Alfred Molina famously portrayed Doc Ock in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, bringing the super-villain to life with the assistance of some nifty practical effects in the form of four mechanical arms. Of course, a lot had changed in the world of filmmaking between that movie's release in 2004 and Molina's return to the role for this year's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
"It was really fun to watch [Molina] see how technology has advanced," said No Way Home's Tom Holland, speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "When he was making [Raimi's Spider-Man 2], the arms were puppets, and when we did it, they're all imaginary and CG. It was quite cool to see him relive it, but also relearn it."
Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up in the wake of Spider-Man: Far From Home's mid-credits scene, in which Mysterio revealed Peter's secret identity to the world while also framing him for his presumed death. This leads Peter (Holland) to seek out Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the hopes that he can use magic to make almost everyone forget he's Spider-Man. However, one thing leads to another, and the pair wind up wreaking havoc on the multiverse, bringing Peter face to face with Molina's Doc Ock... among other super-villains from earlier, pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man films.
Raimi, who's also calling the shots on next year's MCU sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, recently said he was pleased to see Molina's Doc Ock pop up in the No Way Home teaser trailer. He similarly referenced the changes in technology between 2004 and now, stating, "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]."
Obviously, No Way Home will have to address the elephant in the room when it comes to Molina's Doc Ock-- namely, that the character sacrificed his life to save New York City by drowning his experimental fusion reactor and himself with it in the East River at the end of Spider-Man 2. In an interview earlier this year, Molina confirmed that No Way Home picks up Doc Ock's story from "that moment" in the river, leaving it for the actual movie to reveal the how and why behind his resurrection.
Spider-Man: No Way Home flies into theaters on Dec. 17.
Source: Entertainment Weekly