How Doctor Octopus Is Different In Spider-Man: No Way Home

Tom Holland teases how Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus and Jamie Foxx’s Electro will be different in Spider-Man: No Way Home than their prior debuts. Molina first portrayed the nuclear scientist in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 as he sought to harness a hazardous material for a fusion power project utilizing robotic tentacle arms with artificial intelligence to stabilize it. A public demonstration goes awry, however, and his wife is killed and he becomes corrupted by the tentacles’ A.I., setting out on a path of destruction to recreate the experiment on a larger scale that threatens to destroy New York City.

Foxx debuted in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Max Dillon, an isolated electrical engineer at Oscorp Industries obsessed with the titular webslinger who is transformed into Electro following an accident involving electric eels. Doc Ock and Electro will return for Spider-Man: No Way Home as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange opens the doors to the multiverse after attempting a spell to wipe the memory of Peter Parker’s dual identity as Spider-Man from the public’s mind at the young Avengers’ request. While exact details on their appearances are still unknown, the star at the center of it all is trying to keep anticipation high for their arrivals.

With just a month remaining until the film’s highly-anticipated arrival, Holland spoke with Total Film to discuss Spider-Man: No Way Home. The star opened up about the returns of Molina’s Doc Ock and Foxx’s Electro, explaining how the actors prepared for their different takes on the villains in comparison to their respective debuts. See what Holland said below:

“To see Alfred come in, and have to adapt and change to the way that the films are made, but also change director, and also [the fact that] I’m now Spider-Man. It was really interesting to see these actors adapt and change what they were doing to fit the modern era.”

Molina’s return as Doc Ock for Spider-Man: No Way Home has already brought two major changes for the actor, beginning with the difference in his tentacle arms. Where Sam Raimi depicted them primarily through practical puppetry effects, Molina and Holland have confirmed the weapons are now entirely CGI creations. Though this may sound like an easier adjustment in terms of time, it certainly is understandable Molina, who has very little background in CG-heavy projects, would have to try and adjust his work to fit the change.

It’s interesting to note that while Holland’s latest comments do confirm Jamie Foxx’s return as Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home, none of the film’s marketing has given a proper look at the villain. The first trailer did include a brief shot of a yellow electric charge, seemingly indicative of the change in his appearance as promised by Foxx, but the subsequent poster and TV spots have left his return as more teases of lightning bolts, raising curiosity as to the nature of his appearance. Only time will tell when Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on December 17.

Source: Total Film

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Grant Hermanns
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Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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