It’s been 16 years since Alfred Molina put on the metal arms to play Otto Octavius in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. But what’s old is new in the Marvel world, and there’s a new report that claims Molina will reprise his villainous turn as Doc Ock in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 3.
The new report comes from The Hollywood Reporter, and piggybacks off another rumor from last month that said Molina was seen on the Spider-Man set. Hardly any details are known about Molina’s involvement, but it further underlines just how ambitious Spider-Man 3 will be.
A previous report said Jamie Foxx would be returning as Electro, while other murmurs suggest Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Kirsten Dunst are all set to reprise their former Spider-Man movie roles. If true, there’s every reason to believe that Spider-Man 3 will give us a live-action version of the Spider-Verse, which was expertly brought to the big screen by Sony’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018.
Molina’s turn as Doc Ock is a fan-favorite among Spider-Man fans. He was excellent as Peter Parker’s mentor and pushed the character to his limits. It’ll be fun to see him back on the big screen, where he’ll join old friends and foes. In addition to Molina as Doc Ock, we’re also expecting Doctor Strange to play a role in Spider-Man 3, along with other mainstays from recent Spider-Man films, including Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May.
As of now, little is known about the plot of Spider-Man 3. Last we saw, Tom Holland’s secret identity as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was revealed to the world, so no doubt he’ll deal with the fallout from that. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep our eyes and ear peeled for new reports over the coming weeks and months.
Spider-Man 3 is currently filming and is scheduled to hit theaters on December 17, 2021.