Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer brings in Doctor Strange and teases a wild multiverse plot

Some fan-favorite Spider-Man villains are about to make a big screen return.

The highly anticipated first trailer for Marvel's Spider-Man: No Way Home was released Monday, teasing a wild plot that looks to be bringing in numerous characters from prior Spider-Man film universes. After Peter Parker's identity was revealed to the world in Spider-Man: Far From Home, he convinces Doctor Strange to cast a spell that would undo these events. But that apparently has some unintended consequences, and the trailer ends with a big reveal: the return of Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus from 2004's Spider-Man 2. It also appears to tease Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin from 2002's Spider-Man.

It's a significant moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which generally doesn't incorporate characters or plot lines from non-MCU movies, like the original Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. But fans have long speculated that No Way Home could involve all three of the live-action, big screen Spider-Man franchises being combined following some crucial multiverse events in Loki, and there have even been rumors that prior Spider-Man actors Maguire and Andrew Garfield could potentially return. That still hasn't been confirmed, but the film is also reportedly set to feature Jamie Foxx as Electro, a character who originated in Garfield's Spider-Man series.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This is all certainly a far more ambitious storyline than you might expect from an average Spider-Man sequel, and the trailer also teases what looks to be a big role for Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange. Rumors surrounding the movie's multiverse connection have made this trailer among the most anticipated in recent superhero movie history — though the fact that it fails to reveal whether Maguire and Garfield are indeed returning means the frenzied speculation is unlikely to stop anytime soon.