#Alfred Molina Compares His Iconic Spider-Man 2 & No Way Home’s Doc Ock Roles

The famed Dr. Octavius actor compares his iconic role in the two films separated by a gap of 17 years.

One of the main reasons Spider-Man: No Way Home has been one of the most successful films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, of course, the nostalgia it invokes. By now, those who have watched the film and those who have not are both aware of the rewarding appearances made by the beloved and infamous role reprisals the film features.

While a majority of the characters returning from the previous-gen Spider-Man films were kept a secret, Dr. Otto Octavius was a confirmed appearance in the latest MCU film. In fact, Alfred Molina reprising his role as Doc Ock was one of the earliest confirmations about the film, amidst wild rumors and conjecture among fans as to who else might drop by. Luckily, most of the rumors turned out to be true, as fans bathed in nostalgia with Willen Dafoe as Green Goblin and Thomas Haden Church as Sandman, along with the man Tobey McGuire himself.

What Spider-Man: No Way Home attempted to do is, unlike the previous line of superhero films, explore a sense of redemption for the erstwhile pulp villains. Peter Parker does not kill his villains or leave them to die this time, instead, he attempts to save them from their “fate.” In a behind-the-scenes interview with Sony, Alfred “Doc Ock” Molina breaks down the difference between and compares the two versions of Octavius: the one from Spider-Man 2 and the one from No Way Home.

What I thought was so wonderful about [Spider-Man 2], the first time, was they gave Doc Ock this wonderful redemptive moment. And like all great villains, like a lot of villains in the Marvel universe, he’s become a villain kind of reluctantly — or almost by accident. I knew that when Jon [Watts, No Way Home director] described what’s going to be Doc Ock’s first appearance in this film, he just knows it’s going to be a moment of jaw-dropping awe. I wanted to make sure that I was in the right place in terms of the performance, so it was useful to go back and look at [Spider-Man 2]. But at the same time, it’s a different director, it’s a different movie, there’s a freshness to it, so I didn’t want to just come back and replicate what we’d done before. It was important to me to arrive as if this were the first time.

Molina’s amalgamation of treating this as a fresh role did the trick and made his performance leaps and bounds ahead of his previous one, while also invoking nostalgia and sympathy for the character. It was almost as of he was talking to the fans when he said “You’re all grown up!“

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