He’s back! Confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, Alfred Molina is returning to the Spider-Man franchise on Spider-Man 3, reprising his role from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, Doctor Octopus aka “Doc Ock.”
The untitled third Tom Holland-led Spider-Man film began filming in October and rumors about Molina’s possible casting went into overdrive when Geeks Worldwide posted about a source confirming his casting.
Doc Ock played a mentor to Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker, until he went mad with power. Spider-Man ends up having to kill his mentor to save the world, because that’s just a day in the life of your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.
Fans are now speculating what the third installment of the franchise has in store. Previous casting announcements include Jamie Foxx, who will be reprising his role from 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which starred Andrew Garfield as the web slinging hero. Per Jamie Foxx’s now deleted Instagram post, there might be more than one Spider-Man on screen.
Molina’s Doc Ock was in the Tobey Maguire-led film series, which leaves folks wondering–are we getting another multiverse a la Into The Spiderverse?
As usual, Marvel and Sony are keeping a tight lid on everything on the closed Atlanta set. Maybe we’ll get one of Holland’s famous faux pas and get more of a glimpse at some point.
The film is currently in production in Atlanta and is set to premiere December 21, 2021.