WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home, now in theaters.
Several of Spider-Man's marquee villains share the spotlight on the cover of No Way Home's upcoming SteelBook release.
A Best Buy listing for Spider-Man: No Way Home's SteelBook shows Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx's Electro and Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus alongside Tom Holland's Peter Parker (though Rhys Ifans' Lizard and Thomas Hayden Church's Sandman are noticeably absent). The trio of terror appears behind Spider-Man, with Doc Ock's tentacles reaching out towards the viewer. The art, which is only available on this 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and Digital combo pack, also depicts New York City's landscape whirling around the edges of the image, recreating some of No Way Home's world-twisting visuals. The SteelBook is currently available to pre-order for $29.99, though there is no timetable for when it will be ready to ship.
Though Green Goblin, Electro and Doc Ock are some of Spidey's most iconic foes, the villains didn't return until well after Spider-Man leaped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios President/Marvel CCO Kevin Feige recently explained that this was an intentional decision since he knew there was no way to compete with the characters' portrayals in Sony's Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man series. "You can't get better than Alfred Molina as Doc Ock," he said. "Stepping into those shoes would be very difficult and it wouldn't be fun. If you were ever going to bring Doc Ock back it would have to be Alfred Molina."
Fortunately, No Way Home's Multiverse-centric plot created an opportunity for the classic villains to cross over into the MCU. Still, Marvel and Sony hid the scale of their involvement from fans until shortly before the film's release. Dafoe said he enjoyed watching fans piece together clues towards Green Goblin's return and the overall evolution of the Spider-Man franchise. "It was kinda fun laying low on this for a while, actually, and letting people speculate about where this Spider-Man series was going," he explained. "So now that people are going to see it, it's exciting."
While No Way Home's marketing team was happy to expose the return of Spider-Man's sinister villains, there are still several stars that have yet to appear in the film's promotion. Despite factoring heavily into No Way Home's plot, returning Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have yet to appear in commercials or official press materials. Their omission seems to be an attempt from the filmmakers to prevent spoilers and allow audiences to experience the twist themselves. Unfortunately, some of No Way Home's secrets have begun to slip through the cracks, with a line of socks spoiling the arrival of not only Maguire and Garfield but Daredevil actor Charlie Cox, as well.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in theaters.
Source: Best Buy