This year has been very good to fans of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. First, Tobey Maguire reprised his Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home and, next month, Raimi himself returns to the Marvel fold to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Obviously, everyone’s waiting to see if the filmmaker will slip any nods to his Spidey movies into the universe-crossing sequel.
While that remains to be seen, a new Doctor Strange 2 tie-in commercial does feature a Spider-Man 2 Easter egg — and folks are going nuts over it on Twitter. The commercial in question is a new Tide ad which stars Benedict Wong’s Wong as he attempts to coerce Strange’s sentient Cloak of Levitation into the washing machine. Watch it below:
As the Cloak flees the Sanctum, at one point it crashes into a Joe’s Pizza Parlor van. Any Spidey fan worth their salt will instantly recognize the importance of this business name — Maguire’s webhead worked for Joe’s Pizza in Spider-Man 2!
It’s back, baby.
Peak cinema.
No way (home)!
It’s come full circle.
OK, so some people have pointed out that Joe’s Pizza is a genuine pizza chain in Manhattan. However, it’s hard to deny that the van in the commercial is a deliberate Spider-Man 2 Easter egg.
Fans are taking Joe’s Pizza turning up in the ad as confirmation Tobey will appear in the movie itself.
But what we really want to know is if his ex-boss Mr. Aziz is back, too.
As a wise man once said… It’s pizza time!
So is this just the beginning of a torrent of Raimiverse references to come in Doctor Strange 2? While there haven’t been any concrete leaks pointing to a Maguire cameo, the trailers have confirmed that Patrick Stewart is reprising Professor X from Fox’s X-Men franchise, so a crossover with the Sony trilogy is definitely on the cards.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits cinemas on May 6.
