Two More Villains Return To ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’
It seems like Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios are shaping up Spider-Man: No Way Home to be their own version of Avengers: Endgame with an all-star ensemble of villains and maybe even heroes. The third and apparently last movie of the current incarnation of the superhero with spider senses is slated for a theatrical release on December 17, 2021. Tom Holland will reprise the role of the titular character, whom he has already played five times in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Holland said that both the cast and crew treated No Way Home as the end of a trilogy and that any future Spider-Man movies would have to “try to build something different and tonally change the films." It appears that both Sony and Marvel want this last stand-alone Spider-Man movie for some time to go out with a bang. In addition to Benedict Cumberbatch’s return as Doctor Strange, the trailer has confirmed that Alfred Molina will once again take on the mantle of the mad Doctor Octopus, a role he played in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004). Other villains coming back include Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin from the first Maguire Spider-Man movie, as well as Jamie Foxx, who will reprise the role of Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
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Empire magazine has now confirms that No Way Home will see the return of two more villains from previous Spider-Man movies. The release of Empire’s special No Way Home issue on October 28, 2021 includes interviews with Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Kevin Feige. A leaked picture from this issue also confirms that Rhys Ifan will also be part of the cast, reprising his role as the evil Lizard (Dr. Curt Conners), whom fans last saw in the first Amazing Spider-Man movie from 2012, where Andrew Garfield played the titular character. Thomas Haden Church will also be returning as Sandman (Flint Marko), whom Spider-Man fought in Spider-Man 3 (2007), the last of the Raimi features.
As if that is not enough, there will be a special subscriber edition of Empire magazine with a rather psychedelic cover that shows a beige and sandy arm in the bottom right corner in addition to Doctor Octopus’s tentacles, and Electro’s small electrical spark.
Back in summer of 2020 there were rumors that Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Kirsten Dunst would reprise their roles from the previous Spider-Man movies. Garfield has since denied his involvement in No Way Home, although he confessed that he would find the idea intriguing. Still, this is no guarantee that there will not be a reunion of several Spider-Men in this movie. After all, Marvel is very much pushing into the multiverse with its phase 4 of the MCU, which offers the opportunity to bring together several timelines and different realities. This is how deceased characters like the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus may appear again.
Then there is of course the post-credit scene from Venom 2, which implies that the worlds of Venom and Spider-Man may finally come together. It is plausible that the alien symbiote could be another villain that Spider-Man has to deal with in No Way Home.
With the release of Doctor Strange 2, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther 2 recently having been pushed back several months into the summer and fall of 2022, it seems that Sony and Marvel are trying to give the audience something worthwhile with the release of No Way Home. What better way to do this than to pitch our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man against a cast of challenging villains?
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Source(s): IGN