Marvel and Sony's worst-kept-secret tundles onwards, with the reveal of two returning supervillains for Tom Holland's next solo outing.
We still don't know whether Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will be back for the threequel (but let's just presume they will be), but what we do know is who five of the (supposedly) planned Sinister Six spots will go to. The two newest villains in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' will be The Sandman and The Lizard.
Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus from 'Spider-Man 2' was the only confirmed villain to appear in the trailer, which was released at the end of August. However, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin and Jamie Foxx's Electro were also teased, although neither actually appear in the footage.
Although Rhys Ifans as The Lizard and Thomas Haden Church as The Sandman were both rumoured to be returning, Sony and Marvel have left fans to speculate for the past couple of months. Now, however, their appearances have been confirmed.
Empire Magazine's newest edition, which goes on sale today, features a huge blow-out of the upcoming action caper. As you can see in the colourful subscriber cover image below, The Sandman is teased in the bottom-right corner of the image, while The Lizard is referred to in the text of the magazine feature article.
Many have also speculated that the two differently-coloured Spider-Men in the kaleidoscope are references to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's wall-climbing iterations.
And so, if it is indeed the Sinister Six villains which 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' is gathering together, who will be taking that final sixth spot? At the end of *SPOILER* 'Venom: Let There be Carnage', Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock seems to experience the Multiverse blip which Tom Holland's Peter Parker and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange have unleashed onto the world, thereby introducing Spider-Man into Venom's universe. Could Venom be the sixth member? With this movie counterpart of the Marvel villain currently more of a do-gooder, it doesn't seem very likely. But as we've seen so far, anything is possible in this universe.
We should also mention that Doctor Octopus and The Lizard both died at the hands of their versions of Spider-Man, meaning that we could be seeing two different-looking iterations of the villains when they return.
In recent days, #NoWayHome has been trending on Twitter as fans anticipate the arrival of the film's second trailer.
'Spider-Man: No Way Home' arrives in cinemas on December 17.
