No Way Home is currently slated for release on December 17, 2021. As of this writing, that puts us 5 months prior. A peek into the past suggests that Sony has been rather aggressive with its trailers. The first trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped around December 2016 for a July 2017 release – almost 6 to 7 months ahead. And despite nearly spoiling Avengers: Endgame, the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped in January 2019, just about 5 to 6 months shy of the Spidey movie’s release.

So why the delay around No Way Home? What’s taking so long?

I can wager a few guesses. First, times have changed. We’re no longer living in the era of theatrical releases. Streaming is the norm and so any release of a trailer will be fully online and will stay online. There will be no theatrical showings of tentpole, big-budget, blockbuster movies that the trailer can be attached to for generating buzz.

But shouldn’t this ideally afford Sony more freedom in dropping the trailer? Well, it should. They might want to time it to a notable event. The best option would’ve been Comic Con if it were held at its regular date, but that has been shifted to November for this year.

Sony could also be mulling over the release date of No Way Home behind the scenes. They wouldn’t want a Black Widow like situation where early trailer releases lost steam after the movie ended up being delayed by over a year. As such, Sony would want to be doubly sure that they’ll make the December release date before releasing the first look. They’d know it’s going to set the internet talking and they can’t afford to lose that buzz if the date then shifts by another 5 months.

If the reason above is true (and it’s the one that makes most sense), Sony would ideally want to lock down on the movie’s release date before outing the trailer, explaining why the No Way Home trailer is delayed. That’s going to depend on a lot of factors, which Sony would undoubtedly be monitoring. Whenever the trailer ends up online then, that’s also going to be a large indicator of Sony’s confidence in the December 17, 2021 release date for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Until then, we can only salivate at the prospect of seeing all live-action Spider-Men on the big screen at once and hope Marvel respects and honors the legacy of the Spider-Man movies gone by.