Just typing the title of this blog post genuinely just gave me chills.
I think I speak for nearly the entire fandom when saying this is one of the most anticipated films to ever hit the MCU. Remember five years ago when Tom was first introduced in Civil War and everyone wanted to see him team up with Tobey and Andrew? And we all waited patiently as films came at us until soon the Multiverse began to be mentioned? And then finally this movie was filming and the speculation went through the roof as more villains from the other two Spider-Man movies were confirmed for this one? Anyway, your answer was probably yes to all of those. This movie used to just be a fan’s dream, the perfect way to show the Multiverse if we were to ever get it, as Spider-Man is the only character to have had three distinct franchises in the last 20 years. And I would say in less than a week, we are about to see all of our dreams come true. But in order to prepare, we had to sit ourselves down and think of some of the largest aspects of the films that call for their own theories. With this, out came this week’s podcast, linked below, so make sure to listen to all of it before going to see the film!
Episode 215: Marvel Replay – The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode Two – Sisters Assembled: A Marvel Theory Podcast
I want to first start off by saying I have now spent three days watching all 7 of the existing Spider-Man movies, and I have to say, if I don’t see three Spider-Men I might cry. Regardless, I want to discuss one theory that has to deal with the premise of the 7 movies we have already seen. Dr. Strange in the trailer points out how all of the villains find their demise at the hands of Spider-Man. I can now say, after the rewatch, that Doc Oc does die as a sacrifice, Green Goblin accidentally kills himself, Peter lets Sandman go free, The Lizard goes to jail, and Electro dies. So if you wanted to quickly know where those villains’ fates really lie, there it is. Anyway, to get to my theory, I think that No Way Home takes place before any of these films end. If you think about it, how would Peter (Toms) be fighting them if they already died or were defeated and why would Strange be telling him their fate? Also, the villains would not be coming after him if the ending of their films already happened. Sandman is forgiven by Peter (Tobeys) for example and let go and the Lizard saves Peter (Andrews) and apologizes after he is thwarted. Doesn’t seem likely that they would randomly just be there trying to kill Spider-Man.
The next big question for fans is who the sixth member of the Sinister Six is. We have seen and confirmed Doc Oc, Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard, all being played by their original actors. But that only makes five, and I don’t see Marvel doing the Sinister Six just to only do five villains. Keep in mind, we are likely not going to see the Sinister Six happen again in possibly our lifetime, or if we do we will be literally 70 years old. This is the chance Marvel has of doing it, so who’s the sixth member? Marvel wouldn’t hide someone such as Vulture, Scorpion, or Rhino, just because the fans won’t necessarily be shocked to see any of them. Also, at least in our universe, Vulture and Scorpion are in jail and it seems unlikely that they would be brought from another universe when we haven’t actually seen Scorpion before and Vulture just seems boring to go that far for. Rhino never amounted to much in Andrew’s films and I really couldn’t believe that Marvel would keep Rhino hush hush like this.
So I think that leaves us at two main contenders and I’ll explain them both. The first is Mysterio, as many fans don’t think he’s dead to begin with. I could see this, but I personally don’t see it giving the wow factor of being hidden. However, Mysterio is one of the usual members in the comics and it might not necessarily by our Mysterio. It is possibly to bring in a Mysterio from another universe, which would be more accurate to his comic book character anyway. That could give more of a wow factor in my opinion. The other one, the one I might put my money, is Venom *cue the gasps*. I would never have said Venom if the end credit scene of Venom 2 hadn’t been what it was. But, we see Venom jump into another universe (which many initially thought was the snap and blip) and end up in the same one that our Peter Parker was in. All while Venom was explaining to Eddie that he had lived many years in many universes. Not to mention, upon seeing Spider-Man, Venom said “that guy”, which sounds like a recognition. But how would this be possible if Eddie and Venom never interacted with Spidey? Well, going off Venom’s explanation, he’s lived many lives before in many places, which means he may have had a run-in with a Spider-Man somewhere else. And I think I could definitely say Venom would have the mega shock factor of hiding him for the past 9 months.
The last big wonder of the world is what is the fate of MJ? Personally, I think it would be an interesting plot twist to kill her off (not because we haven’t seen it before), but because it would leave an opening for maybe some of the real Spidey characters, like Mary Jane or Gwen, to make appearances in the next trilogy. They also do say that Peter goes through some dark things in this film and I think losing MJ could be one of those factors. Do I think that they are gaslighting us with the falling scene? Yea, I mean if history is to speak her odds are 50/50, but I do think if she dies it won’t be that scene. They just want us to stress out, silly Marvel.
Now, something we didn’t have a chance to talk about in the podcast at all is what the fate of Ned could be. There’s been rumor of finally seeing Hob Goblin, which is at one point unmasked to be Ned. The actor of Ned has spoken about his interest at playing the Hob Goblin and to be fair, the Multiverse being opened does mean that it doesn’t necessarily have to be our Ned that we see become the Hob Goblin. It would be a never before seen villain, as the Hob Goblin has not yet made his official appearance, only the Green Goblin. Soooo let’s put this one in the maybe jar?
I know a lot has been said and there’s plenty that hasn’t been. This is the type of film where you can really only touch on some of the big stuff, as so much is about to happen. Either way, if you aren’t a fan of spoilers I highly recommend staying off the internet all week until you’re able to see the film, as the full premiere is tonight, it is released in parts of Europe on Wednesday, and early showings in America start Thursday. Good luck to everyone in managing spoilers and also not dying while sitting in the theaters. We are looking forward to sharing some of our reactions after our showings, but until then, prepare for Marvel to blow your mind and then let’s talk about it.
Image: “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, Nora Dominick, Buzzfeed
Sisters Assembled 
Hulk has been played by Eric Bana, Mark Ruffalo and Ed Norton within 20 years.
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Great point and thanks for your comment! Our post was referencing reboots rather than recasts but we will rewrite it to clarify that for other readers.
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