5 things you might have missed from the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer

Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer - Dr Strange pushes Peter's astral projection from his body
(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

The very first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has been officially released. Fans have been chomping at the bit to learn details about the upcoming MCU film (which lands in December this year) and, finally, we’ve been given our first look at what’s in store.

As is expected for such a highly anticipated flick, plenty of rumors have been swirling around about what’s going to happen. Past Spider-Men could be returning to their roles, villains are making a comeback, and plot details have been predicted and debated online thoroughly.

Now that we have the first official footage, we can attempt to prove some of these theories right and even add more fuel to the fire for others. However, while some clues were obvious, there are plenty of things you might have missed from the three-minute trailer. Here are five details we picked up on.

The Daredevil is in the details 

It’s long been rumored that Charlie Cox would appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, reprising his role as Matt Murdock and blind superhero Daredevil from the Netflix series. While we haven’t seen Cox for sure, we think he makes a sneaky appearance just 30 seconds into the trailer.

The camera conveniently hides a character’s face as they slam legal documents in front of Peter Parker. Given that Matt Murdock has represented Peter Parker as a lawyer in other Spider-Man media before and the rumors we’ve seen, which have suggested Cox will only be on screen for 10 minutes or so, we can’t help but feel that this is Cox making his return.

To add to our theory, as Peter seemingly walks to court at a later point in the trailer we see a sign that reads “Devil in disguise.” Is this reading too much into a minor detail? Maybe, but we can only be wrong about a devilish character showing up in the MCU so many times before we get it right! 

Time for a scare! 

If you’ve ever tried to accurately present the MCU films chronologically, you’ll know how tough it is to decipher how much time passes between each film. However, the Spider-Man films have done a great job of giving us an accurate idea of how much off-screen development there has been since we last saw the characters.

Case in point, based on the Halloween decorations that we see inspire Peter to seek out the help of Dr Strange, we can infer that the main events of No Way Home take place around October. This would mean we’re seeing the very immediate fallout of Far From Home’s ending which would have happened just a few months before (it was set during the American summer so around June-August).

An apple a day won’t keep Doc Ock away 

Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

While it would be hard to miss the return of Alfred Molina as Doc Ock at the end of the trailer, what you might not have clocked is that his costume is identical to the one he wore in Spider-Man 2 starring Tobey Maguire. 

This, alongside Dr Strange’s comments about the multiverse and Doc Ock’s recognition of Peter indicate that this could indeed be the exact same version of the character we’ve met before. This would be very different to what we saw previously with actors like J.K. Simmons, who may have come back to play J. Jonah Jameson in Far From Home but is playing a different variant to his first outing as the character.

While this could just be because he then suits up in the CGI Iron Spider suit, we can’t help but feel Tom Holland looks a little weird at this part of the trailer, too. 

Our spider-sense makes us believe that Doc Ock's "Hello Peter" isn't aimed at Holland's Peter Parker. The editing of the trailer makes it appear as though he is, but we don't think these snippets flow one after the other. This is a trick Marvel has pulled before, such as swapping the Hulkbuster armor for the Hulk in Avengers: Infinity War trailers, to keep us in the dark.

Our view? Doc Ock, aka Otto Octavius, is talking to Maguire’s version of Spider-Man instead, who has long been rumored to appear in No Way Home. Otto would easily recognize Maguire's Parker, so we think this is a simple misdirect to try and throw us off the scent. Nice try, Marvel and Sony.

Electro strikes twice 

While we don’t technically see Electro himself as far as we can tell, we do know that Jamie Foxx is returning to the character in this film and lightning blasts are seen at multiple points during the No Way Home trailer.

What’s interesting though is that they are a distinctive yellow color, much like those that appear in the comics, rather than the blue electricity Foxx’s character used in Amazing Spider-Man 2. Unlike Doc Ock, it seems like this could be an entirely new Electro variant, and would support Foxx’s comments that he “won’t be blue in this one”. 

That gives us hope that Sony (and Marvel by extension) will portray the character as he's intended from the comics, and not the weird CGI individual we got in Andrew Garfield's second Spidey flick.

The Sinister Sixth 

Spider-Man: No Way Home

(Image credit: Matt Kennedy / Columbia Pictures)

With Doc Ock, Electro and a surprise teaser for Green Goblin all making an appearance in the trailer, that means the MCU is just one Spider-Man villain away from a classic villain team-up: the Sinister Six. That is, if you include previous MCU Spider-Man villains Vulture and Mysterio.

The group’s members have changed multiple times over the years in the comics so we can’t pin down just one villain who could fill out the roster. However, another trailer moment could help us narrow it to just three.

At 2:26 we see Peter Parker be attacked by a shadowy figure who lets out an animalistic roar. If we had to put money on it, we’d hazard a guess at this being Lizard, Scorpion, or Rhino, three Sinister Six members who could round out the team. Rhino and Lizard both appeared in the Amazing Spider-Man film series, while Mac Gargan (the real alter ego of Scorpion) has actually appeared in the MCU already.

Gargan was trying to buy weapons from Adrian Toomes (a.k.a. Michael Keaton’s Vulture) back in Homecoming but was thwarted by Spider-Man. His character was sent to prison and vowed revenge on Peter, so perhaps he is finally getting it.

Alternatively, it could be another iconic Spider-Man villain and it's one we've seen in live-action form on a couple of occasions now: Venom.

Ever since the trailer landed online, a debate has raged online about whether this unknown character is Tom Hardy's Venom or not. It seems that some fans believe Eddie Brock's anti-hero pseudonym will work his way over into the MCU and, given Hardy's previous comments about a Spider-Man/Venom crossover, it's plausible that this is it.

Still, if we had to pick someone from these options, we'd plump for Lizard. We've only got one connection to The Amazing Spider-Man movies in Electro so far. If Sony and Marvel want No Way Home to be a celebration of every live-action Spidey franchise to date, Lizard's inclusion would help to balance things out nicely.

Hamish Hector
Senior Staff Writer, News

Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for TechRadar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.