John Campea (Probably) Spoils Spider-Man: No Way Home

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Several Spider-Man: No Way Home cats are out of the bag, thanks to John Campea. Yesterday, the former Collider host posted a series of pictures from the upcoming Marvel film on his Twitter account, and they give away some big reveals I imagine most people didn’t want to know. Campea quickly took them down, but the damage was done, and they’re being shared everywhere now. If you were able to avoid seeing them, you’re what the Tick would call a lucky duck, and I envy you. If you’d like to look at them, you can check out a tweet from Spider-Man NWH Updates and Leaks below:

*MASSIVE SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME SPOILERS*      

https://twitter.com/Spider_Leaks/status/1457889565310693380

Before I go on – see how easy that was? I put up a spoiler warning, left a decent amount of space, then posted the images. That’s all it takes, and I’m sick of these full-of-themselves entertainment journalists who refuse even to attempt to hide spoilers and demand that you don’t care if the story is ruined for you. Now, John Campea doesn’t necessarily fall into this group; he claims he thought the images were fakes, and he quickly he took them down after he says someone confirmed that they’re almost certainly real. He describes what happened in the video below (the Spidey talk is from 29:40-49:40):

I don’t know John Campea, and I don’t watch his videos (not after I saw him and the other Collider folks “review” Rogue One; in fact, if you want a good laugh, watch this and then this), so take my opinion about this with pepper’s partner in seasoning. I lean towards believing that this was a mistake, mostly because he took them down so quickly after, according to his account, he learned that they were very probably real. However, there are a few aspects to this that make me wonder if the third “conspiracy theory” he lists is accurate (the first two are stupid and obviously not true). First of all, he claims to have a couple of images that are much bigger spoilers than the ones he released; if so, and he thought they were all fake, why did he only post the ones he did? If you’re sharing what you think are bogus pics for a laugh (on which you put your watermark, despite admitting you didn’t make them, which feels highly unethical), why would you hold back the biggest ones? Second, Sony seems pretty laid back about all this; it’s probable that they know it’s a mistake and don’t want to bust on Campea too much, but I’d think they’d be a little more pissed at him than he describes in the video, even if it’s not all his fault. He could also be laying it on thick to make amends, which is understandable (notice he’s wearing a Far From Home hoodie in a video he insists isn’t about Spider-Man). And he’s kind of downplaying his status with his “silly old me” routine; whatever your opinion of him, John Campea is not exactly a lightweight in internet film journalism. So, I think he’s probably telling at least mostly the truth, but there are some things I wonder about too.

Now, since they’re out there and we can’t un-see them, let’s talk about the images. I think everyone kind of figured Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would show up in No Way Home, so as much as it would have been a nice surprise, it’s not devastating to know it’ll (most likely) happen. I’m not thrilled with it for the same reasons I don’t like Tom Holland’s Peter Parker facing all the classic Spider-Man villains that have appeared in previous series before meeting his own versions of them, but it’s what it is. We’ve got the multiverse in the MCU now, for better or worse; so far, it’s all been for worse.

Matt Murdock, on the other hand, makes me angry. I adore Daredevil, and I love Charlie Cox’s performance; seeing him – or any of the Netflix characters who aren’t Iron Fist – take part in the films is a dream I figured would remain as such. In fact, they fit better than any of the other legion of cameos because those series integrated themselves into the MCU better than pretty much anything outside of the movies, and even some of those. (They didn’t need any Captain Marvel-style retcons to explain Matt Murdock.) But that subverted expectation has been ruined now, and instead of being shocked by his arrival, we’ll just be waiting for it, knowing that the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen will eventually help Spidey defeat his inter-dimensional foes. I hope this is a sign that we aren’t finished with Cox’s Daredevil, as opposed to a one-off to appease fans of the show.

What do you make of these Spider-Man: No Way Home leaks? Do you think John Campea made an honest mistake? Will Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle arrive just in time to riddle Doctor Octopus with bullets? Let us know in the comments and stick around Geeks + Gamers for more movie news!