Spider-Man: No Way Home star Alfred Molina worried he was too old to reprise the role of Doctor Octopus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster.
Molina, who first portrayed Doc Ock in 2004’s Spider-Man 2, opened up about returning to the role nearly two decades later, in a recent episode of Household Faces with John Ross Bowie. “There was one scene where I suddenly meet Tobey [Maguire], and he kinda goes ‘How are you, Doctor?’ And I go, ‘Oh my god, it’s good to see you,'” he recalled. “I got very teary in that scene… And it was, of course, delightful to see Tobey again. We did have a giggle on set about… I think I said something like, ‘I’m terrified that I might be a bit too old for this.'”
Fortunately for Molina, Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s visual effects team managed to digitally de-age him so that he could convincingly portray his now much younger character. Despite the possibilities provided by this technology and the positive response to Molina’s performance in the film, the actor nevertheless confirmed he doesn’t expect to portray Doctor Octopus again. “I don’t think that would happen,” Molina said, citing Doc Ock’s redemptive journey in No Way Home as the reason why it wouldn’t make sense to bring him back.
Doctor Octopus was one of several villains from Sony’s earlier, non-MCU Spider-Man franchises to appear in No Way Home. Alongside Rhys Ifans’ Lizard and Jamie Foxx’s Electro from Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man movies, the Molina incarnation of Doc Ock was joined by fellow fugitives from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church).
Spider-Man: No Way Home also featured the Spider-Men of the different live-action films, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, respectively. Many fans are clamoring to see Garfield and Maguire re-team with their MCU counterpart, played by Tom Holland, following the release of a No Way Home deleted scene teasing a reunion of this sort. There are also rumors of belated sequels to both Garfield and Maguire’s respective franchises, with fans lobbying especially hard for Amazing Spider-Man 3.
Despite the surge of interest in his return, Garfield recently confirmed he has “no plans” to play Peter Parker or his wall-crawling alter-ego again. The actor acknowledged that his history of misleading fans to preserve Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s surprises means they’re unlikely to believe anything he says regarding possible future projects.
Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on April 12.
Source: Household Faces with John Ross Bowie