#Sam Raimi Reacts to Doc Ock’s Return in Spider-Man: No Way Home: That Was Beautiful

It was last month that the worst kept secret in Marvel’s history finally became a reality on screen, when the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer brought a number of surprises and the very expected arrival of Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock. The record breaking trailer brought a first look at the return of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter-ego in the aftermath of Spider-Man: Far From Home, when his identity was revealed to the world by Mysterio. Along with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, making his first MCU appearance since Endgame, the footage hinted at a number of previous villains from Spidey’s history making an appearance in the movie, many of them from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.

As we all know, Sam Raimi is returning to Marvel as the director of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While speaking to Syfy Wire about Netflix movie Nightbooks, which he produces, he was asked what it was like to see his Alfred Molina back in the role that he played in Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.
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“That was beautiful,” Raimi said about Molina’s return. “He looks great, the animation’s great. I’m assuming it’s not puppeted because when we did Doc Ock, we had puppets and animation for his octopus tentacles. But it was smooth and powerful and I loved his costume they kept [from the original]. I think it’s gonna be a great movie.”

While Marvel has a strict lock and key approach to what their stars can and cannot reveal about upcoming movies, Alfred Molina appeared not to have received the memo when he had no issues spilling the beans about his return to the Marvel Universe after 17 years. “It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet and … a slightly dodgy lower back,” he said to Variety.

In a complete reversal, a well trained Sam Raimi wasn’t about to be led into revealing anything about his Doctor Strange sequel, which will take the MCU even deeper into the multiverse when it arrives in cinemas next year. “They won’t let me say anything,” he apologized. “I guess not…I’m sorry.” Even though Raimi was a little late to the party, having joined the project after original director Scott Derrickson left the movie due to “creative differences”, he has clearly taken the Kevin Feige Vow of Silence.

We still have Eternals to come in November before we even get to Spider-Man: No Way Home at the end of the year, but that hasn’t stopped a huge amount of attention being put on the movie, thanks in part to the recent screenings of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. With Sony hinting that their Spider-Man universe and the MCU are about to become connected, director Andy Serkis saying that there is every likelihood that Spider-Man and Venom will face off against each other sometime in the future, and more than a subtle sign that the world of Marvel is about to change forever, it is no wonder that fans are chomping at the bit to see how all this comes together. This news comes to us from Syfy Wire.

Topics: Spider-Man: No Way Home