Spider-Man: No Way Home is a film surrounded by crazy rumors, and last week, the possible members of an interdimensional Sinister Six were revealed by one so-called "scooper."
Those are far from the only baddies expected to appear in the film, though, with Marvel Studios reportedly pulling out some big names from the Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man franchises. That's a lot to fit into one film, but if we're getting the Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire versions of Spidey, then they need to face a huge threat!
Now, we've delved into all the wacky rumors surrounding this threequel to bring you a definitive guide to 10 villains who are supposedly going to show up in the MCU this December.
There are some big surprises here, and others that...we'll be honest, they'll leave you might confused!
10. Mysterio
Quentin Beck died at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, but we're not convinced he's really gone.
That would explain why Jake Gyllenhaal is rumored to reprise the role in this sequel, and Marvel Studios could easily retcon his fake story about the Multiverse so that it has some truth to it (perhaps he just posed as a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee to take advantage of all those people who hated Iron Man).
Mysterio is too good a baddie to be forgotten about, and his powers of "illusion" would make him a terrific addition to any iteration of the Sinister Six.
At the very least, Mysterio should be revealed as the mastermind of everything we see in No Way Home, laying the groundwork for a rematch with Spidey in Spider-Man 4.
9. The Lizard
Rhys Ifans played Curt Connors/Lizard in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, and his story ended with him behind bars after the wall-crawler managed to soundly defeat the scientist turned monster.
We're not sure anyone is crying out to see more of this Lizard, but the same could probably be said for Jamie Foxx's Electro. With a total overhaul of his appearance (we'll take the lab coat and purple pants, please), fans are likely to be happy, and there's plenty a villain like this could bring to the Sinister Six.
He a baddie that Garfield's Spider-Man has a history with, and with only a handful of villains to pluck from that web-slinger's world, we'll take Lizard over Harry Osborn!
It's still hard to imagine it happening, but this is certainly a pretty intriguing rumor.
8. Sandman
Spider-Man 3 was disappointing on a number of levels, but the decision to make Flint Marko the man who pulled the trigger on Ben Parker in that mugging ranks among Sony's dumbest decisions.
There was just no need for it, but that doesn't mean we're not keen to see more Sandman.
Visually, he looked great almost a decade and a half ago, but with today's technology, Sandman could blow us all away. He's a unique threat to Peter Parker, and should Marvel Studios fully embrace the comics, then we can look forward to him utilising a hammer and mace made from sand as he battles all three versions of Spider-Man.
We can live without his personal connection to Maguire's Spidey being explored in the MCU, but as a member of the Sinister Six? That sounds pretty badass to us.
7. Rhino
The Rhino factored fairly heavily into the marketing campaign for 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but ended up appearing only in the final few minutes of the film.
As it happens, we'd already seen 99% of that in the trailers, and the battle between Spidey and Rhino...well, it ended up not even being shown! Needless to say, we were disappointed, especially as Sony did a surprisingly good job of finding a way to make this villain would well on screen.
We'd love a comic accurate Rhino, but that's not easy to pull off on screen. Perhaps this version will be pulled through the Multiverse at the same time as Maguire's Spider-Man, hopefully getting another, streamlined costume in the MCU.
As a member of the Sinister Six, Rhino would certainly be the muscle, anyway!
6. Scorpion
At the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, a badly injured Mac Gargan (who Spidey inadvertently took out with a car) pushed Adrian Toomes to reveal the webbed wonder's secret identity.
The Vulture refused, but the entire world knows the hero's name now.
That should open the door to Gargan taking aim at Spider-Man, but only after he receives some upgrades and is transformed into the Scorpion. This might be a lot to squeeze into an already busy movie, and Sony Pictures could have other plans for Gargan seeing as we know Toomes will return in Morbius.
It seems like a missed opportunity not to do something with Scorpion in the MCU, but it wouldn't be the first time Marvel Studios has teased something and not paid it off.
5. Hobgoblin
If No Way Home really is taking us on a trip through the MCU's version of the Multiverse, then it's possible Peter Parker will get to visit some crazy alternate realities, crossing paths with familiar faces in drastically different roles.
Jacob Batalon has dropped a tonne of weight prior to shooting, and one rumor suggests that the actor is going to get the opportunity to suit up as the Hobgoblin.
That would be pretty nuts, and while Ned Leeds has a history with that alter-ego, Roderick Kingsley is obviously the real deal. Sure, it might be fun for Batalon to stretch his acting chops, but that shouldn't be at the expense of a villain who could quite easily hold his own in a future movie.
We'll see, but Hobgoblin isn't rumored to have much more than a cameo in this film.
4. Vulture
The Vulture was the first villain that the MCU's Spider-Man faced, and you'd best believe it would make sense for him to target Peter Parker after his role in sending him to prison.
Adrian Toomes isn't rumoured to be a member of the Sinister Six (which blows our mind), but there have been rumblings that Michael Keaton has shot something for No Way Home.
That likely ties into whatever the heck was going on in the Morbius trailer; in that, we saw the Living Vampire come face-to-face with The Vulture in his prison jumpsuit, a sign perhaps that Toomes is able to escape when that scientist turned monster does. If so, chances are Sony has its own plans for him.
As a result, we're not banking on this villain factoring into whatever direction this film heads in.
3. Doctor Octopus
The trades have reported on Alfred Molina's return as Doctor Octopus, and the actor himself has revealed heaps of details about this interpretation of Otto Octavius.
Molina claims we'll pick up with Otto moments after he seemingly died in the river, and that ties into rumors about all these Multiverse baddies arriving in the MCU at the moment they were taken out by the wall-crawler. He may have had a moment of clarity, but Ock wanting revenge does make sense to us.
Based on all that, why is the villain on a list of rumored baddies?
With so much conflicting information about No Way Home doing the rounds, we can't say for sure what the deal with Doc Ock will be in this film, and it's possible Molina was deliberately trolling us!
2. Electro
When Jamie Foxx was cast in No Way Home, the actor quickly took to Instagram to share a piece of fan-art depicting his Electro squaring off with three different versions of Spider-Man.
That was quickly deleted, as were his comments about Electro no longer being blue.
If that's the case, then it seems these returning baddies are going to receive overhauled appearances. That leaves us to wonder how much they've changed since we last saw them and whether the worlds they hail from truly are the same ones we saw on screen several years ago.
It's worth noting that they could just be similar ones as that might give Marvel Studios a little more freedom to play around with these characters. Foxx could also be playing a totally different Electro!
1. Green Goblin
Willem Dafoe's return as the Green Goblin has been rumored for months now, and if some sort of interdimensional Sinister Six is being assembled, then it would make sense for the villain to be included.
Norman Osborn hasn't had much of a history with the Six in the comics, but making him the mastermind of this iteration would be perfect. Rumor has it that he uses the MCU's version of Oscorp to tap into the Multiverse and bring more villains into our Spider-Man's world, with one possible plan being to have him stick around afterwards.
There are even alleged plot leaks out there that claim he'll kill a major character, so the Green Goblin could soon be key to Spidey's MCU adventures as well.
We'll see, but of all the rumoured villains in No Way Home, we hope Gobby is among them!