Spider-Man: No Way Home has reached a fever pitch in its marketing campaign. Fans are inadvertently breaking the internet in efforts to get tickets, stars Tom Holland and Zendaya are subtly teasing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's involvement during the interview rounds, and new social spots highlighting everyone from Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin to Jamie Foxx's Electro are dropping every day.
Among No Way Home's advertising efforts has come its TikTok presence. Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have brought J. Jonah Jameson's The Daily Bugle to the video platform, @thedailybugleofficial, and have released in-canon news updates hosted by Angourie Rice's Betty Brant.
In the page's first video, Brant announced herself as The Daily Bugle's "unpaid intern" who would be bringing The Daily Bugle's signature "fair, balanced, and hard-hitting news" to TikTok. That fair and balanced news made its first splash today, as Brant brought an update from an event that presumably takes place in the middle of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Tell Us You Hate Spider-Man...
The Daily Bugle's crusade against New York's resident web-slinger has come to TikTok.
In the latest in-universe TikTok video from @thedailybugleofficial, Angourie Rice's Betty Brant revealed New York City has had some "wildly unseasonable weather" recently, highlighting "crazy lightning" and "sandstorms" as two of the current forecast's oddest occurrences.
"Okay TikTok, we have a major story developing in New York right now. We've been experiencing some wildly unseasonable weather in the Big Apple lately, and there has to be more to this. I've experienced some intense thunderstorms in NYC before, but crazy lightning wasn't on this week's weather report. Last time I checked, the nearest desert wasn't close enough to cause a sandstorm in midtown."
Brant proceeds to speculate on whether the aforementioned storms are the work of Jamie Foxx's Electro and Thomas Haden Church's Sandman, before someone off-screen shuts her down.
"Does this mean supervillains are back? Uh, hold on, one second, I'm getting word from the studio. Yes, no, yes sir, no problem. My name? (laughs) I'm Betty Brant. Yes, you can call me worst intern ever. That's cool."
With her new instructions, issued by JK Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson, Brant places blame on the "Spider-Menace."
"Breaking news directly from the main desk of The Daily Bugle. According to my boss, J. Jonah Jameson, these crazy weather events are the work of the 'Spider-Menace,' trying to make it look like supervillains are to blame. You heard it here first on The Daily Bugle!"
The full video can be watched below:
@thedailybugleofficial Lightning and sand storms in NYC? ⚡️🌪️ Find out who’s behind it all in our latest report!
♬ SpiderMan No Way Home in theaters December 17 - The Daily Bugle
Without Telling Us You Hate Spider-Man
The Daily Bugle's in-universe TikTok page's primary purpose is to drum up Spider-Man: No Way Home anticipation among real fans, but this latest video does contextualize one of the film's biggest battles.
Brant's allusion to "crazy lightning" and "sandstorms" indicates this is the Midtown showdown that pits Spider-Man against Electro and Sandman. Trailer footage shows J. Jonah Jameson present at this battle alongside a Daily Bugle news van, meaning he has a first-hand recollection of this scene.
Every iteration of the ruthless editor-in-chief has had an agenda against Spider-Man, but this take on Jameson might have actually seen something to make him believe the web-head was at the center of this latest destruction.
Jameson specifically mentions that Spidey is "trying to make it look like supervillains are to blame," which could mean neither Sandman nor Electro's faces are visible during this confrontation. Considering both of those antagonists have the ability to transform their bodies into their respective elements, it's possible that No Way Home's early conflicts have Spidey seemingly fighting ghosts.
Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into theaters on December 17.
MCU Writer, Editor, Podcaster
