Willem Dafoe’s Return As Green Goblin In Spider-Man: No Way Home Confirmed

Marvel has finally officially confirmed that Willem Dafoe will indeed be returning to reprise the role of Norman Osborn AKA Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home. No Way Home, which comes to theaters on December 17, will be accomplishing a majorly ambitious crossover, pitting Tom Holland’s Peter Parker against villains from previous franchises including Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Lizard, and Electro. Quite some time ago, Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx were officially confirmed to return as Doc Ock and Electro respectively. However, the other villains announced by the trailer were only assumed to be played by the original actors. It was entirely possible for Green Goblin to have remained suited up the entire time and voiced by a Dafoe imitator because his face wasn’t shown in the No Way Home trailer.

Green Goblin, as played by four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe, first appeared in Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man, the film that – along with 2000’s X-Men – is widely viewed as responsible for starting the current superhero movie boom. Norman Osborn is the CEO of Oscorp and the father of Peter Parker’s friend Harry, played by James Franco. After using an untested formula on himself, his personality fractures, and he is sometimes taken over by the persona of the Green Goblin, who wreaks havoc throughout the city and must be stopped by Spider-Man. Although his character is pierced by his own hoverboard at the end of the first film, Norman Osborn appears in hallucinations to haunt Harry in the proceeding two movies.

On the official Twitter account for Spider-Man: No Way Home, they shared a character poster featuring Green Goblin with the caption “Willem Dafoe returns as Green Goblin.” Although that seems innocuous, it is the first completely official pronouncement that the actor would be returning to the role. It is currently unknown how many scenes will feature an unmasked Green Goblin, but Dafoe’s iconic performance will officially be brought to screens once again.

This announcement will likely stoke up the rumors swirling around the film even more. There have long been suspicions that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be appearing as their previous iterations of Peter Parker. Marvel has been keeping the truth about this casting resolutely close to the chest, and fans have long been combing through every piece of promotional material to find out the truth.

However, whoever ends up being in the movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to be the most exciting franchise event of the year. Even without alternative Peter Parkers, the fact that three different live-action franchises featuring the same character are colliding is something that could only be possible with Spider-Man. It’s not often that a single storyline can contain so many iterations in just 20 years, and the fact that someone like Dafoe – who originated an instantly iconic role like this – could even appear in the third film in the third franchise based on the same world is a true marvel.

Source: Spider-Man: No Way Home

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