The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man franchise has made a point of utilizing villains that have never been seen in live-action before, but if the constant speculation surrounding the third installment is to be believed, then Marvel Studios and Sony are intent on doing the exact opposite this time around, bringing back at least one former antagonist.
Jamie Foxx’s Electro is the only one to be officially confirmed so far, with Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus also looking very likely, but beyond that, we’re firmly in the realm of unsubstantiated rumors. Of course, not every single one of the dozen or so villains to be linked to the project is going to appear, but nobody’s been talking about any bad guys from the main MCU timeline.
Presumably, though, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is going to have to battle a villain from his own reality at some point, with all of the chatter initially pointing towards Kraven the Hunter before that particular line of inquiry vanished into thin air through a combination of the multiverse being confirmed for Spider-Man 3, and Sony announcing a solo movie for the big game hunter with Triple Frontier‘s J.C. Chandor at the helm.
However, a new viral marketing image may have teased another unexpected transformation that’s been mooted more than once over the last few months, as you can see below.
It’s hardly subtle, but that’s most definitely a tease for Hobgoblin right above the head of Jacob Batalon’s Ned. The actor has lost an incredible amount of weight ahead of Spider-Man 3 to add more fuel to the fire, but we’ll just have to wait and see whether Peter’s best friend does indeed end up taking a turn to the dark side.