The sooner Sony and Marvel Studios shed some official light on who we’re going to see return in Spider-Man 3 the better, because trying to keep track of the sheer volume of names to have been linked with the web-slinging superhero sequel is becoming increasingly difficult.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange and Jamie Foxx’s Electro are the only new additions to have been definitively confirmed, but the very concept of the multiverse has led to a mind-boggling number of other candidates being floated at various points.
By our count, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parkers, Willem Dafoe and Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblins, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, Michael Keaton’s Vulture, Tom Hardy’s Venom, Jared Leto’s Morbius, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark have all been touted at one stage or another.
There’s no chance that all of the aforementioned stars are going to show up in Spider-Man 3, of course, but one of the most likely returnees is Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, with multiple publications reporting that the villain of Sam Raimi’s second Spidey outing will be involved in some capacity. Not only that, but insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that the actor will stick around for at least a little longer as he’s set to return for future films.
Molina’s performance made the tragic Otto Octavius one of the most memorable and compelling comic book bad guys to ever grace the genre, and depending on how Spider-Man 3 pans out once we actually get hold of the specifics, there’s certainly going to room in the MCU’s multiverse for a few more major antagonists once the dust settles and the landscape changes forever.
