Sony/Marvel
Despite Disney’s best efforts, the very multiverse-shattering nature of Spider-Man: No Way Home has made it nearly impossible for Marvel Studios to keep casting details a secret. Back in April, for example, Alfred Molina — who iconically portrayed Doc Ock in 2004’s Spider-Man 2 — straight up confirmed his role in the film, detailing the de-aging process and all.
And that was *after* reports that Benedict Cumberbatch would be appearing as Doctor Strange, in addition to Jamie Foxx as Electro. Further rumors have linked Charlie Cox’s Daredevil (from the Netflix series) to the film, in addition to, of course, both Andrew Garfield’s and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Mans (sorry, but I refuse to use “Spider-Men”, except for right now, which doesn’t count because I’m explaining myself). Insanity, I know, but we aren’t done yet.
According to a recent rumor from Collider, one of the most iconic characters from Spider-Man movies past, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from the original Sam Raimi-directed film, will be the MAIN villain of No Way Home. Remember, now, this is just a rumor, albeit from a relatively credible source.
Collider‘s Jeff Sneider revealed on his podcast The Sneider Cut, that he’s heard Green Goblin is the main villain of Spider-Man 3 and is “pretty sure” this information is accurate. He went on to say Green Goblin is one of six villains in the movie and the movie’s title is a reference to the villains from other dimensions not having a way home. However, he also cautioned to take this all with a grain of salt for the time being. [via ScreenRant]
With Alfred Molina already confirming that his Doc Ock will be the same version that fans saw in Spider-Man 2, the same will likely be true for Dafoe’s Norman Osborne, should he appear. Osborne’s survival will be a little more difficult to retcon, as his death was far more explicit than that of Otto Octavius, who was last seen sinking to the bottom of the East River.
Perhaps most tantalizing of all is that Molina also confirmed — yup, he was really blabbin’, gotta imagine Marvel wasn’t thrilled with that — Doc Ock’s story will be picking up from that very moment.
RELATED: Doc Ock Actor Alfred Molina Says The Character’s Story Picks Up Where ‘Spider-Man 2’ Left Off
As for how, exactly, the Marvel Cinematic Universe plans to fit all these pieces together, only time will tell, as something this ambitious has simply not been attempted in live-action comic book filmmaking. Even Avengers: Endgame, despite how behemoth it was, consisted of characters from a singular universe. If the rumors about No Way Home are true, Marvel and Sony will be attempting to bridge three different universes across 20 years of storytelling. If anyone could pull it off, though…
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