Not even Spider-Man’s webs are sticky enough to plug every hole in the MCU ship. The Spider-Man: No Way Home leaks have been constant over the past year and while some are allegedly untrue, they’ve hit an unavoidable fever pitch about a month before its theatrical release. Sony hasn’t done much better either, as casting confirmations and the film’s first full trailer both have contained info that probably should have stayed secret. And it’s hard to imagine that all of these intentional and unintentional reveals are best for the film.
But it is not hard to see why Sony and various other sources are giddy to play their hand: People love callbacks and cameos. Remember that actor from that thing? Well, they’re back in the new thing doing their old thing just like you remember. It’s much easier to market, say, a Star Wars film with Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill than it is to get audiences interested in actors they’ve never seen. That probably explains why Disney took so long to move away from the coveted and comfortable Skywalkers.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug and putting it at the forefront of Spider-Man: No Way Home is a concentrated dose most people probably don’t need. Far From Home’s cliffhanger finale and its status as the final part of the Holland-led trilogy — let alone the fact that it’s a damn Spider-Man movie — are more than enough to lean on. Sony putting a certain classic villain front and center (while overtly hinting at another) is a desperate hand to play when the film didn’t even come close to needing it. After all, while admittedly a much smaller part of the film, J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson wasn’t something that Far From Home relied on in its marketing and was a pleasant way to revive a classic character. No Way Home is literally trying to channel the same energy as that reveal but missing why that reprisal worked.
RELATED: Avengers Spider-Man DLC Release Date Announced
Marvel wasn’t nearly as desperate with Avengers: Endgame. Those trailers were edited well and revealed next to nothing about the plot. There was no need to tease the time travel bits, its five-year time jump, or Captain America’s newfound ability to wield Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir. The mysterious trailers set the tone without spoiling those parts, all of which succeeded mostly because they were so surprising. Had No Way Home’s approach applied to Endgame, Marvel would have made sure to cram in the flashback from the first Avengers to get those cheap nostalgia tingles going. It’s ironic considering that director Jon Watts even compared No Way Home to Endgame.
Withholding key bits like that is an understated part of the experience, as Disney showed with Luke Skywalker’s presence at the end of The Force Awakens and The Mandalorian‘s second season. Hamill even had a tweet with a similar sentiment when talking about his time on The Mandalorian. But Marvel films have spoiled their cameos through trailers like Hulk’s appearance in Thor: Ragnarok (although it was leaked beforehand) and, more importantly, Spider-Man’s MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War. But instead of letting audiences organically learn of Peter Parker’s premier part in the MCU, Marvel used it as a stinger at the end of the second trailer. Robert Downey Jr. did let it slip during an interview months earlier that Spider-Man would be in the film, but the trailer just ran with it and ensured the shot of the web slinger wielding Cap’s shield would be all over the internet and be the featured image for every story about the trailer. A sequel to the universally praised Winter Soldier and the first film of the third phase should have had more confidence.
But official marketing is only a piece of the story as leakers also hold some blame here, too. People leak things because people want to see leaked things; a preemptive peak behind the curtain is alluring. The demand is there, but that’s part of the problem. It creates a culture of trying to prematurely rush information out in a less optimal light just for the attention.
RELATED: Kevin Feige: A Lot of Coordination Went Into Venom Post-Credit Scene
Leaking information about Spider-Man: No Way Home like this is the equivalent of seeing blurry phone pictures of an unannounced game in action or cam shot of a film teaser. Shaky footage and blown out screen shots show off the good bits in the worst and most unflattering light while also ruining the surprise. It’s not clear who actually wins here. There are always going to leakers and leaker culture and sometimes leaks are exciting, but leaks like this damage the end product.
The excitement around Spider-Man: No Way Home is warranted, but the rampant hunger to learn every bit of the film before it even comes out seems like it’s less about the film and more about the culture around anticipating something as a community. It appears as though people want to see certain aspects of Spider-Man: No Way Home divorced of context just to get the information early; delayed gratification be damned. And Sony is more than happy to oblige them.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will likely still have its share of twists and there will always be people who don’t care about seeing crucial details in marketing materials or online leaks. Reveals also aren’t the entirety of the experience and not every part of these sorts of movies needs to be under wraps. But for a film seemingly so centered on unexpectedly bringing back familiar faces, Sony and leakers aren’t leaving much left to be unexpected.
