See Alfred Molina Back As Doc Ock In Spider-Man: No Way Home
There are new images from Spider-Man: No Way Home including shots of Alfred Molina back in the villainous role of Doc Ock.
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It’s been 17 years since Alfred Molina wrapped his tentacles around Spider-Man and his world as Doc Ock — or Doctor Octopus, if you’re so formal — in Spider-Man 2 (the one with Tobey Macguire). Now he’s back on the prowl in Spider-Man: No Way Home and making Tom Holland’s life as Peter Parker more tangled up than it already is after his secret identity was revealed to the entire world by Mysterio, who he’s accused of murdering. We have pictures of the notorious leviathan villain out for revenge courtesy of Empire Magazine.
The shots of Alfred Molina using his mecha tentacles to get around town and blast anyone standing in his way are much cleaner than they appeared in the teaser trailer that came out two months ago. The major difference between Doc Ock’s appearance in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home is that his tentacles may have been upgraded with a touch of red in the mechanical links. However, he’s still trying to punish Spidey with his same old techniques.
Kevin Feige, the big boss of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, told Empire in an exclusive feature interview that despite the major changes to the Spider-Man cast, he thought it would be a great idea to bring the actor back to play the mad doctor. “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,” he said. “But then 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.”
According to ComicBook.com, Kevin Feige said he was floored to be working simultaneously on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and with Alfred Molina once more in Spider-Man: No Way Home at the same time. “It is absolutely surreal to be working on a Doctor Strange movie with director Sam Raimi in one part of the office, and then working on a Spider-Man movie with Jon Watts and Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in another room,” he said. “That has been a mind-blowing part of the last 10 years of my life.”
In Spider-Man 2, Dr. Otto Octavius mentors Peter Parker during an interview for his college essay, but he turns into Doc Ock after his harness fused into his body and killed his wife in a nuclear fusion experiment gone awry. The inhibitor chip that controlled the artificial intelligence of the tentacles is destroyed, and he chases after Spidey in an attempt to perform the experiment again. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doc Ock returns to as one one of a group of villains dedicated to make Peter’s life a living hell. Of course, it’s been almost 20 years since Spider-Man 2, hence the technology used to de-age Alfred Molina to make him appear as young as he was when he appeared in Spider-Man 2.
Sounds like Kevin Feige made the right choice in casting Alfred Molina as Doc Ock once again. His appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home would be worth all the nostalgia for fans who grew up watching his performance back in 2004. Audiences can judge for themselves when the film hits theaters on December 17.
