Warning!  This Article Contains Spoilers For Spider-Man: Far from Home And The Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailer***

The end credits scene of Spider-Man: Far from Home leaves its audience with some serious questions.  Ever since that day back in July of 2019, the internet has been wall-crawling with theories of how the next installment of the franchise would pan out.  Two years later, after dealing with: a pandemic, a conflict between Disney and Sony as they argued over the Spider-Man franchise, and a lawsuit waged against Marvel and Disney by Scarlett Johansson, we have finally gotten a trailer for the next movie; it did not disappoint.

Intro to “the Spider-Verse”

One of Hollywood’s worst kept secrets was that of the introduction of the multiverse into MCU during Spider-Man No Way Home.   Sony could also use this as a bridge to introduce some of their more popular Spider-Man works into the main MCU timeline.  For instance, any of the Spider-Men from Into the Spider-Verse could make the jump to the MCU, as well as Tom Hardy’s Venom and Woody Harrelson’s Carnage.  If Sony and Marvel take this route, it could allow for plenty of other works to join the MCU, like Ryan Reynolds’s beloved portrayal of Deadpool, whose film rights were recently acquired by Disney after their purchase of Fox.

  A Sinister Shakeup

Spider-Man has a whole rogues’ gallery of villains in the comics, but few are more threatening than Doctor Octopus.  For a long time now, rumors have been flying around that Alfred Molina’s “Doc Ock” will make an appearance in the new Spider-Man film.   When Molina delivered his iconic, “Hello Peter…” in the trailer, fans knew the doctor was in the house.  Also present in the trailer is a mysterious grenade that strongly resembles the bombs used by the Green Goblin, and the trailer featured other villains including: Electro, Sandman, and a reptilian creature called the Lizard who all attack Spider-Man.  For those who weren’t keeping count, that brings the number of possible villains to five.  In the comics, one of Doc Ock’s greatest achievements was creating the villainous collection of baddies called “The Sinister Six.”   It would not be difficult for Marvel to round up another villain to fill out the team, and various existing MCU villains could do. The comic book counterparts of Michael Keaton’s Vulture and Jake Gyllenhall’s Mysterio from the previous MCU Spider-Man films have also both served on the Sinister Six, so perhaps Marvel could bring one of them back to take the final spot.  Fans would love to see the Sinister Six appear on the big screen, and Marvel seems to have all the necessary components to make it happen.

“One More” Theory

 The “One More Day” arc deals with the aftermath of Spider-Man’s identity coming out into the public.  Spider-Man goes to Doctor Strange, who agrees to cast a spell that would make the world forget Peter was Spider-Man.  Peter can’t let Mary Jane forget about his dual identity though, and messes up the spell as a result.  While the movie will most likely end on a completely different note than the comic book arc, it may provide some insight into what the new movie may have to offer, as well as some very clever Easter Eggs.

Despite all the info provided within, the trailer raised many questions…  What was that mysterious brown box Spider-Man carries?  Why does Doctor Strange follow Spider-Man through the Mirror Realm?  Is he going to fight Spider-Man, or are they chasing an off-screen villain?  What was that mysterious black and gold costume Spider-Man can be seen wearing for a brief shot during the trailer?  Regardless of the answers, fans are eager to see Tom Holland back on screen and Spider-Man back in action.  Spider-Man No Way Home swings into theatres December 17th, 2021.