Spider-Man 3 is shaping up to be by far the biggest MCU Spidey film to date. Right now, we know that Tom Holland’s hero will be mentored by Doctor Strange, possibly because he’s about to have to deal with all manner of multiversal shenanigans. Alfred Molina is returning as Doctor Octopus from 2004’s Spider-Man 2 as well, alongside Jamie Foxx’s Electro from 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Not to mention there are persistent rumors that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are climbing back into their respective Spidey suits, too.
Exactly how this is all going to fit together remains a mystery, but famed scooper Mikey Sutton is now reporting that his sources have given him some crucial information. According to him, the core of the movie will be the hero’s relationship with Zendaya’s MJ, and specifically how much danger she’s in after it becomes public knowledge that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
This means the central dilemma of the plot will be stuffing the genie that is Spidey’s secret identity back into the bottle. And Sutton says that the person responsible for this is Doctor Strange himself, who will cast a “powerful spell” to change the world’s memory and make them forget that they ever knew it. But there may be consequences, especially as Sutton teases that Mephisto will appear here and go on to be the big bad of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
It’s certainly possible that this could happen, though I have my doubts. My problem with it is that it sounds extremely similar to the notorious mid-2000s One More Day comic book arc. During this, Mephisto wipes everyone’s memory of Peter Parker’s secret identity and erases his marriage to MJ. The story is generally considered one of the worst in Spider-Man’s 60 year history and was described as “insulting,” “infuriating” and “downright disrespectful” to readers, making the mainstream news for how bad it was.
Would Marvel Studios really want to bring a version of One More Day into the MCU continuity with Spider-Man 3? If I were them, I’d be pretending this story never happened. But I suppose we’ll have to wait until late 2021 to find out for sure.
