*WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Far From Home and potentially Spider-Man: 3* 

The third installment of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently filming, and is set to be released next December. As per usual, we have several rumored and confirmed characters and even a set video! There is also a wide-spread rumor concerning the idea that this movie may include the Spiderverse. 

Obviously, Peter Parker, his best friend Ned Leeds and his newly acquired girlfriend MJ are all going to be in the movie, as well as Peter’s aunt May. It’s pretty clear that most of Peter’s other classmates will be returning. Among the most notable returnees are Betty Brant (Ned’s ex-girlfriend), Brad Davis, and Flash Thompson. Happy Hogan will most likely be in the movie as well. After the passing of Tony Stark, Peter and Happy bonded over the loss of their friend. Happy and May also seem to have a budding romance, so we’ll see if that continues through this movie. 

Here are some characters who may make an appearance in the movie, although there has been little news about them.  First, we have Nick Fury and Maria Hill. These two almost always travel as a pair now, playing supporting roles in Spider-Man Far From Home and possibly Spider-Man 3 as well. J. Jonah Jameson also has a pretty good chance of appearing in the new Spiderman movie. From the mid-credits scene in Far From Home, we know that J. Jonah and his newspaper The Daily Bugle exist canonically within the MCU. Jonah would play a slightly different role than he did during his appearance in the original Spider-Man trilogy. He would be trading his newspaper editorship for a news website and show, but maintain the same anti-Spider-Man agenda. Since Jonah is the one who broadcasted the doctored video revealing Spidey’s identity and pegging him as a “menace,” it seems likely we’ll get some more J. Jonah Jameson reporting and updates on Peter’s life and whereabouts. Pepper Potts and Morgan Stark, Tony’s wife and daughter seem like a good fit to be added into this movie as well. With Peter on the run from the public who now think he murdered Mysterio, the Stark farm seems like an ideal safe house to camp out in, much like the Barton farm was for the Avengers in Age of Ultron.

Now onto the confirmed characters in Spiderman 3. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Steven Strange will have a large role in this movie, jumping into the mentor role that was previously filled by Tony and Quentin Beck (before Peter figured out he was lying). This has led many fans to jump to the conclusion that this may be a Spiderverse movie. The popular idea is that Strange could show Peter other multiverses in order to help him understand that he’s not alone which would certainly be a very entertaining plot! And seeing as Dr. Strange 2 is titled Dr. Strange In the Multiverse of Madness and Kevin Feigi, President of Marvel Studios has said the two movies will tie into each other, the evidence towards this idea seems to be mounting. 

This brings me to a couple of rumored characters, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective Spider-Men. If this were to be a Spiderverse movie, it seems fairly likely that the Spider-Men from the previous franchises could make an appearance as Peters from different universes. This also means Miles Morales may make an appearance, and there are rumors that they may have already cast someone to play him. 

Another confirmed character who may feed into the multiverse theory is Electro. Played by Jamie Foxx, Electro was the villain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is believed to take place in a different branch of the Spiderverse. Foxx wrote on Instagram, “Tell spidey let’s run it back!… Super excited to be a part of the new Marvel Spider-Man installment! Can’t wait for ya’ll to check the new one. And I won’t be blue in this one!! But a thousand percent bada**!!!” In his post, Foxx is referring to the fact that Electro’s skin was a neon super-charged blue in The Amazing Spider-Man. The idea that he won’t be blue this time is interesting. It may be that this Electro from the current universe has different colored skin, similar to how Peter Parker can look different across the multiverse. 

There is a fan-filmed set video that has been released which caught (what looks to be) an important scene being filmed. When the fan saw the movie being filmed, naturally, they whipped out their phone to take a video. The video features Tom Holland and Zendaya standing on top of a large blue screen-covered platform, some 30 feet in the air. They appear to be talking, and then Tom starts running, grabbing Zendaya as they leap off the platform, aided by wire-riggs. A camera follows their fall. This is a very cool scene to witness, but some eagle-eyed fans have noticed something even more interesting than this fun action sequence. Tom is wearing the black and red Spider-Man suit Peter made for himself at the end of Spider-Man Far From Home. But what Zendaya’s wearing is far more interesting. She appears to be wearing the exact same outfit that MJ wears at the end of the previous film. Black jeans, a white shirt with an artwork print, (a shirt the character wears frequently), and a black cardigan. This means that Spider-Man 3 may start off on the same day-if not moments after-the mid-credits scene that reveals Peter’s name and pegs him as a villain in the previous movie. 

