Spider-Man: Alfred Molina Could Return as Doctor Octopus, But He Really Shouldn’t

Poor Peter Parker, he can never get rid of his worst enemies. Take Doctor Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doc Ock. Since the green-clad baddie debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #3 way back in 1963, he has died a few times, once to be replaced by a young woman and again to swap bodies with Spider-Man. And yet, every time, Doc Ock comes roaring back—silver tentacles, green jumpsuit, and bowl haircut all intact.

Given that history, it makes sense that the greatest actor to ever portray Otto would follow his character’s lead for an unlikely encore. “If they came knocking on my door and said we’d love you to do it again, I would do it again, no doubt,” Alfred Molina told Variety. Molina’s performance as Doctor Octopus in 2004’s Spider-Man 2 may be one of the greatest villain showcases put to screen, and Spider-Man movies do continue to happen. But another helping of Molina as Doc Ock would be a pain to everyone, not just Peter Parker.

Doctor Octopus belongs among comics’ greatest antagonists precisely because of his simplicity. He’s a mad scientist who thinks that no one respects his genius. His name is Otto Octavius, and he gets four sets of tentacles fused to his back. He makes grand pronouncements about how everyone else is a fool, and how he possesses true might. Over the years, writers have added depth and pathos to the character, blossoming a plot to marry Aunt May for her fortune into something like a proper romance and turning his multi-year run as the Superior Spider-Man into a referendum on Peter Parker’s heroism.

But the best stories add that depth without undermining that essential simplicity, as demonstrated in Spider-Man 2. Molina played Octavius as a romantic and a visionary, someone who believed that his inventions could put the power of the sun in the palm of his hand, someone who shared a love of poetry with his wife. But he’s also a guy who put on a fedora and a trench coat to steal giant bags of money and who scaled the sides of buildings like he was King Kong.

Like director Sam Raimi, Molina balanced the two parts of Octavius to make Spider-Man 2 into one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. So it’s no surprise that Marvel and Sony would ask him to return for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which Molina describes as “great fun.”

But a character who has lasted over six decades has to be reinterpreted often, and Doc Ock is no different. As much as Molina’s take had aspects of an old-school supervillain, it would be fun to see someone else go further, tossing aside the romance and kindness to just be a bad guy who wants to make crazy inventions. A different actor could portray the post-Superior Spider-Man version of Doctor Octopus, the one who has seen what it’s like to be a hero and, after being bested by Peter, wants to outdo him as a good guy as well. Heck, it would be great to see a live-action version of Liv Octavius from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (although not played by Kathryn Hahn, sadly, who already has a Marvel assignment), or even Lady Octopus, who took Otto’s place after one of his deaths and continues to be a headache for Spider-Man.

Again, none of this is to denigrate Molina and his performance. It’s just that Doctor Octopus can go in many directions, and it would take another actor to accomplish the reinvention. To his credit, Molina seems to agree, telling Variety, “I think we might have to just leave Doc Ock in a nice prominent place in the rogue’s gallery of villains.”

Hopefully, that’s true, and his incredible work can serve as inspiration for another actor to try and outdo him—which is the perfect mindset for a Doctor Octopus to have.