The Spiderverse 18 years before “Spiderman: No Way Home”: when Octopus and Green Goblin met in the cinema

Half a month after the premiere of “Spider-Man: No Way Home“(” Spider-Man: No Way Home “), expectations are high for the new movie starring Tom Holland, since it not only serves as a conclusion to his first trilogy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – with apparently three more on the way – but also confronts him for the first time on the big screen with some of his greatest enemies in his film history.

Among them, perhaps no villains are more memorable than the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus, played by veteran actors. Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina respectively and the antagonists of “Spider-Man” (2002) and “Spider-Man 2” (2004). Both characters present face the arachnid hero – at that time played by Tobey Maguire – and from this conflict they help him take fundamental steps in his development as a superhero.

Curiously, despite its prominence in the history of Spider-Man, the movie “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will be its first canonical encounter to date, an occasion that generates great expectation among fans since although the advances of the The film maintains the antagonistic role of the Green Goblin, they also seem to put Doctor Octopus in a role that could be described as a mentor for the Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, continuing the development that this character had in the second part of the trilogy of Sam Raimi.

It should be noted that this is not the first time that Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe have met on the set of a Spider-Man movie. This honor is due to an interaction between both actors during the filming of “Spider-Man 2” in 2003 (a year before its premiere in 2004) following a joke by director Sam Raimi.

Aired on the web as part of behind the scenes of the film, the video begins with Raimi arguing with Molina about what it is he wants for his performance in a scene, with the director announcing that he has brought an example for the actor. To his surprise, It is about Dafoe manipulating the iconic tentacles of the villain and making a monologue of his character with his particular bombastic style.

Fortunately for the peace on set, Molina seemed not to take the tease too badly and in addition to laughing at the joke, she greets Dafoe with a warm handshake. Despite this, Raimi can’t help but throw one last dart at the actor, stating that his colleague’s performance is exactly “how we want you to do it.”

The statement was happily made as a joke, leaving us the humanized interpretation of Dr. Otto Octavius ​​by Alfred Molina, a scientist whose great capacity for good is destroyed by his own defects and external circumstances that lead him to become a villain, with a memorable redemption at the end of the film.

Little did the actors imagine that almost 20 years later they would once again share the stage in their iconic roles in “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, a film that also brings back Jamie Foxx as Electro from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014). Another villain who will make an appearance is Sandman from “Spider-Man 3”, although in this case it has not been confirmed if he will be played by Thomas Haden Church again.

They aren’t the only characters to have returned from previous iterations of Spider-Man, with J.K. Simmons playing a new version of J. Jonah Jameson from “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019).

But the greatest mystery of the film is whether it will also feature the participation of the two previous versions of the arachnid hero, played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, a poignant intrigue that has not been helped by the contradictory information that has come out throughout the months of waiting, with what it seems that Sony and Marvel Studios want to be surprised until the premiere of the film this December 16.