Spider-Man 3 Title Reveal References Iron Man, Wizard of Oz & More

It took no more than a trio of misdirects and an official subtitle reveal for Spider-Man: No Way Home to take over news feeds everywhere.

The chaos started on Tuesday, when stars Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, and Zendaya took to Instagram to drop three fake home-related subtitles along with a trio of official still images from a familiar set. Holland put an end to the madness on Wednesday, dropping a video that revealed the official No Way Home title on a whiteboard along with references to Iron Man and some other familiar Marvel imagery. 

While the official name for Tom Holland's threequel was highlighted in big font, the title card was surrounded by more than a few honorable mentions.

SPIDEY 3'S RUNNER-UP TITLES

The title is here, but the theorizing has only just begun.

Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures officially released Tom Holland's Spider-Man: No Way Home Instagram title reveal, once again spotlighting the white board of scrapped home-inspired title options. The brainstormed options, some of which nod to other films, are coupled with less-than-happy reactions.

• Home Sweet Home (Gross)
• Home Worlds (Boring!)
• Work From Home (Please nooooo)
• Wanna Go Home (We're already there!)
• No Place Like Home (Trademarked?)
• No Way Home 
• Homerun (What?? Sports ball!)
• Welcome Home 
• Home Alone (copyright issues!!)
• Far From Home (We did this already!)
• Homemade (too cutesy)
• Webcamming (Keep it PG! Needs "home")
• Homesick (ughhh!)
• Homeschooled (Aunt May says NO)
• Zooming Home (Please. Stop.)
• Stay At Home (STOP. Hard pass)
• Close To Home (Hits too close to home!)
• Can’t Find Home (What?)

Alongside the scrapped titles comes drawings of familiar objects to the Marvel Cinematic Universe such as the Iron Man arc reactor, the Tesseract, and the Spider-Man emblem.

OBJECTS SHOW MCU CONNECTIONS

The various familiar objects make sense within Spidey's story, but the emphasis on hexagons has fans theorizing.

Marvel President Kevin Feige has confirmed the events of WandaVision will tie into No Way Home in some capacity. Given that sinister sitcom's emphasis on the six-sided shape, it feels like less than a coincidence that these hexes were overty prevalent on this white board.

HOMAGE PAID TO FILMS OF OLD

Director Jon Watts has taken inspiration from numerous coming-of-age flicks for his MCU Spider-Man franchise, and a couple of these scrapped titles make nods to iconic films of yesteryear.

No Place Like Home coupled with the "trademarked?" reaction is a reference to Dorothy's memorable heel-clicking line in The Wizard of Oz, and Home Alone is a less-than-subtle wink towards the famous John Hughes-written Christmas flick.

While those two options played homage to a duo of celebrated movies, some of the other fake-outs allude to where Spidey 3 might be going.

FAKE TITLES HINT TOWARDS SPIDEY 3'S PLOT?

Alongside the "Aunt May says NO!" reaction, Homeschooled gives the indication that Peter Parker is not going to be able to hide from the public. If his aunt won't let him take his classes online, Pete is in for one super awkward school day. It will probably be best to avoid Flash Thompson too, but his Instagram Live will find a way to get an exclusive interview with his web-slinging hero.

Most intriguing of these title options is Wanna Go Home, considering the reaction is "we're already there!" If Pete and the gang are already home, what does the official No Way Home title refer to?

Let's take a trip down speculation lane.

For what feels like over a year, Spider-Man alums Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have been long-rumored to make some sort of appearance in Holland's threequel. While those rumblings have never truly gained significant traction, confirmed returns from Jamie Foxx (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) have led fans to believe they will be reprising their roles as Electro and Doctor Octopus, respectively. 

No Way Home is assumed to be alluding to Spidey being on the run after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home painted the friendly neighborhood hero as a murderous criminal. Oh, and his identity was revealed on national television too. 

But what if the official subtitle is referring to the fact that Holland's Spidey predecessors have entered the MCU through the multiverse, and now have No Way Home? 

SUBTLE NOD TOWARDS MILES MORALES

Speaking of other Spider-Men, fans have noticed the familiar outline the No Way Home title is boxed in. The outline is just about a perfect rendering of the shape of Puerto Rico, which is the nationality of Miles Morales. Beyond that, an arrow points towards where the province Guánica would be. In 1898, Americans landed in the country by entering through that province, and were led by General Nelson A. Miles. 

It may be a stretch, but in the MCU, everything matters.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to swing into theaters on December 17, 2021.