Spider-Man: No Way Home – Every Easter Egg you probably missed in the teaser trailer
By Mike McNulty
The long-awaited first trailer for Sony/Marvel Studios’ third Spider-Man movie contains a basket full of goodies for fans of the Web-Head.
For several months, moviegoers, comic book fans, and lovers of all things Marvel have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Given all the rumors and leaks swirling about this third collaborative Spider-Man project from Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, it seemed as though we would learn all about it before the actual movie hit theaters. Of course, it took a leak for Sony to finally release it, and to great fanfare. As of this writing, it’s No. 1 trending on YouTube with over 35 million views on Sony’s page and over 11 million on the Marvel Entertainment page.
It also contained lots and lots of Easter Eggs, not just for Spider-Man comic book fans, but for Spider-Man movie fans. And not just for the current crop of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, but for the original pre-Disney deal Spider-Man films. Naturally, since I’m the one who tends to over-analyze everything, I figured we ought to look at some of what these Easter Eggs are, what they can tell us about the upcoming movie, dispel some misconceptions…and maybe add credence to a few theories. So strap on your web-shooters and lets getting swinging.
MJ’s copy of the New York Post
In first shot, as we see Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and MJ (Zendaya) trying to relax on the top of their high school. In her hands is the latest edition of The New York Post with the headline “Spider-Man and His Spider-Minions.” That phrase comes off as a deliberate callback to Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, a very popular 1980s cartoon in which Spidey teamed up with mutants Iceman and Firestar. Together, they dubbed themselves the “Spider-Friends” opposed to the “Spider-Minions.”
Underscoring that “Spider-Friends” callback, we can just make out caricatures of Peter in his Spidey costume unmasked, along with MJ and Peter’s best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon). This is the teaser trailer’s first indication that Mysterio revealing Peter’s secret identity has also placed the spotlight onto his friends and family, too. Given that Peter is accused of murdering Mysterio at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, it’s likely MJ, Ned, and even Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) have been accused of being Peter’s “accomplices.” Indeed, we see various shots of them either in what appears to be police interrogation rooms or, in Happy’s case, surrounded by armed SWAT forces.
Incidentally, one of the students must be a fan of Spider-Man’s co-creator, Steve Ditko, as they graphited the word “Ditko” on the back railing.
Right where we left off
The teaser trailer also prominently shows J.K. Simmons once again as J. Jonah Jameson, who, in the MCU, is a cable news host of The Daily Bugle, not the editor of a newspaper of the same name. Those who watched the mid-credits stinger of Spider-Man: Far From Home know that Jameson is the one who outed Peter as Spider-Man on live TV. And based on some of the shots in the teaser, it’s clear that No Way Home begins right where the last film left off.
There are shots of Spider-Man and MJ being mobbed by crowds of people at the subway entrance on West 33rd St., the same place where Spidey saw himself being outed and accused of murder by Jameson. Other shots of Spidey and MJ swinging through the city as Jameson continues his rant appear to be them attempting to escape the police and the media, only to be cornered on top of the Queensboro Bridge. Incidentally, that’s also the same bridge where Spider-Man fought the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie.
Also, we see that as part of Jonah’s smear campaign, there’s an image of Peter with half of his face as the Spider-Man mask. This is a very common image artists have used to either indicate Peter’s spider-sense tingling, and to highlight how Peter, due to his secret identity, tries leading two separate lives.