Marvel’s Spiderman 'No Way Home' Poster Reveal Confirms the Multiverse is Coming

Sony Pictures released the first poster for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which is set to be released on Dec. 17. While the first trailer for this highly anticipated film reveals very little, the poster revealed to fans that the emergence of a multiverse can be expected.

The poster shows the mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus, who will be played by Alfred Molina reprising his role from Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2.” The poster also displays clouds of sand behind Spider-Man hinting at the reappearance of Sandman — in “Spider-Man 3.”

Spider-Man poses underneath lightning bolts that are striking down through the sky, implying that Electro will appear in the movie. Electro (Jamie Foxx) was the villain who appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Additionally, while an appearance by the Green Goblin in the film was hinted at by the green grenade rolling] on the ground in the trailer, his role is confirmed with his explicit presence in the background of the poster.

As seen in the trailer, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) will also be involved with the plot of the film, though] it is still unclear if this movie will foreshadow some themes that will arise in the upcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” premiering in 2022.

While the poster does confirm the appearance of four villains in the upcoming film, it does not reveal too much information about the plot of the movie itself. Myriads of rumors are circulating about characters that are hypothesized to be in the movie. The appearance of these villains from the previous Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield films suggests that they will both return as Spider-Man in the upcoming film. Sadly, however, Tom Holland has hinted that fans should not get their hopes up yet.

“People don’t believe me when I say that [Maguire and Garfield] are not coming back, but people are going to have to believe me at some point,” said Tom Holland in an interview with Total Film. “It means a lot to me. The first time you see Doc and the rest of the characters that come back, it’s so exciting and it’s such a huge moment in cinematic history. It’s three generations coming together.”

Marvel could have given fans all of the information they are going to get before the movie hits theaters, and this is okay! It’s understandable for Marvel to purposely be vague in their promotions, as they slowly drop hints about the upcoming multiverse — from the reveal of the tear in the sacred timeline in the Disney+ show “Loki” to the reveal that Venom is in the MCU from the recent “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” film. Marvel’s purposeful ambiguity means the reveal of characters from other Spider-Man universes is of great significance for the future of the MCU. Interestingly, it has also been revealed that Marvel’s decision to withhold the information about the movie might be strategic, as this movie marks a departure from previous films in the Spider-Man franchise.

“What people will be really surprised about is that it’s not fun, this film,” said Tom Holland in the interview with Total Film. “It’s dark and it’s sad, and it’s going to be really affecting. You’re going to see characters that you love go through things that you would never wish for them to go through.”

While the expected casting of Maguire and Garfield has not been confirmed yet, it has also not been disproven. So keep your fingers crossed, Marvel fans, and get ready to be transported into the multiple universes of your favorite neighborhood Spider-Man.