With superhero-movies becoming mainstream during the last decade, starting with Marvel’s 2008’s “Iron Man” and the latest release of 2021’s “Black Widow” and the upcoming movie “Shang-Chi,” it comes as no surprise to many that fans of the franchise eagerly await each and every tidbit of information, especially for Marvel’s most mysterious and anticipated movie, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

The third installment of the Spider-Man trilogy, the character of Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, first appearing in Captain America: Civil War has been kept under-wraps for nearly two years with the previous installment “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” coming out in July 2019. There has been no advertising for the movie, though an official movie poster came out weeks after the trailer was released, even though the movie comes out in nearly four months, and the news of the plot released by Marvel is little to non-existent.

While the secrecy of the Web-Head’s newest movie may seem like child’s play to Marvel, as easy as pie, for fans, it has certainly not been. On average, movie trailers usually release within six months of their theatrical release, with No Way Home coming out with only a teaser trailer in late August, with only 16 weeks till the movie is released in theaters. Perhaps even more suspiciously, there has been no poster for the movie for months until early September, forcing some theaters to put up fan-made movie posters to advertise for the movie.

So why the secrecy? There is the possibility that there’s nothing to hide, and the reason that it may seem like there’s a huge secret about the movie is because Sony (who owns the rights to Spider-Man and the assorting characters associated with the hero) also holds the reins to how and when the trailer will be released. Marvel is allowed to use the character, but only with Sony’s permission and they only gain profits through merchandise, while Sony earns 95% of box office earnings. Though, with the renewal of the contract, Marvel now owns 25% of profits coming from the upcoming movie. Due to this, and with Sony’s “Venom: Let there be Carnage” releasing in October, it’s likely that they withheld the trailer in order to not deflate the hype for the movie that they own all the rights to, and would be able to earn both merchandise and box office profits for the sequel to the movie that opened with positive reception from the audience.

However, the attempts to keep the trailer of the increasingly anticipated release were foiled when on Aug. 22, the trailer was leaked on TikTok by an unknown person. At first, the leaked trailer was on TikTok before it was removed by Sony for copyright infringement, which seemed to confirm its legitimacy to many. Clips of the trailer could be viewed on social media, though it was of incredibly low quality. The clips of the trailer were hotly debated by fans over social media, from twitter to tumblr, with only grainy video footage and barely audible audio.

Then, on Aug 23, the trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was released. It immediately broke records, surpassing the previous record held by “Avengers: Endgame” at 289 million views in the first 24 hours, at 355.5 million views. It was first released at CinemaCon, an event known for having trailers released during. Interestingly enough, the date may have already been in front of our noses the entire time, found in Marvel’s television series, “WandaVision.”Featured in the series (which debuted in January of 2021) is a calendar with a heart suspiciously drawn on Aug 23. In the series, the date is supposed to be a dinner date with the main character’s boss, the Harts, but Wanda and Vision have forgotten about the dinner date, and believe that it is their anniversary. But, since Marvel is known for their story-telling and foreshadowing, was the trailer drop planned all along?

It makes sense, considering the theories and rumors surrounding the plot. For one, the previous movie was left on a cliffhanger, having Spider-Man’s identity being leaked to the world by none other than his recently-deceased enemy Mysterio and his newly introduced antagonist, J.J Jameson, played by the same actor who had played the character in Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, J.K Simmons. Other actors from previous Spider-Man movies, such Alfred Molina, who played Doc Ock in the “Spider-Man” trilogy featuring Tobey Maguire as the title character, and Jamie Foxx, who played the villain Electro in the “Amazing Spider-Man” series with Andrew Garfield in the main role, are also joining the movie. The news of these actors joining the movie, along with the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, has led many fans to speculate that the movie will also have Tobey Maguire and Andrew returning to reprise their roles, along with the introduction of the Multiverse in the MCU.
The Multiverse was first introduced in the Marvel television series “Loki”, and was also lightly brushed over in “WandaVision”. The Multiverse, which talks about alternate universes, would allow these previous Spider-Man actors to reprise their role in a way that fits with the plot. It’s also been rumored that William Dafoe would be returning to reprise his role of Green Goblin, the main antagonist of the “Spider-Man” trilogy. Additionally, with the reveal of Spider-Man’s identity and the accusations of murder of Mysterio, it’s been heavily debated if Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, the star of the hit Netflix series, will be in the movie, the actor having been spotted during reshoots and filming. With the horned-vigilante being a lawyer in his daily life, it’s no wonder that fans of the Spider-Man franchise and the fans of the Netflix series would suspect that he would be in the movie.
Regardless, whether any of these rumors are true or not, it’s no secret that Marvel has an iron-clad grip about any information surrounding the movie. Whether it be for avoiding spoilers and plot leaks, or doing so at the behest of Sony, the secrecy and rumors accompanying “Spider-Man: No Way Home” have certainly done an excellent job at creating hype and excitement among fans.

“I’m really excited for the movie,” says Elizabeth Salvador, sophomore, “One of my theories is that the Green Goblin in the movie is actually Harry Osborn, not Norman Osborn.”

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” will be in theaters, December 17, 2021.

Sources:

Anderson, J. (2021, July 21). Spider-man: Movie theaters are using fake posters to promote no way home. Marvel. https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/spider-man-no-way-home-spoilers-posters-fake-fanart/.

Parker, R. (2021, August 24). Sony moves quickly to block Alleged ‘spider-man: No Way Home’ Trailer leak on social media. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sony-block-alleged-spider-man-no-way-home-trailer-leak-1235001375/.

Adams, T. (2021, August 24). Spider-man fans turn wandavision’s most frustrating ‘joke’ into a no way home trailer clue. CBR. https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-no-way-home-wandavision-trailer-clue/.

Selcke, D. (2021, August 24). Breaking down the fan theories about the spider-man: No way home trailer. Winter is Coming. https://winteriscoming.net/2021/08/24/fan-theories-spider-man-no-way-home-trailer-marvel-mcu/.
O’Connell, S. (2021, August 22). Marvel’s Kevin Feige opens up about all the secrecy Around Spider-Man: No way home. CINEMABLEND. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2572263/marvel-kevin-feige-opens-up-about-spider-man-no-way-home-trailer.