Spider-Man: No Way Home - Official Teaser Trailer, just released from Sony Pictures

[Psyren]

It could be a Mysterio thing. He was notable in the comics for actually being his own counterpart in the Ultimate universe.I just sent a robot version of himself over.

If this ends with us getting another Mysterio back from the Multiverse somehow, I'm all for it!

Sam Raimi's Spiderman was 19 years ago now. Not everyone will have seen it, including many teenagers, who are a main audience. I mean, it's probably watchable without knowing exactly who Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus from these movies are, but still.

Teens matter certainly, but the vast majority of Disney's money doesn't come from the films. It comes from the theme parks and resorts, and 20/30/40-somethings are the ones with the disposable income to go to those (with their families), not teenagers. The movies are a profit center sure, but their primary purpose is to provide the attractions that pull people, in droves, onto that very expensive property.

Ergo, expect the main movies to cater to Gen Y (and X) more than Gen Z. That means seeing things like Raimi callbacks in a 2021 trailer with no explanation given for the younger fans, who they're sure can go google who that guy was at the end if they don't already know.

If they're basing this on the One More Day comics plotline, which also featured Spiderman trying to find a way to erase knowledge of his secret identity, then

Spoiler

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my money's on Mephisto, and introducing a wish-granting devil is a lot less jarring if Dr Strange is also involved.

(And considering how poorly received One More Day was, that's a pretty gutsy move, but Civil War also improved greatly in adaptation.)

Spoiler: One More Day

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Actually, OMD was about Peter trying to bring Aunt May back to life. Granted, her death was a direct result of his identity becoming public, but Peter going back into hiding was a side-effect of the spell rather than his reason for seeking it out like it is here.

And notably, in that comic, Dr. Strange turned him down saying that what he was after was too dangerous to attempt. Similarly, Reed Richards couldn't save her either. He ended up knowingly taking help from Mephisto there, as opposed to whatever hoodwink might be happening here. That might make all the difference - the fact that Peter really shouldn't be the person trusting Mephisto of all people was a big reason people hated OMD.

Another reason audiences and critics hated OMD was the Doylist reason for its existence - the writers being sick of writing around Peter's marriage to MJ, Stan Lee and the fans who liked it be damned. Another cost of the spell was that Mephisto ate Peter and MJ's marriage, leaving him single and swinging free (literally in some cases.) I never had a dog in that particular race but for those who were invested it was something of a betrayal. As they aren't married in the MCU, that won't be an issue here.

With Multiverse of Madness coming up, it might be to foreshadow that some kind of Macguffin or villain is influencing his mind already?

Which might also help explain one of the most common complaints I kept seeing about WandaVision, namely where was he when Chaos Magic was running rampant next door to his own state?