The star of a cancelled hit series Netflix refuses to rescue becoming the MCU’s Doctor Octopus wasn’t what we expected, but we’ll take it

Sometimes the universe doesn’t give you exactly what you want, but, hey, what you end up with isn’t too bad either. Case in point, we had hoped the star of a beloved thriller series that frequently shows up on “best TV shows that were canceled too soon” lists was going to return to our screens in a Netflix revival. Instead, he’s hopping over to Disney Plus to play one of Marvel’s most legendary villains ever — namely, Spider-Man’s eight-legged antagonist, Doctor Octopus.

OK, backtracking a moment to add some much-needed context. Marvel Studios recently filed for copyright for upcoming animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year, which will finally explore the origins of how the MCU’s Peter Parker became a webslinging wallcrawler. A big point of interest for the show is that it’ll introduce iconic Spidey characters into this continuity for the very first time, including Harry Osborn and, yes, Otto Octavius.

Thanks to the copyright information, Freshman Year‘s main cast has now been unearthed. Hudson Thames continues replacing Tom Holland as Peter, after debuting in the role in What If…?, with the rest of the voice cast including Eugene Byrd (Lonnie Lincoln), Grace Song (Nico Minoru), Kari Wahlgren (Aunt May), Zeno Robinson (Harry Osborn), and, last but not least, Hugh Dancy as Doc Ock. Dancy, of course, is most known for appearing opposite now-fellow MCU villain Mads Mikkelsen in NBC’s Hannibal.

With showrunner Bryan Fuller teasing plans for a mythical fourth season as recently as this spring, online campaigns for Netflix to resurrect Hannibal are never-ending. Despite this seeming like an easy win for the streamer, Netflix has yet to bite (pun intended) at this stage. So Dancy is free to hop over to the MCU to take over from Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus. It’ll surely be fascinating to see how he manages to make the arch-foe his own, especially as Earth-199999’s Peter already faced off against Molina’s take in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Spider-Man: Freshman Year is scheduled to swing its way onto Disney Plus in November 2024.