Spider-Man: No Way Home was without doubt one of the most spellbinding and hype-inducing films by Marvel Studios. It had big surprises in store for everyone and paid an excellent homage to over 2 decades of Spider-Man movies and their respective fans. It managed to do something which seemed impossible a few years ago and it did it wonderfully. We all know that the highlight of the film was the team up scene of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland.
But what stood out from the story point of view was the redemption arc of Doctor Octopus. He was always shown to be a good man who wanted the good of the human kind. Unfortunately, he fell prey to his own creation and got briefly corrupted, but did the right thing at the end of Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. No Way Home honored that approach and made Doc Ock do the right thing once again This helped him maintain the status of one of the best live action Marvel of all time. While many fans would want Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock to return in the multiversal MCU, it seems like that won’t be happening. And rightly so.
Bye Bye Doctor Octopus, You Were A Good Man
In an interview on Household Faces with John Ross Bowie, Alfred Molina clarified his as well as the studios’ intention for his character. He stressed on how his character had been totally redeemed and concluded, and that bringing him back again as a villain doesn’t seem like a good idea. Here’s what he said.
What makes this movie interesting and different from the previous one is that, here we see the full redemption, certainly of Doc-Ock, which makes me think that maybe they may be putting him to bed. Because I don’t think you can be a good person with a moral compass who turns into a villain, and then comes back to being the decent person he was and then [back again]… I don’t think that would happen.
Honestly, we cannot agree more and precisely for the same reasons that he mentioned above. Any more tampering with the character can result in a loss of meaning and might undo everything good that has been done so far. So, it’s best that Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is put to rest and if they want Doc Ock to return, let it be some other version of the character. Something on the lines of what Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse did. This aside, Molina had some really nice things to say about his experience as Doc Ock and how it boosted his career in Hollywood.
It’s been an extraordinary experience, and one that I would never shortchange, ’cause it kind of made my career here… Ever since I’ve been living in the States… I came here in the very early ’90s, I wanted to live and work in America, I wanted to be part of the industry here… I applied for citizenship as soon as I could. And it’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience to work on these films, it really has. And the fact that there were 17 years between the two iterations always makes me laugh, because I always tell people that must be among the longest options any studio’s ever had on an actor. [laughs] But then I stopped making that joke when I found out that Willem was coming back for the movie as well because his option was even longer. Like 20 years or something.
So, that’s it for today. We hope you agree with this as it’s really for the best as his character arc ended on a high and we really don’t wanna see it go to s##t. Until next time!
If you have any questions regarding the Spiderverse, feel free to ask in the comments below and stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!
