An official poster for the highly anticipated Marvel sequel, Spider-Man: No Way Home, has been spotted out in the wild, and teases the oncoming battle between the iconic web-slinger and a returning Doctor Octopus. Stuck to the side of a bus, the promo shows Tom Holland’s MCU hero once again wearing his Iron Spider Armor as he attempts to dodge the oncoming tentacles of Alfred Molina’s supervillain.
Thanks to the recent, hugely exciting trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, we now know that several of the most popular rumors that have surrounded the movie for some time have indeed come true. The Marvel follow-up will hurl audiences back into the fray, and then some, picking up after Peter Parker’s identity as Spider-Man is exposed by Mysterio at the end of 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. With Parker’s life and reputation now turned upside down, he turns to Dr. Stephen Strange, asking him to help restore his secret identity with magic. Of course, as magic so often does, this results in dangerous repercussions, unleashing villains from across the multiverse.
The footage confirmed the return of several villains from previous Spider-Man franchises, with Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, who was introduced in director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 back in 2004, taking a major role in tormenting Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. This multiversal face-off turned out to be even more difficult for Holland than first thought, with the actor revealing that meeting Molina’s mad scientist saw him facing a childhood fear. “I was obsessed with [Sam] Raimi’s movies,” Holland said. “I remember seeing Alfred in his costume for the first time, and he had the glasses on, and he was wearing his belt, which is what the legs were attached to. And I remember, as I kid, being terrified of him.”
Alongside Molina’s Doctor Octopus, several other Marvel baddies will make a comeback as Spider-Man hurtles through the madness of the multiverse. These include Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx as Electro, as well as potential revivals of Mysterio, The Sandman and The Lizard, with many speculating that the events will lead to the uniting of The Sinister Six.
With this in mind, director Jon Watts has since somewhat unsurprisingly described Spider-Man: No Way Home as being “Spider-Man: Endgame,” adding that “We’re definitely trying to be ambitious.” Evidently so. The epic scope of the Marvel outing has also now been reflected in the movie’s runtime, with Spider-Man: No Way Home reportedly clocking in at 159 minutes – 9 minutes longer than previously reported – making the movie the longest Spidey movie yet.
Starring Zendaya as MJ, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, J. B. Smoove as Julius Dell, and Benedict Wong as Wong alongside Tom Holland and Alfred Molina, Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 17, 2021, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. This poster was first shared on Reddit.