Could the villain of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ be the Sinister Six?

Guys, we are about to reach critical mass when it comes to Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors. In fact, we may have already reached it a few news cycles ago. We don’t know, we’re entertainment journalists, not scientists. The point is, dear lord, the amount of Spider-Man: No Way Home speculation – and the scope of said speculation – has gone beyond anything Spider-fans could’ve ever imagined.

Is that a good or a bad development? That depends on how you feel about spoilers, we suppose. In the case of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it almost seems like the internet has revealed all of the movie’s secrets and casting surprises already. Except even more new stuff gets uncovered (allegedly) every couple of weeks. Case in point: the current rumors about Willem Dafoe returning as Norman Osborn to lead the Sinister Six.

See what we mean?

Rumor: Green Goblin will be the main villain of Spider-Man No Way Home

Me: pic.twitter.com/FVl2qbodSH

— BLURAYANGEL (@blurayangel) May 28, 2021

Goblin news

The latest Spider-scoop comes courtesy of Jeff Sneider, Senior Film Reporter at Collider, and host of The Sneider Cut podcast. It was in his podcast, actually, that Sneider claimed Willem Dafoe will be the “main villain” in Spider-Man: No Way Home, reprising his role as Norman Osborn. Osborn, as all Spidey fans know, is the civilian identity of the Green Goblin.

Now, we’ve had a couple of other Green Goblins since Dafoe jumped on that goblin glider back in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie. Spider-Man 3 saw Norman’s son, Harry – played by James Franco – take over the Goblin mantle. And The Amazing Spider-Man 2 saw Dane DeHaan, also playing Harry, take a shot at playing Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis.

Neither Franco nor DeHaan have been rumored to come back for Spider-Man: No Way Home (of course, who knows what’ll happen in a few weeks). But Dafoe’s version of the Green Goblin is easily the favorite among most audiences, so it makes sense to pick him as the Goblin to come back in a multiverse story. And when you put this rumor next to the speculation about other returning villains . . . .

Sinister team

Let’s do a quick villain rumor round-up. In addition to Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, the past few months have seen alleged leaks claiming Spider-Man: No Way Home will see the return of Alfred Molina’s Dr. Octopus (from Spider-Man 2), Jamie Foxx’s Electro (from The Amazing Spider-Man 2), and Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman (from Spider-Man 3).

So we are counting four villains there – although only Molina has actually confirmed he’s returning as Doc Ock. Assuming the other rumors are true, that leaves us two bad guys short of a Sinister Six. Don’t worry, there’s more speculation to help us out there: apparently, the other two slots will be filled by Rhys Ifans’s Lizard (from The Amazing Spider-Man) and Paul Giamatti’s Rhino (from The Amazing Spider-Man 2).

We are officially through the looking glass if we are talking about Paul Giamatti’s Rhino as anything other than a pop culture punchline. And yet here we are, watching this imaginary (so far) superteam of villains being assembled out of insider rumors, and Giamatti’s Rhino is apparently in it. What a time to be alive.

Deny, deny, deny

For what it’s worth – which is very little, these days – several people involved in the Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors have actually shot them down. Tom Holland has denied shooting with fellow Spider-men Tobey Maguire & Andrew Garfield. Garfield himself has claimed he never even received a call from Marvel about No Way Home. And Emma Stone, rumored to return as Gwen Stacy, has also said that isn’t true.

And yet, there’s Alfred Molina confirmation of his Otto Octavius reprisal. And then there’s also all this telling silence from everyone else. Where’s Paul Giamatti’s statement? Or Church’s? Willem Dafoe is an A-lister, so surely he’d have something to say about this, even if it’s a bold-faced lie to preserve the mystery. The lack of denial is even more suspicious than the denials themselves.

But of course, this could all turn out to be a case of fandom going down a rabbit hole of enthusiastic guesswork that will end up being pure fantasy. Maybe there aren’t any more denials because all these actors have bigger things to worry about than some fans’ wild theories about a movie they’re not involved in. Still, has anyone checked on Jamie Foxx lately? Maybe that’s an exclusive waiting to happen.

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What do you think of this latest wave of Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors? Would you like to see The Sinister Six in the movie, or would you rather they were introduced in a more traditional fashion? Let us know in the comments!