Taking a deeper look at the multiverse idea, there are already many established universes within Marvel. The widely accepted name for the world that the MCU currently exists in is Earth 199999. But there are plenty of other worlds that this possible multiverse could introduce. Earth 90214 is Marvel Noir, and all black and white versions of some comics within this universe are set in the 20s. Earth 101001 is the world in which the Marvel Anime comics take place. The world where Gwen Stacy is bit by the radioactive spider is Earth 65, and Miles Morales lives on Earth 1610 in Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse. (Film Theory: Thor will destroy the MCU (Marvel phase 5)). So it is incredibly likely that the other Peter Parkers we’ve seen on the big screen have their own universes. Miles, however, may hint at something else entirely. 

Miles Morales lives in the Bronx, whereas Peter lives in Queens. Miles has an Uncle Aaron who plays a large role in his story. Meanwhile, a character named Aaron Davis (Miles’ dad’s last name) with suspiciously similar intentions appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming. He tries to make a deal with some criminals who are hoping to sell off pieces of alien tech from the Avengers’ Quinjet. In a conversation with Peter, Aaron says “I have a nephew that lives around here.” So Miles Morales exists on Earth 199999. The question is, is he Spider-Man. Many fans thought this idea was an option that Sony and Marvel were leaving open for themselves, just in case they wanted to kill off Peter and have Miles take his place within the MCU. But it is also very possible that it was just an Easter egg for fans of Miles, and that the Miles in this current timeline isn’t Spider-Man and never will be. 

As previously mentioned, J. Jonah Jameson is the head editor for the fictional newspaper The Daily Bugle. He’s a very big character in Toby Maguire’s trilogy, commissioning Peter as a freelancer to take pictures of Spider-Man and then posting stories filled with lies ruining Peter’s reputation. Jameson was played by JK Simons and made a cameo in the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man Far From Home.  It seems likely that this new Jameson is not the same person, but his multiverse equivalent, as it doesn’t really make sense that there was another Spider-Man before Tom Holland’s Peter gained powers. Along the lines of Jameson, another seemingly confirmed character is Daredevil, (also known as Matt Murdock). Daredevil is a character who’s had a poorly reviewed Netflix show over the past few years and just a few weeks ago, Disney finally got the rights to Daredevil’s character back from Netflix. The hashtag “#SaveDaredevil” has been going around Twitter these past few weeks, begging Disney to make the show better. Instead of improving the show, Disney did something else entirely. Matt Murdock is a lawyer by day and a crime-fighter by night, so whether or not Peter gets help hero-wise, Mr. Murdock could still be a good lawyer in the event Peter goes to court. In fact, it may be that Daredevil never even shows up in the movie, and that Peter’s lawyer’s name happens to be Matt Murdock, shoe-horning him into the MCU for later use.

Peter’s best friend Ned, or rather the actor who plays him, Jacob Batalon may have given us a hint as to the future of his character. Jacob is kind of a chubby guy, but he posted a picture on his Instagram in October showing a huge weight loss transformation  and even some abs. Marvel is famous for their ability to give actors “super-hero bods” in preparation for roles. Whether or not Jacob did this on his own, or had some help from those magical Marvel trainers, it’s still incredibly impressive. That said, it does leave a little bit of uncertainty surrounding Ned. In Far From Home, Peter and Ned grew slightly apart because they were both focused on relationships, Ned was first mad at Peter for wanting to sit next to MJ on the plane instead of playing video games with him. But, after Ned got a girlfriend himself, the two seemed content to spend more time with their dates rather than with each other. We do see a little bit of jealousy from Ned though, when Peter tells MJ he’s Spider-Man and Ned finds them in Peter’s hotel room working on the case together without him. In the comics, Ned becomes the Hobgoblin, one of Spidey’s biggest villains, but it’s important to note that the Ned from the comics isn’t the Ned we know and love from these movies. Peter’s best friend is actually more of a mash-up between Harry Osborn, the character’s frequent bestie, and Ganke Lee, Miles Morales’ best friend. Still, it is possible that a version of Ned from another universe-or even the one from Earth 199999- becomes the Hobgoblin. Ned could have just gotten ripped, but something tells me that doesn’t make a lot of sense if this movie picks up the same day the previous one ended.

As one of the most anticipated Marvel movies of the year, Spider-Man 3 has given us a lot to speculate about, whether I perfectly summed up the plot in this article, or got everything wrong, this movie is sure to be one of the best ones yet!