Spider-man: No Way Home hits theatres this weekend, and despite attempts to keep the villianous lineup under wraps, there were inevitably a few leaks prior to the trailers’ confirmation. Tom Holland revealed to Yahoo! that the MCU’s original intent was to keep the returning villians a secret until the release. Sony wanted to mislead fans and make the film seem like a Spider-Man versus Doctor Strange type of conflict, The clever marketing strategy had to change course once fans spotted actor Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus) outside of an Atlanta hotel, where the movie was being filmed. Once the secret was revealed, Marvel embraced it, and began openly advertising the returning foes. The marketing strategy seems to be paying off as Spider-man: No Way Home is projected to earn between $190 and $250 million in its opening weekend.
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In No Way Home, the MCU pays homage to previous iterations of Spider-Man including Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy starring Toby Maguire, and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology featuring Andrew Garfield. Currently only 5 foes have been confirmed however there is speculation that these 5 make up 5 of the reknowned “Sinister Six” and an additional villian is to appear in the movie (not yet announced). Speculation would say the 6th villian could be Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming, or Mysterio from Spider-Man: Far From Home, as there seems to be a pattern of one villian per previous Spider-man movie. We know that Vulture survived at the end of Homecoming and as for Mysterio, well his powers lie in illusion so anything is possible. Whoever the sixth villian turns out to be, we can’t wait to see the epic battle take place! The confirmed 5 villians returning for the film are as follows.
Green Goblin
Marvel Studios
The first appearance of The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) is in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, released in 2002. Norman Osborn (founder of Oscorp) acts as guinea pig for a performance enhancing chemical he produces. As a result, he gains superhuman strength, agility, reflexes, and regenerative powers. His intelligence is also superhuman - albeit at the price of his sanity - and he forms an evil alter ego (The Goblin). In the film, The Green Goblin tries to kill Peter Parker by sending his glider towards him in a stealth attack. Parker’s spidey sense kicks in however, sending the glider back to Osborn at high speed, ultimately impaling him. His return in No Way Home will likely be explained by a divergent reality within the spider-verse.
Doctor Octopus
Otto Octavius a.k.a Doctor Octopus and first appears in the Spider-Man 2 released in 2004. Initially a well-meaning scientist, Otto becomes increasingly influenced by his AI mechanical arms and attempts a failed experiment with a nuclear fusion reactor, which causes an explosion that simultaneously kills his wife and permanently melds the robotic arms to his spine. At the end of the movie Otto’s humanity wins out and we see him sacrifice himself by drowning the reactor in the Hudson river. Knowing that Doctor Strange is featured in the film, its not hard to imagine that time travel may well have something to do with Doc Ocks return.
Sandman
Sony Pictures
In Spider-Man 3 (released in 2007) we are introduced to Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church). Marko was actually to blame for Ben Parker’s death through a botched hijacking, When his partner Dennis Carradine came out from robbing the wrestling promoter he startles Marko and the gun goes off accidentally killing Ben. Ultimately, Dennis Carradine is convicted of the murder, and Marko remains free. In the film, Marko becomes Sandman by falling into an experimental particle accelerator that coalesces him with the surrounding sand. The accident lends him the ability to shapeshift and absorb sand. The conclusion to Marko’s tale in Spider-man 3 leaves opportunity for him to return in No Way Home, as Flint didnt actually die in the film. Rather, he recounts his sad tale to Peter and expresses his tremendous guilt over his uncle’s accidental death. Ultimately Peter Parker forgives Marko and Marko drifts away in the wind.
The Lizard
The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) first appears in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Originally Dr. Curt Connors a scientist and former partner of Richard Parker. The pair had been working on a “decay rate algorithm” but Connors shut it down after the Parker’s untimely deaths. Upon befriending Peter, Connor’s finds success in the formula and ultimately tests it on himself, he falls asleep shortly after but when he wakes his once amputated arm has regenerated. Connor’s restored limb soon begins to turn scaly and green and before long he has completely transformed into the Lizard. With his reptilian brain taking over, he loses complete control of his humanity and all that remains is the brutal, vicious lizard. The Lizard does not meet his end in The Amazing Spider-man, rather the antidote turns him back into Curt Connors, and he is arrested. In the film Curt believes he can end all weakness and save humanity by turning human beings into Lizard people. It is possible his return in No Way Home is due to a prison break so he can carry out his mission.
Electro
Electro (Jamie Foxx) is revisited from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Maxwell Dillon was an electrical engineer employed at Oscorp Industries. One night he was asked to stay behind (on his birthday no less) to attend to a broken power line. While fixing the line he was shocked and knocked into a tank of genetically modified electric eels. After Max was attacked by the eels he began to experience changes which gave him the power to generate and control mass amounts of electricity. He subsequently gave himself the flashy moniker ‘Electro’. In the final scenes of The Amazing Spider-man 2, we see Andrew Garfield’s Spider-man seemingly kill Electro with a high voltage power surge. Although there was a teaser that indicated he may live on when a powerbar linked to Electro flickers with electricity. Electro did say in the film he wanted to show everyone what a world without Spider-man would be like. It seems he may have a chance to finish what he started.
