Practically every Spider-Man villain comes with a tragic backstory. Most of them were once good people who either became consumed with ambition, suffered an accident, or commit crimes to help others. It’s a proven winning formula in comics and movies, and now there’s a convincing fan theory that Spider-Man: No Way Home will see the hero finally redeeming them.
The latest No Way Home trailer revealed that the returning villains all died fighting Spider-Men in their own universes (though Lizard is a bit of a head–scratcher as he survived The Amazing Spider-Man). We also saw Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus working with Peter, MJ, and Ned, having apparently had the faulty inhibitor chip that caused his arms to go haywire fixed.
All that adds up to an interesting fan theory that’s seeing a lot of traction on Reddit. The argument goes, they’ll all be grabbed from their worlds before they truly go over the moral event horizon, giving Peter one more opportunity to redeem them.
The one hold-out will be Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, who is already probably too far gone. The very first thing he does after emerging from his transformation is to kill a lab assistant. Plus, Norman Osborn intentionally experimented on himself despite knowing the potential consequences.
It’s a neat theory, though it won’t be all hugs and kisses, as the trailer indicates No Way Home also will contain its fair share of fighting between heroes and villains. There’s also compelling evidence that they’ve digitally erased Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spideys from the Statue of Liberty fight scene, so perhaps this pair will be the key to ensuring their villains turn back towards the light.
Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on December 17.
