Plenty have tried, many more will attempt to yet, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be hard-pressed to hit a nostalgia peak quite as high Spider-Man: No Way Home ever again. Combining generations worth of on-screen Spideys for the MCU’s greatest hurrah of 2021 was a feat like no other, and the fan theory floodgates that it’s opened since may never be sealed again.
Simply bringing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back into the fray would have filled the tummies of fans for weeks on its own, but the studio dared to go the extra mile by roping in a treasure trove of legacy villains from the Raimi era and beyond, and while Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin safely took that spotlight, Alfred Molina‘s Doctor Octopus wasn’t far behind him.
Indeed, the high-tech-tentacled villain picked up right where he left off from his captivating turn in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, and played an important role as the first – and only – villain that Spider-Man managed to cure before the baddies went rogue.
Dodgy as the digital de-aging was, it was great to see Molina’s face pop up again in a Marvel film; a luxury we could have potentially missed out on according to Spider-Man: No Way Home – The Art of the Movie book.
Indeed, concept art from the pages of the new release shows that plenty of other Doctor Octopus’ were considered; some that looked like Sirius Black, and others that looked like the Terminator. Suffice to say, sticking with Molina’s likeness was the way to go.
Still, taking a peek into the MCU’s kitchen is always a barrel of fun, and now we know that, on paper at least, the pieces are there to dream up a Council of Doc Ocks if the studio so chooses, and with Jonathan Majors’ MCU future as dubious as ever, having a plan to pivot away from Kang wouldn’t be an unwise trick to have up one’s sleeve.
