Last December, two months after it was revealed that Jamie Foxx’s Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would return for what we now know as Spider-Man: No Way Home, it was revealed that Alfred Molina would join the fun as Doctor Octopus. Cut to earlier this week, Molina popped up at the end of the first No Way Home trailer, greeting Peter Parker with a rather sinister tone. Now some fans online have noticed a cool detail from the new preview that would explain why this version of Doc Ock is back to being a villain.
For those who need a refresher on 2004’s Spider-Man 2, Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius used an inhibitor chip to prevent his mechanical arms from taking over his nervous system, but after the chip was destroyed during Octavius’ first failed attempt to power his fusion reactor, the arms’ artificial intelligence forced him to behave more aggressively and irrationally. When the arms were in control of Doc Ock, they glowed red, and when he was able to regain control of himself, they glowed white. Well, take a look at what Twitter user @methnpizza noticed in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer:
Yep, Doctor Octopus’ arms are now glowing red again, which means their AI has taken control of him yet again. So for those of you wondering why Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius would return to his villainous ways in Spider-Man: No Way Home after he redeemed himself at the end of Spider-Man 2, now we have a good answer for that, albeit one that’s not officially confirmed. Of course, there’s still the question of timing that needs to be addressed.
Alfred Molina learned from Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jonathan Watts that Doctor Octopus’ story in the upcoming movie will continue from “that moment” in the river, resulting in the actor being digitally de-aged to look like he did in 2004. But when exactly are we talking? Is Doctor Octopus being snatched from when sinking to his death after drowning his second fusion core, or will be taken from right before he knocked back into his senses? Or maybe this is a Loki-type situation, where this isn’t truly the main Doc Ock in No Way Home, but instead a variant, thus preserving the events of Spider-Man 2 and allowing a different version of the character to leave his mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Regardless, Doctor Octopus is just one of the many villains from the Marvel multiverse who will be causing trouble in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Along with Jamie Foxx’s Electro being teased through some lightning strikes (that were yellow, not blue), a detonating pumpkin bomb confirmed we’ll be seeing Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. Some fans even believe they caught peeks at Lizard and Sandman, which would make for five Spidey baddies total. If that’s the case, then there’s a good chance that there’s a sixth slot that needs to be filled, thus giving us the first cinematic Sinister Six.
All this multiverses craziness seems to stem from something going wrong with a spell Doctor Strange casts to make the world forget that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are the same person, but we’ll learn the full story when Spider-Man: No Way Home comes out on December 17. Keep track of what else the MCU is sending to theaters with our upcoming Marvel movies guide.
