Spider-Man is one of the few comic book characters whose rogues gallery is just as famous as the superhero itself. Some of these bad guys, like Green Goblin, Venom, and Doctor Octopus, are frequently counted amongst the greatest comic book villains ever. Spider-Man has been rebooted in live-action twice in the last two decades, and we’ve seen numerous iterations of his foes in both films and television. But it took two solo movies and five years before fans could see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man face off against Green Goblin/Norman Osborn and Doc Ock/Dr. Otto Octavius.
The aforementioned supervillains, along with a few others, appear in Holland’s third outing as the titular web-swinger, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Surprisingly, the characters are portrayed by the actors from the previous Spider-Man movies. Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe, and Thomas Haden Church reprise their roles as Doc Ock, Green Goblin, and Sandman, respectively, from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Rhys Ifans and Jamie Foxx reprise their roles as Lizard/Dr. Curt Connors and Electro/ Max Dillon from the Marc Webb directed Spider-Man movies. Marvel head Kevin Feige explained this bold and ambitious plan in a recent interview.
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Tom Holland’s take on Spider-Man/Peter Parker really was quite different, especially considering his young age, his affiliation with Tony Stark, and the exclusion of Uncle Ben. Fans were furious about Holland not making his own suit, with some even declaring him Iron Man Jr. However, Spider-Man: No Way Home changed all of that, allowing Holland’s Peter Parker to have a fresh start. But don’t count on seeing Goblin again, as No Way Home revealed that Norman Osborn doesn’t exist in the MCU.
When we had the chance to bring Spider-Man into the MCU with Homecoming, it was really exploring two things that had never been explored before in the Spidey movies. One was making him much younger, that he’s in his early years of high school and dealing with what it’s like to be that young and to have these powers, and to really relish the high school setting. And the other one was that it’s set within the broader Marvel universe and that there are other heroes there. So for the first few films, it was always, ‘How do we do things that have never been done before?’
Feige further revealed that the Oscorp storyline had been used before and to great effect. Plus, Dafoe and Molina’s performances would be difficult to surpass. After all, there is a reason why Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy is held in high regard.
The multiverse and Sony’s collaboration made it possible to logically (at least somewhat) explain the return of the classic villains as most of them had perished fighting Spider-Man. And Spoiler Alert! The Spider-Men of those universes also return in No Way Home, but most people know that by now. After months of speculation and misleading marketing, it was amazing to see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as the web-swingers from the Raimiverse and TASMverse. Hopefully, this wasn’t the last we’ve seen of these classic villains and the classic Spider-Men.
It did not occur to us to do a new Goblin story, or to do an Oscorp story, or to do Doc Ock, or anyone that had been done before, which is why Vulture and Mysterio were really the key characters. Even as we were doing that — and I’ve been saying for years, even before anybody asked me what I thought — that you can’t get better than Alfred Molina as Doc Ock – that stepping into those shoes would be very, very difficult. And wouldn’t it be fun to find a way, if you were ever going to bring Doc Ock back, it would have to be Alfred Molina. And in early development on this third Homecoming movie, we realized that thanks to the MCU, there was a way to do that.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently playing in cinemas worldwide.
