Kevin Feige Reveals Why Alfred Molina Was Brought Back For ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

Who else could they have gotten for the part?

Kevin Feige Spider-Man No Way Home Alfred Molina Doctor Octopus Sam Raimi Doc Ock Tom Holland

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has revealed why Alfred Molina was brought back as Doctor Octopus for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Since Spider-Man: No Way Home was originally announced so many rumors have floated around the project. These rumors have included but are not limited to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles as Spider-Man, the return of Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin, and the inclusion of Jamie Foxx as Electro. One of the first rumors to be confirmed was the return of Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2. The film’s first trailer rolled with this, ending with Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus saying hi to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.

From the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man films, the people behind the movies have made it clear that they did not want to use previously used Spider-Man villains. This lead to the live-action versions of Vulture and Mysterio in Homecoming and Far From Home. The return of Doctor Octopus marks the first time that Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man would go up against a previously used antagonist from the franchise. In a recent interview with Empire, Kevin Feige discussed this and revealed why they opted to bring Alfred Molina the iconic villain:

“‘Do we want to revisit villains we’ve seen before?’ No, let’s do Vulture, and Mysterio, and characters we haven’t brought to the screen before. But I remember thinking, ‘How would you even do Doc Ock again?,’ because Alfred Molina is perfect casting. If you ever brought him back, it would have to be him somehow.”

Here is the synopsis for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home:

“For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.”

Directed by Jon Watts from a script written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, No Way Home stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Alfred Molina.

No Way Home is currently set to be released on December 17, 2021. Stay tuned for all the latest news surrounding the film and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.

Source: Empire

Trey Griffeth

Trey Griffeth

Lover of video games, comics, and movies! Writer of all things that involve them!