a spell that will mean the “entire world” forgets about Spider-Man’s secret identity. Peter’s hesitation with having his loved ones forget his secret accidentally tampers with the enchantment though, causing a huge impact on proceedings; Strange narrates that they have “tampered with the stability of space-time,” and teases the involvement of the multiverse.
The trailer then quickly shows glimpses of destructive lightning bolts likely to be originating from the returning Electro (Jamie Foxx), a reality-bending sequence with Doctor Strange and Spider-Man on a train in a desert, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) being surrounded by agents, and an explosion caused by one of Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs, all while Strange chides Peter for trying to have things both ways. The trailer closes with the return of Spider-Man 2‘s Doctor Octopus, played once again by a digitally deaged Alfred Molina.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is the latest entry in the MCU to begin exploring the idea of the multiverse, with the film acting as a midpoint between the conclusion of Loki season 1, which saw the sacred timeline begin to branch out rapidly, and the arrival of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on March 22, 2022. The currently airing Disney+ series, What If…? is presenting alternate versions of the MCU’s most formative moments, with Uatu the Watcher serving as a guide through the multiverse of possibilities. The series premieres weekly on Wednesdays on Disney+.
