Our favorite villains from past Spider-Man films are officially back. In the latest featurette released by Sony Pictures India, actors Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx can be seen reminiscing on their history with the Spider-Man franchise as well as sharing their excitement to once again don their costumes and reunite with their villainous characters. Dafoe and Molina have earlier played Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and Doctor Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 respectively. Whereas, Jamie Foxx played Max Dillon/Electro in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Now that these guys are reprising their roles in the upcoming MCU entry, Spider-Man: No Way Home in an unprecedented multiversal conflict, there couldn’t be a better surprise for fans. In the featurette, Alfred Molina emphasized how long it has been since he and Dafoe played the two most iconic villains in the original trilogy.

“[It’s been] twenty years since his [Dafoe] Green Goblin; seventeen years since my first time as Doc Ock”

Talking more about his role in the film, he said how his arc would continue directly from where it actually began in Spider-Man 2. Molina confirmed that his character wouldn’t be the one who transformed by the end of Spider-Man 2, but would be the same angry Doc Ock, who’s seeking revenge on Peter Parker [Tobey Maguire] for hampering with his experiment.

“Doc Ock, picks up, where he left off. He’s [out there] for revenge”

The featurette also featured Molina’s Dr. Octopus confronting Peter Parker [Tom Holland] about his damaged machine, referencing the failed experiment in the original film which rendered Octavius insane and in control of his mechanical arms.

Reacting to his surprise reprisal as Green Goblin, Willem Dafoe says,

“Goblin believes, [in a] world of winners and losers, power is everything”

While he iterates this statement, the feature gives us a fine look at his comic-accurate look in the film, throwing his damaging infamous pumpkin bomb at Holland’s Spider-Man.

Jamie Foxx on the other hand comes from a different universe, however, his character arc continues from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In this movie, Electro arrives with a new character design, prompting asking Parker – How’s the new look? The film features Electro getting his powers from some kind of an arc reactor, turning him yellow. It’s possible that he’ll receive this look within the film and he could possibly be seen in his previous blue form at the beginning of the film. Foxx stated,

“Electro is like, the world did me wrong. I now got this energy, and I am gonna go get mine”

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Max Dillon goes on a rampage after gaining these powers, attacking the world who never noticed him, thus making enemies with Spider-Man [Andrew Garfield]. The film’s trailers have implied that Peter Parker would eventually succeed in the first half itself in capturing these loose multiversal villains, but will accidentally release them due to his inner conflict of sending them off to their deaths. Probably, this will help create a continuity between the previous films and this one in order to make these characters’ return more credible.

Besides these three villains that sat on the panel, Rhys Ifans’ Lizard and Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman will also appear in the film, however, no footage of the actors appearing in their human forms has been released. Besides, since Venom has crossed over to the MCU, people are also speculating Tom Hardy’s cameo in the film, especially since the actor’s picture wearing a No Way Home production cap was released. To what extent will these speculations be fulfilled would be unraveled soon when the film hits theaters.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is right up for release next week and the hype is getting stronger day by day. The film, right from its planning stage was under massive scrutiny and publicity. Firstly it was due to the said Disney-Sony split. Once that was resolved, these surprise re-casting of villains opened up room for numerous fan theories concerning the multiverse, and now that everything is out in the open, there is still a major unrevealed plot point involving the possible return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s return for the film.

Whatever the film brings on-screen, it’s definitely going to flood the theaters for being the ambitious film it is, and in Alfred Molina’s own words – It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Spider-Man: No Way Home will release one day prior to its official release in some territories, that is, making its way to the theaters on December 16 itself.

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