‘Spider-Man 3’ Reveals Info on Doctor Octopus

Alfred Molina confirms his Doc Ock in Spider-Man: No Way Home is the same version of Doc Ock from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.

The announcement of Marvel Studios and Sony’s partnership on a new Spider-Man franchise came as a major surprise in 2015. The third part of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy has already wrapped up filming and has great expectations.

Fans are more excited to see how it builds on Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s shocking ending. Moreover, there are multiple rumors about actors from past Spider-Man franchises appearing.

The rumors began with news of Jamie Foxx playing Electro again after The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but fans were surprised to discover later on that Alfred Molina will reprise his role as Doctor Octopus as well.

Back in 2004, Molina played the brilliant scientist and top-tier Spider-Man villain in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. The franchise already reprised the role of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. However, it will be a different take on the character than the Raimi version.

Speaking recently to Variety, Molina confirmed that de-aging is indeed being used so he can play Doc Ock. The actor first played scientist-turned-supervillain Dr. Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 seventeen years ago. Molina admits he did express concerns about his age to director Jon Watts but he wad quickly reassured.

“He just looked at me, and said, ‘Did you see what we did to Bob Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson?’”.

Molina

But, de-aging has its limits too, as Molina discussed, citing Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman:

“They made Robert De Niro’s face younger, but when he was fighting, he looked like an older guy. He looked like an old guy! That’s what worried me about doing it again. I don’t have the same physicality that I had 17 years ago. That’s just a fact.”

It remains to be seen how effective de-aging technology is in making Molina’s Doc Ock look as he did seventeen years ago.

Molina correctly points out that there were issues with The Irishman in scenes where De Niro was called upon to perform physical moves that betrayed his true age. But presumably, Spider-Man 3 will not see Doc Ock trying to stomp people like in the Scorsese film.

About Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It is intended to be the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The film was directed by Jon Watts and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. He is joined by Zendaya, J,B. Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Alfred Molina. The film is not yet available for streaming on Disney+ but the BluRay package is set to arrive March 22.

It will pick up from the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home whose ending revealed Peter’s Spider-Man identity to the world. Numerous villains from previous movies such as Doctor Octopus and Electro are also set to return.