Alfred Molina Confirms Doc Ock’s Return!
Octoheads (that’s webheads for the villainous types), Alfred Molina is officially confirmed to return as Doctor Otto Octavius in Spider-Man: No Way Home, according to an exclusive report from Variety.
Alfred Molina Returns!
According to the report from Variety, when Molina was first invited to reprise his role as Doc Ock in the third installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man films, he was told to keep it quiet.
However, his casting was already a well-known secret among fans of the Marvel Multiverse. In fact, at Marvel Blog, we’ve already floated the idea of a live-action sinister six!
Photo: Sony Pictures
Molina told Variety:
When we were shooting it, we were all under orders not to talk about it, because it was supposed to be some great big secret. But, you know, it’s all over the internet. I actually described myself as the worst kept secret in Hollywood!
Not only did the actor confirm his involvement in No Way Home, he also detailed his experiences being on set.
Molina’s Return as Doc Ock
Molina last played Doctor Otto Octavius in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man 2 (2004) over 17 years ago. In Spider-Man 2‘s climactic scene, Doc Ock drowns himself and his reactor in the river.
Photo: Sony Pictures
When the actor asked No Way Home director Jon Watts how he planned to bring Doc Ock back from his watery grave, Molina said the director told him, “In this universe, no one really dies.”
Well, that’s sorta true. Tony Stark is dead… but we might get him as an A.I. or Jon Hamm.
This is your IRON MAN. Photo: WonderCon At Home via Rebecca Kaplan
Since it’s been 17 years since Molina played Doctor Octopus, Marvel Studios will be performing CGI magic to de-age the actor so he looks like he did at the end of the movie.
Alfred Molina in Spider-Man 2. Photo: Sony Pictures
Marvel Studios has done this process in other films. In Captain America: Civil War (2016), Marvel Studios used CGI to de-age Robert Downey Jr. to look like he did in 1991; and in Captain Marvel (2019), the studio de-aged Samuel L. Jackson to play a younger version of Nick Fury. And over at Lucasfilm, Mark Hamill was de-aged for a shocking cameo on The Mandalorian.
Molina told Variety, “It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet and a slightly a slightly dodgy lower back.”
Photo: Sony Pictures
Despite his dodgy lower back, Molina isn’t concerned about the physicality of the role, saying that:
My basic physical move as Doc Ock, as the actor, is just [glaring intensely at the camera and making a menacing noise]. I just do that a lot, and the arms are doing all the killing and smashing and breaking. I’m just [glaring], with a kind of mean look on my face.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Reports of that Jamie Foxx is cast as Electro have also appeared online. As we previously reported, the casting of Molina and Foxx would reunite three generations of Spider-Man movies, making the perfect live action Spider-Verse, starring Tom Holland!
Photo: Marvel
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently scheduled to be released on December 17th, 2021.
