A "conceptual trailer" for a new Spider-man movie has racked up nearly 7 million views on YouTube since it was posted last week. Smasher, the YouTube channel behind the trailer, is known for uploading official movie and TV trailers, exclusive first looks, as well as fanmade, and unofficial concept trailers.
Their latest creative manipulation depicts Dylan O'Brien of Teen Wolf and Maze Runner, as an awkward, high-school era Spidey. The trailer does a pretty good job of splicing together existing footage of O'Brien's Teen Wolf scenes with clips of venomous spiders, and brief frames from Andrew Garfield's portrayal in The Amazing Spider-Man. Upon closer inspection, though, the description for this faux teaser does explain that it is indeed fake. By clicking, "Show More" in the video's description, it clearly states "New Possible MCU/Sony Spider-Man Multiverse Spin-off Movie Concept. Starring Dylan O'Brien, Holland Roden, Britt Robertson and more."
Judging by the amount of views, however, it's clear that many people have failed to realize Marvel/Sony's The Spectacular Spider-Man is nothing more than some video editor's fantasy. Smasher seems to be highly aware of its proclivity to mislead viewers, as the channel's about section contains this disclaimer: "YES Concept trailers are "Fake" & "Not Real". They are made for entertainment, fun and to enjoy!"
The comments section for "The Spectacular Spider-Man" is an amusing mixture of enraged fans petitioning to bring back Andrew Garfield, confused viewers wondering why there are so many different Spiderman actors, and informed watchers telling everyone to calm down because most of the scenes are actually just shots from Teen Wolf.
This just goes to show how widespread the appeal for all things Marvel Universe really is, and clearly, Smasher knew just how to cash in on their chunk of the fandom hysteria.
