SPIDER-MAN Star Says NO WAY HOME Was Going To Be Marketed As A "Civil War" Between Spidey & Doctor Strange

SPIDER-MAN Star Says NO WAY HOME Was Going To Be Marketed As A "Civil War" Between Spidey & Doctor Strange

We know the Webhead and Doctor Strange come to blows in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but star Tom Holland has now revealed that the studio originally wanted to market the movie around their conflict.

By MarkCassidy - Dec 14, 2021 08:12 AM EST
Filed Under: No Way Home

Most MCU-set movies come with their fair share of surprises, but Spider-Man: No Way Home is by far the most secretive entry in the franchise since Avengers: Endgame. Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have done their utmost to keep spoilers from leaking (some were unavoidable, unfortunately), but it's now come to light that their job could have been a lot more difficult.

While chatting to Yahoo UK to promote the threequel, star Tom Holland revealed that the original plan was to keep the returning villains under wraps and focus on marketing the movie as more of a "civil war" between Peter Parker and Doctor Strange.

"Remember when that was the initial marketing plan? The initial plan was to make the film seem like a civil war between myself and Doctor Strange and they were gonna keep everything a secret. That is impossible."

"We're pretty tired of constantly lying and deceiving people. I feel like conscience is weighing on me now. It's tough," he added, before his costar Zendaya admitted that trying to keep the movie's secrets has been "exhausting."

There's a good chance Sony's marketing strategy needed to be altered once the trades got hold of the news that Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina were set to reprise their respective roles as Electro and Doctor Octopus, and once the former posted about it on social media, there was no putting the cat back in the bag.

It would have been quite a feat in they managed to pull it off while also keeping the other secrets (you know the ones) from spilling, but would there really be as much hype surrounding No Way Home if fans weren't looking forward to seeing the likes of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin in action again?

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters later this week.

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bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 12/14/2021, 9:00 AM
For me it probably would've gotten me a lot more interested. Even though it would've been only partially true, it does sound like a more unique thing to focus on (like the identity thing, which also has lost a lot of the focus)
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 12/14/2021, 9:01 AM
I don't think it would've worked anyways, Doctor Strange is the master of the mystic arts and has access to a vast array of spells and mystic artifacts and weapons, Spidey can only get so far with his abilities and the added quirks of the Stark suit's tech.
ElricReturns
ElricReturns - 12/14/2021, 9:06 AM
Idk... I would have seen this movie if they had never released a trailer and probably been more hyped. It would have literally been the talk of the entire world before the day 9f its release, the first film in cinematic history to make a billion opening day without so much as a trailer or bus ad or billboard or marketing of any kind.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 12/14/2021, 9:11 AM
Would’ve been weird. These iterations don’t really have any long standing tension like Tony and Cap did. There were hints of Tony and Cap’s dichotomy in previous films. Their differences as personality wise isn’t enough.

Not to mention Strange is just vastly more experienced and of a higher caliber in his station than Spidey is.
Gandressmex
Gandressmex - 12/14/2021, 9:21 AM
@BlackBeltJones - Yup the tension between Cap and Iron Man started in the first Avengers movie
Kurne
Kurne - 12/14/2021, 9:22 AM
Not sure if that would have been fair to Benedict Cumberbatch, in terms of having to promote the movie.

From what it sounds like, he's not even in the movie to the extent where it'd warrant him doing a full press run akin to the 3 leads (Tom, Zendaya and Jacob), or like Downey and Evans during Civil War.
JosephCronos92
JosephCronos92 - 12/14/2021, 9:31 AM
I feel where they're coming from, by the trailers it does feel like The Doctor ain't dealing with Spiderman's shit unlike Tony, who did dealt with his shit in a almost fatherly way, out of guilt of course due to the trauma with his father, putting Strange and Spidey face to face.

But it wouldn't worked imo, there's no history coming from them besides fighting together against Thanos, unlike Tony and Steve which the seeds of their feud were planted since The Avengers or Iron Man 2 I'd dare to say. Anyway glad the movie's finally here and can't wait for this upcoming Thursday to watch it.
KWilly
KWilly - 12/14/2021, 9:34 AM
This movie has been leaked so bad, I even know this song they'll play in the credits lol.

It's this btw...

vegetaray
vegetaray - 12/14/2021, 9:50 AM
Should’ve just released a trailer that recapped what we’ve seen from the MCU Spidey up to this point…

No new footage at all…No cast lists or synopsis…Even have the official poster be solid black with only the title on there…Could’ve even had a whole social media marketing campaign about the fan speculation once merch and stuff started releasing…

It’s an MCU Spider Man film…There was zero reason to generate hype with this thing…The tickets were already sold when they announced it…

Imagine the amount of hysteria people would’ve had if they first sat down to watch this movie with exactly zero confirmed info form anybody involved…
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 12/14/2021, 10:00 AM
I think that’s why they should’ve had someone from peter’s universe as a villain as well. It would’ve made the marketing so much easier but Jaime foxx spoiled the entire movie before anything went down so there’s that lol
Origame
Origame - 12/14/2021, 10:05 AM
Gotta say, haven't really liked the handling of the marketing. It's one thing to keep the plot hidden, but like no trailer until 3 months before release? And don't tell me it was to keep the plot secret. They've been flooding us with so many trailers and TV spots that the general public knows most of the big reveals. And now with the leaks we know basically everything except how it ends (which is what you expect from any movie).

Which seems kinda bad considering how much hype the movie has, which is going to mistakenly be attributed to the marketing instead of the big crossover event the movie is.
LSHF
LSHF - 12/14/2021, 11:47 AM
As I've said for years, if it wasn't for marketing, it wouldn't exist.
Kadara
Kadara - 12/14/2021, 6:26 PM
Actually all the leaks and rumors made me want to watch it even more. Originally I was going to watch it anyway, eventually, but now I'm like literally counting the days. Even took a late show on Thursday lol!
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