One of the sillier things about Marvel and Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home is Peter Parker’s apparent reluctance to take out the dimension-hopping foes he’s about to face. In Marvel’s latest trailers for the movie, Peter’s been dismayed at the idea of Electro, the Green Goblin, and Doctor Octopus all being fated to die by his hand, which is quite rich considering that the armoured suit he’s wearing was designed to turn him into a killing machine (when necessary).
While the whole situation with Thanos should have impressed upon Peter how superheroes can’t always just talk homicidal maniacs down, No Way Home finds him more concerned about trying to piece his personal life together after his identity is revealed to the world. Once Peter’s magical plan goes awry, though, and the classic Spider-Man villains show up, they make it clear that they’re down to clown, in the killing sense. To emphasise this point, Sony’s just dropped a series of new No Way Home clips via IGN, one of which focuses on one of Doc Ock’s first confrontations with Peter. Confused and cordial as Peter tries to be, Doc Ock wastes no time mobilizing his tentacles to destroy Spider-Man because that’s just what villains do.
Whether it’s because Tom Holland’s Peter Parker originated in the MCU where heroes try not to (draw attention to the fact that they) kill, or because Marvel and Sony are still trying to maintain some sense of “wholesomeness” around this incarnation of Spider-Man, his whole “I don’t kill” thing seems to be something that No Way Home’s going to spend time unpacking. Peter might just have to get over that concern though, particularly once all the baddies show up ready and willing to put him down for good. Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theatres on December 16.