For months now, Marvel fans have been theorizing how Spider-Man: No Way Home will bring back villains from Spidey’s cinematic past. Both Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus have been confirmed to be returning, with several others heavily rumored. The thing is, though, those two foes died in their first appearances, so how could they be in this new film?
One idea floating around is that they’re playing different versions of the same characters, like J.K. Simmons doubling up as the MCU’s J. Jonah Jameson in Far From Home. We’ve now had it confirmed that this is not the case, however, and these villains will be the original ones we’ve met before. And this comes from Otto Octavius himself.
In contrast to how Marvel stars tend to stay quiet until the movie comes out, Molina has gotten pretty chatty in a new Variety interview. He explained that he was confused when he was first approached to reprise his role, given his character’s death in 2004’s Spider-Man 2. But director Jon Watts told him: “In this universe, no one really dies.”
Molina even went on to say that Watts hooked him in by telling him that No Way Home would pick up Doc Ock’s story from “that moment” in the river – meaning Octavius’ sacrifice to stop his fusion reactor from destroying New York. This sounds like the villain could be pulled out of his timeline at the moment of his death, by some unknown force, and brought over into the MCU’s dimension.
In the same interview, Molina further confirmed that he was hesitant to come back given that he’s almost 20 years older than when he last played the role. Watts convinced him, though, by informing him that de-aging tech will be used to match him to his 2004 appearance. The actor also joked that he was still able to handle the action at the age of 67, as it’s the doctor’s CGI metal arms that do all the hard work and his job is to stand around “with a kind of mean look on my face.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home has now wrapped production and is due to swing into cinemas this December 17th.
