Major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home are flooding the Internet-- confirming many of the theories and much of the speculation surrounding the much-talked-about film.
The source of these spoilers are official reviews. Outlets including Variety and The Daily Beast have included detailed recaps of the film's plot and characters, which has been the subject of speculation over the past year. This very much includes accounts of if, when and how certain characters appear and what happens to them.
Spider-Man: No Way Home's press screening took place recently, with many observing the latest Marvel Studios instalment, hoping to find out whether or not certain characters -- namely Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's iterations of Spider-Man -- will appear in the film. Until the reviews were published, Sony, Marvel Studios and Garfield himself continued to deny the involvement of previous Spider-Man actors, despite several leaked images and one leaked behind-the-scenes video.
It was previously suggested that even the press screening of Spider-Man: No Way Home would not contain the entirety of the film, with insiders claiming that only 40 minutes of the film would be shown, while the rest would be unveiled to press and regular moviegoers when the film itself premieres. This does not appear to be the case, with some reviewers suggesting how the film leaves its characters.
Spider-Man: No Way Home takes place in the immediate aftermath of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which saw Mysterio reveal the titular superhero's secret identity to the world via the Daily Bugle. As the trailers suggested, Peter Parker turns to fellow Avenger Doctor Strange for help. When Strange attempts to cast a spell to remove Spider-Man's identity from the public's memory, Peter unintentionally disrupts it, causing an apparent tear in the multiverse, allowing villains from several different franchises to pour into the MCU.
While some of these villains were only recently revealed, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2 was revealed early on-- first by Molina himself, followed by a leaked trailer featuring his first appearance as the supervillain since 2004. This was soon followed by the unveiling of Willem Dafoe's return as Green Goblin, then Jamie Foxx's return as Electro. The recently published reviews confirm that both Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans reprise their roles as Sandman from Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man, respectively.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled to premiere on Dec. 17.
Source: Variety, The Daily Beast