Doctor Strange 2 Director Sam Raimi Breaks Silence on Doc Ock Return in Spider-Man: No Way Home

Sam Raimi is happy to have Alfred Molina back in the same franchise he's actively working on. After first appearing as Doctor Otto Octavius in Raimi's Spider-Man 2 (2004), Molina is returning in Spider-Man: No Way Home while Raimi continues post-production work on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While the actor and filmmaker haven't worked together within the MCU, at least to the knowledge of the general public, Raimi expressed pleasure for Molina's new gig in a recent interview in support of Nightbooks.

"That was beautiful," Raimi told SYFY Wire of Molina's latest role while promoting his latest Netflix film. "He looks great, the animation's great. I'm assuming it's not puppeted because when we did Doc Ock, we had puppets and animation for his octopus tentacles. But it was smooth and powerful and I loved his costume they kept [from the original]. I think it's gonna be a great movie."

Molina has been perfectly candid about his return as the iconic Spider-Man villain, talking about his return at length earlier this spring.

Speaking with Variety at the time, Molina said, "When we were shooting it, we were all under orders not to talk about it, because it was supposed to be some great big secret. But, you know, it's all over the internet. I actually described myself as the worst kept secret in Hollywood!"

"It was wonderful," he continued. "It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow's feet and a slightly a slightly dodgy lower back."

The actor then started talking about the dynamite de-aging visual effects work done by Sony and Marvel Studios.

"He just looked at me, and said, 'Did you see what we did to [Robert Downey Jr.] and [Samuel L. Jackson]?'" Molina laughed. "I don't have the same physicality that I had 17 years ago. That's just a fact."

"I then remembered that it's the tentacles that do all the work!," he continued. "M'y basic physical move as Doc Ock, as the actor, is just this. I just do that a lot, and the arms are doing all the killing and smashing and breaking. I'm just going —" he glared again — "with a kind of mean look on my face... It was fantastic."

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set for release on December 17th. What other Spidey-family characters do you think will end up appearing in the upcoming feature? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!