First it was Jamie Foxx’s Electro and now it looks as if another former cinematic Spider-Man villain will be returning to the big screen.
The Hollywood Reporter is stating that sources have told them that ALfred Molina will be reprising his role as Otto Octavious, aka Doc Ock, for Sony’s upcoming third Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man film. Their reporting confirms rumors that Molina was spotted on set last month
Molina’s Doc Ock first squared off against Toby Maguire’s iteration of Spider-Man in the 2004 middle installment of director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. There he played the kindly scientist mentor to young Peter Parker who suffered an accident which fused four mechanical manipulator arms onto his body and nervous system and which drove him insane.
Raimi’s films, along with the two Spider-Man films that starred Andrew Garfield, are considered out of the continuity that has been established in the current films headlined by Tom Holland. Those films have crossed over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a unique deal that sees Sony and Marvel sharing characters.
While Sony has not made any official announcement as to what plot machinations will bring both Fox and Molina’s characters to confront Holland’s Spider-Man, there are some clues. We do know that in this third, still untitled, movie, Benedict Cumberbatch will be appearing as the MCU resident Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Stephen Strange. That character’s own next solo film, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, is set to be released in March 2022, after this third Spider-Man film and will deal with the idea of parallel Earths and timelines that was first introduced in last year’s Avengers: End Game. We’ve also seen various Spider-heroes from different dimensions team-up in the animated Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Of course this has opened up the door to speculation that Maguire and Garfield could be showing up in this film as well.
Spider-Man 3 is still in production with director Jon Watts behind the camera and franchise co-stars Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Jacob Batalon and Tony Revolori all returning.
The film is set for a December 17, 2021 release.
