‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ star got into trouble for spoiling his ‘top secret’ return

Along with the recently released Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, very few of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s theatrical turns of Phase Four can contend for the top spot quite like Spider-Man: No Way Home; wrapping up one of Peter Parker’s most emotional and subversive arcs we’ve ever seen on top of treating fans to mountains of nostalgic delight, No Way Home is a lock for one of the most timeless MCU films we’ll ever get.

Among the cliffs jutting out of the aforementioned nostalgia mountain was Alfred Molina‘s return as Dr. Otto Octavius (aka Doctor Octopus); previously a tragic nemesis of Spider-Man in the Sam Raimi films, the shattering of the multiverse brought the many-limbed menace to Kevin Feige’s world, and Molina’s performance was just as inch-perfect as it was back in 2004.

But it wasn’t just the cast of No Way Home that Molina joined; he also identified himself alongside the likes of Mark Ruffalo and co-star Tom Holland as one of Marvel Studios’ biggest spoiler liabilities, revealing in an interview with RadioTimes.com that he had been tricked into revealing his return as Doc Ock before the knowledge was made officially public.

Just accidentally, I was talking to a journalist who said, ‘So, you know, how’s the Spider-Man movie going?’ And I went, ‘Oh, great thanks’. Then literally the next day, Variety was like, ‘Alfred Molina reveals Doc Ock returns’.

He would then go on to be the recipient of many an angry phone call.

I got into such trouble. I was getting phone calls from Amy Pascal, Kevin Feige was on the red carpet somewhere and somebody asked him about some Marvel movie and apparently he got a bit snippy and turned around and said, ‘Ask Alfred Molina’.

And from that moment on, Molina’s go-to line when it comes to Marvel interviews has been “I can neither confirm nor deny,” which is exactly the answer he gave RadioTimes.com when asked if Doc Ock would be making any more appearances in the MCU.

Having had a somewhat-healthy dose of redemption during the events of No Way Home, it would be interesting to see where the character could possibly be taken next. But, if this is indeed the end of the line for Molina’s MCU stint, it’s certainly one that we’ll be treasuring for a long time to come.