Look out — here comes the Spider-Man! (For real this time.)
On Monday, Marvel and Sony Pictures released a breakneck first trailer for the much-anticipated sequel film “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” starring Tom Holland as the teenage superhero. But Spidey nearly got scooped on Sunday when a janky portion of the teaser was leaked online ahead of the planned reveal at Las Vegas’ CinemaCon 2021.
The official 3-minute trailer dives into Peter Parker’s newly difficult life after his nemesis, faux-superhero Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), blurted out Spidey’s true identity in a video blasted on jumbotrons outside of Madison Square Garden at the end of 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
In the new flick, Peter reaches out to magical Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in hopes he can cast a spell to erase the world’s knowledge of who Spider-Man actually is. But Peter is cautioned by Strange: “The multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little,” which sets Peter up for a meeting with Dr. Otto Octavius, a k a tentacled Doctor Octopus, a character originally played — and now reprised — by Alfred Molina in 2004’s “Spider-Man 2,” which starred Tobey Maguire as the titular superhero.
One thing missing from the trailer: Confirmation of rumors about the return of past versions of Spider-Man played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in other areas of the multiverse.
The illicitly leaked footage, meanwhile, apparently sent Sony scrambling to yank copies of the clip from Twitter and other platforms, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with shared video and still images replaced by a copyright declaration reading, “The media has been disabled in response to a report from the copyright owner.”
The leak also spun a web of memes as people joked about the negative ways that Marvel President Kevin Feige may have reacted to the breach. Others joked that new mom and “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson — currently in a bombshell tug-of-war lawsuit against Disney — was responsible for the leak.
The film’s official Twitter account had been teasing followers for months about a possible pending trailer. On June 5, it posted the caption “Spider-Man twitter every day so far” over an image of a car careening off a highway exit ramp, with the exit signs reading “Don’t guess and just wait for the trailer” and “OMG ITs COMING TODAY AT 9AM EST.” The account then retweeted that post on June 9 with the caption “pls keep left.”
On May 15, the playful production tweeted a picture of a tractor-trailer emblazoned with the film’s logo, with the caption. “Finally we got the Spider-Man no way home trailer been waiting so long to see this.”
Even without those teases, there are a lot of reasons for fans’ spider-senses to be tingling. The Marvel flick, directed by Jon Watts, includes Molina’s surprise casting in a part that he was good-humored about returning to after so many years.
“It was wonderful,” he told Variety in April. “It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet and a slightly dodgy lower back.”
In addition, Jamie Foxx is reprising his role as Electro, the charged-up villain who fought Andrew Garfield’s version of Spidey in 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”
The movie also stars Marisa Tomei as Aunt May Parker and J.K. Simmons as Daily Bugle newshound J. Jonah Jameson.
This third installment in the Holland-starring franchise — which had faced delays due to the coronavirus pandemic — continues the tradition of focusing on the recurring “home” theme started with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Back in February, Holland and his co-stars — Jacob Batalon (who portrays Peter Parker’s BFF Ned Leeds) and Holland’s girlfriend Zendaya (MJ) — took part in a cheeky tease with other suggested titles for the follow-up film, including “Spider-Man: Home-Wrecker,” “Spider-Man: Home Slice” and “Spider-Man: Phone Home.”
Holland’s web-slinger also flew into the “Avengers” films “Infinity War” (2018) and “Endgame” (2019).
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” will be released on Dec. 17, 2021.
