The Prop In The New Spider-Man 3 Set Photo That Has Fans Buzzing

After a year without a major Marvel project, 2021 has proved to be the gift that keeps on giving. From addictive TV shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier that offer high-quality Marvel adventures in short, weekly installments to the long-awaited Black Widow film finally hitting theaters this summer, there is an abundance of Marvel riches this year. And a new photo of a prop from the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third and final Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker, has got everyone speculating about what else is to come.

The photo, which was shared via Spider-Man: No Way Home News, is of a bus stop still dressed for the film. It features an advertisement that shows the iconic Statue of Liberty wielding Captain America's vibranium shield with the word's "Meet NYC's Newest (and Tallest) Avenger" emblazoned across the poster. 

As any good Marvel fan can tell you, that very same shield is at the center of the narrative of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which is currently halfway through its season on Disney+. After Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) turned the shield over to the Smithsonian to be added to the exhibit dedicated to Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), the U.S. government named a new Cap, played by Wyatt Russell, and gave it to him. Despite this small hiccup, fans still believe Sam will end up with the shield at the end of the six-episode show and officially accept his place as the next Captain America, just like Steve wanted. So what does this poster mean?

There has been rampant speculation about the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home for a while now. If you'll recall, the end of the previous fim, Spider-Man: Far From Home, saw J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, who also portrayed the character in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy) reveal Peter's identity to the world by releasing footage from his confrontation with Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), in London.

Ever since then, fans have theorized that the new movie will finally introduce the multiverse into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite all the rumors, like that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will once more suit up as the popular web-slinger, Marvel and Sony have confirmed very little about the film, so we know next to nothing about the plot of the movie, which only recently wrapped production and isn't set to hit theaters until December 17. Therefore, we're forced to speculate about what this means.

As much fun as it would be, it seems unlikely the Statue of Liberty is going to suddenly come to life like in Ghostbusters 2 and wield a version of the shield against the latest threat to humanity (though we're not completely ruling it out, because that would be awesome). It's possible then that the poster is nothing more than a piece of propaganda, an advertisement promoting the strength and resilience of America by combining two prominent symbols of the country into one. It's also entirely possible that it's just a tourism poster for NYC. The cheekiness of "tallest Avenger" helps sell that theory. But until the film is released at the end of this year, we won't know for sure.