The Marvel Cinematic Universe is always growing, and there are a pair of highly anticipated movies hitting theaters before the New Year. The latter of these is Spider-Man: No Way Home, which will see the return of villains from previous franchises. And Kevin Feige recently opened up about choosing to bring back Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock for the threequel.
There are countless theories and rumors about what Spider-Man: No Way Home will contain, and the first viral trailer only created more. The footage ended with the first look at Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, teasing the multiverse is very much in play. Kevin Feige spoke about the decision to bring back the beloved Spider-Man 2 antagonist, saying:
I remember having discussions with Amy Pascal years ago. ‘Do we want to revisit villains we’ve seen before?’ No, let’s do Vulture, and Mysterio, and characters we haven’t brought to the screen before. But I remember thinking, ‘How would you even do Doc Ock again?’, because Alfred Molina is perfect casting. If you ever brought him back, it would have to be him somehow.
Well, he’s not wrong. Alfred Molina made for an outstanding Doc Ock throughout the course of Spider-Man 2’s runtime. And rather than trying to find another actor to play the villain in No Way Home, Kevin Feige wanted to bring back the OG live-action version of Otto Octavius. We’ll just have to wait and see what his mysterious role in Tom Holland’s threequel ends up being.
Kevin Feige’ comments to Empire help to peel back the curtain on what it’s like producing a massive Marvel blockbuster like Spider-Man: No Way Home. The limited footage and information about the project have certainly made it look like one of the MCU’s most ambitious solo movies. And Doc Ock’s inclusion is only part of what makes Jon Watts’ mysterious threequel such a massive undertaking.
It looks like Kevin Feige has been planning and hoping to see Alfred Molina join the MCU as Doc Ock for a number of years now. Marvel Studios’ unique relationship with Sony over Spider-Man and its characters definitely complicated this situation, but clearly the two studios were able to collaborate to bring the new movie to life. Only time will tell which of the countless rumors about Spider-Man: No Way Home actually come to fruition.
Perhaps the most popular theory about Spider-Man: No Way Home is that Tom Holland will be joined by the previous two Peter Parker actors: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Both Hollandand Garfield have denied these reports, but Marvel fans won’t be convinced until the movie finally hits theaters this holiday season.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently expected to arrive in theaters on December 17th. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
