After two and half years since Spider-man: Far From Home, Tom Holland will return to the big screen in his iconic red suit in the final installment of his first Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The beloved Queens teen will deal with the aftermath of being exposed by Mysterio as he works to separate his personal life from his superhero legacy. To do this, he seeks the help of fellow Avenger, Doctor Strange, who opens the multiverse, leading to chaos that needs to be controlled. Since the post-credit cliffhanger of the previous film in the trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home has been highly anticipated, leading fans to speculate and come up with an abundance of theories for the December 17 release. 

The first widespread theory is that the multiverse will allow past spidermen to fight with Peter. This, of course, implies that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will be in it. The villains from their sagas are already confirmed as the main villains to Holland’s Peter, but whether or not Maguire and Garfield will be in it is still unconfirmed. Despite numerous attempts made by Garfield and other Marvel employees to kill those rumors, alleged photo and video leaks have fans convinced otherwise. 

“I think that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will most likely be in it. Since the old villains are there, the old heroes could be back,” Sophomore Daniel Jung says.

With having so many of the villains from the other Spider-verses, this film has stirred up a lot of attention with old and new Spider-Man fans alike. Those who grew up with the original Sam Raimi (Tobey Maguire) trilogy and Sam Webb (Andrew Garfield) movies are excited to see the villains from their Spider-Man films return and hopefully unite with the current Tom Holland Spider-Man. With this multi-generational fan base, along with the current Marvel box-office breaking trend, it’s been speculated that Spider-Man: No Way Home will be the highest-grossing movie of the year. In addition, since this film is the next biggest theater release since Endgame,—the highest-ever grossing movie—it’s expected to do extremely well. 

“With the amount of anticipation going into this, how much we already know Marvel can make on movies and how likable of a character Spider-Man is, I would not be shocked if this is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time,” Richard says. 

From the trailer, it’s clear this film will be full of cinematic parallels from the other Spider-Man movies. The most anticipated is seen during the two-and-a-half-minute mark of the second trailer when MJ (Zendaya) is falling. In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Garfield’s Spider-Man fails to save his love interest, Gwen, who sadly succumbs to her death. Fans speculate that in a full circle moment, if Garfield is in the film, he will catch MJ. Garfield’s Spider-Man never got his third movie, and so hopefully, if he’s in this one, he will redeem himself and succeed in his character arc. 

“I think Marvel definitely knew what they were doing by teasing that [scene] in the trailer. Especially since, the way we see her falling, Tom Holland is so far from her. I think that’s when we’ll see the first Spider-Man other than Tom Holland appear.” Richard explains.

Finally, fans believe someone important is going to die. Holland himself called the film “dark” and “sad,” and, as seen in the other Spider-Man movies, someone close to Peter always meets their fate. In the Raimi trilogy, it was Peter’s best friend and enemy Harry Osbourn. In the Webb movies, it was Gwen, while in both films Uncle Ben dies. So far, other than Iron Man in Endgame, Holland’s Peter Parker hasn’t lost anyone on-screen like the others have. Combined with Holland’s quotes, many believe that Peter’s uncle-like figure Happy will not make it.

“[In addition to Happy], I think Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man also might die because he has the most responsibility of which he could teach Tom’s Spider-Man. ” Jung explains. “Tobey has had the most complete arc so far, and I feel like his character needs an ending.”

Whether the multitude of theories are true or not is still unclear, but all will be revealed upon the exciting release of Spider-Man: No Way Home on Dec. 17.