UPDATE: After seeing the new trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” we’re pretty sure we know who the six will be. Check it out here.
A new poster for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” on Sunday dropped a pretty big surprise on fans, all but coming right out and saying that the movie’s villains will be teaming up to fight Spidey as the Sinister Six.
Take a close look:
Yes, the poster only confirms four villains: Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro and Green Goblin — Doc Ock’s arms may be the most prominent villainous feature of the poster, but there’s very clearly lightning and sand flowing behind Peter Parker in the image, along with Gobby flying on his glider up in the top right corner. But given Sony’s long, documented history of trying and failing to get a movie about the villains going, and the fact that “Far From Home” will be smashing various Spidey universes together, we have a hard time believing the chance to finally put the Sinister Six onscreen will be wasted.
But again, that’s only four villains. The Sinister Six has, well, six. Go figure. So who will round out the sextet? There’s actually a handful of possibilities.
The original group — which first appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #1, written by Stan Lee himself — was made up of Doc Ock, Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture and Kraven the Hunter. With three of those people already accounted for on the “No Way Home” poster (please bring back Thomas Haden Church, guys) that just leaves us with the slots filled by Mysterio, Vulture and Kraven outstanding.
We’ll deal with Mysterio first. Many fans are hoping that Jake Gyllenhaal’s villain will somehow be resurrected in “No Way Home,” but we’ll remind you that “Spider-Man: Far From Home” made a point to explicitly say his death wasn’t an illusion. So Mysterio, at least as we knew him, probably isn’t coming back.
But at least three of the other “No Way Home” villains are from other Spidey franchises, thanks to whatever Doctor Strange does to the multiverse with that botched spell. Doc Ock, played by Alfred Molina, comes from “Spider-Man 2.” Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, comes from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” And we’re pretty sure that is Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from “Spider-Man” we hear laugh in the “No Way Home” trailer, even if he still won’t confirm it.
So yes, there is a chance that a different Mysterio could work his way in there. You can rarely ever count out anything entirely in the MCU.
But assuming that’s not the case, perhaps Green Goblin is taking Mysterio’s place in this lineup — he was eventually part of the six in the comics.
Meanwhile, Vulture already exists in Sony and Marvel’s spider-verse. We first met him in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” played by Michael Keaton. Last we saw him though, he was in jail. And it’s worth noting: the last time we saw him wasn’t in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Last week, Adrian Toomes (Vulture’s real identity) popped up in the trailer for “Morbius,” alongside Jared Leto. And in that trailer, he was still in his prison jumpsuit.
Of course, breaking out of prison isn’t exactly uncommon in the superhero world. So yes, Vulture could probably easily pop out for a bit and join the team, if he really wants to. If he doesn’t though, there’s also a viable alternative for him: Venom.
Venom was also part of the Sinister Six at one point in the comics, so he fits in pretty easily as well, and the mid-credits scene for “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” expressly takes place at some point during “No Way Home.” We see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock somehow magically warped into the Tom Holland Spider-Man universe, and given Venom’s immediate interest in murdering Peter Parker, we assume they’re going to fight.
Now, we’re left with just Kraven the Hunter. We haven’t technically met him yet, but Sony is working on a stand-alone Kraven movie that will star Aaron Taylor-Johnson and set for release in 2023.
Now, technically that film takes place in “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe,” the branding for movies based on Spider-Man characters that exist outside the MCU. Sony came up with that term as a way to deal with the unique situation it and Marvel are in: Sony has the rights to these characters, including Spider-Man himself, and is smartly refusing to sell them back to Marvel.
Instead, per an arrangement reached in 2015, Marvel is allowed to put Spidey into several of its movies, and Sony is allowed to explicitly use concepts and characters from the MCU in new Spider-Man films.
That deal didn’t initially allow ancillary Spidey characters to appear in the MCU, but Sony could do whatever they wanted with them otherwise. Hence “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.”
But given the situation with Vulture, Morbius, and Venom, we can’t rule anything out anymore. It sure seems as though the two studios are extending their partnership past “Spider-Man,” and Doctor Strange’s multiverse screw-ups would be one hell of a way to bring Kraven into the universe. (Yes, that is actually what they called it, and yes it’s hilarious.)
The likelihood of it actually happening? Really, it’s anyone’s guess.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” will premiere exclusively in movie theaters on December 17, 2021.
UPDATE: After seeing the new trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” we’re pretty sure we know who the six will be. Check it out here.