After a long wait, the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer has finally arrived. Not only that, but it also gave us our first look at the return of Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus and a tease of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. Of course, it continues to build the existence of other Spider-Man Variants making their appearance even if they got denied in the past. Sony even gave their new franchise a brand new name with Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. In a way, that new branding might offer a glimpse into where the franchise is heading and could hint at what the future holds for Spider-Man beyond his third entry in the latest franchise.
The first that seems curious about the naming is that they didn’t go with the Spiderverse moniker. It’s not only strongly connected to the character but also adds to the multiversal storyline introduced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Yet, they went out of their way to make sure we know that this is Sony’s Spider-Man. They even left out any mention of Marvel, as the original name was Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.
No Way Home introducing multiple versions of the same character could give both Marvel and Sony a way to create their franchises separately. Tom Holland‘s version of the character can continue his journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony, on the other hand, can take a different route by introducing a new version of the character that is unique to their universe or even bring back a legacy actor. The Spider-Verse animated film introduces multiple versions of Peter Parker and Sony isn’t dependent on a specific one. So, there are quite a few options on how they can tackle their new Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
There have been no hints at Venom having connections to the current version of the character. In the film, we see the Daily Bugle as a newspaper while the MCU introduced it as an Info Wars parody. Plus, Morbius combined multiple elements adding a sense of confusion as to what exactly is in continuity or not. There’s always the chance they change these elements in the final film, as some effects work for trailers get rushed out, but it still opens up more questions about Sony’s plans. They don’t unveil their master plan as Marvel Studios does. So, we mostly can only guess based on what little information we are given.
The most present version of Spider-Man’s mythos in Sony’s extended franchises is the Sam Raimi version. It just seems unlikely Tobey Maguire would return to acting as a recurring character in Sony’s various films. Yet, if they introduce him as an older mentor figure, they could take the route of Miles Morales becoming that franchise’s version of the character. We might learn he was going to pass on the torch before the return of his old enemies draw him back into the spandex suit. Whatever direction they are taking, there’s a good chance the ending of No Way Home will finally confirm if we can expect more of Tom Holland in the MCU.
