The first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home finally came our way this week and naturally, fans have already scrawled through it to find out everything they can about the upcoming second solo movie for Tom Holland’s wallcrawler.
The trailer itself gave us a good look at the Elementals, giant creatures rampaging through Europe that Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio will seemingly battle, leaving Spidey out of a job. Something Spider-Man lovers immediately noticed about the Elementals though is that they resemble a trio of Peter Parker’s most perennial foes from the comics. Namely, Sandman, Hydro-Man and Molten Man. It looks like fans’ instincts were right on the money as, on closer inspection, the trailer features easily-missed references to all three villains.
Twitter user Silas Lesnick – with some help from CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg – gets the credit for spotting these. In each scene that one of the Elementals attacks, a numerical reference to the debut of the three foes mentioned above can be glimpsed. See for yourself in the gallery below.
First off, there’s a license plate on London Bridge that reads 2865 SEP – corresponding to Molten Man’s debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #28, published in September 1965. The number on a boat in Venice then reads Asm 212 – surely a nod to Hydro-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #212. The hardest one to spot is the plate on the wrecked car in front of Nick Fury when he and Maria Hill are shooting at the “Sandman.” We can make out “463” though, and Sandman first showed up in Amazing Spider-Man #4, published in 1963.
All this definitely leads us to think that things aren’t as they seem. All three of these villains are career crooks in the comics, so it’s possible that Mysterio’s hired them to act as his fake monsters so that he can pretend to be a superhero. Quentin Beck’s known as the master of illusions, after all, so maybe they aren’t as monstrous as they appear?
Time will tell, but we’ll keep a close eye on the following trailers to see what else we can discover before Spider-Man: Far From Home swings into theaters on July 5th.