The Spider-Man 2 Callback You Might Have Missed in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters, and it has been shattering box office records. Not only did the final Marvel movie of 2021 have the second-highest opening weekend at the box office ever after Avengers: Endgame, but it is currently "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! Spider-Man: No Way Home features the return of many past Spider-Man stars, including Alfred Molina in his role as Doc Ock AKA Otto Octavius from Spider-Man 2. The news of Molina's return broke earlier this year when Molina spilled the beans while chatting with Variety. However, one return that was (mostly) kept a secret until the movie's release was Tobey Maguire, who played Spider-Man opposite Molina's Doc Ock. The two reunited in No Way Home, and they had a sweet moment that was actually a callback to Spider-Man 2.
After Doc Ock is cured by Tom Holland's Spider-Man, the reformed villain shows up during the final battle at the Statue of Liberty to help the three Spider-Men (Andrew Garfield also returned). He reunites with Maguire's Peter Parker and pointed out that he's "all grown up." Peter replied, "I'm trying to do better." When the two characters first met in Spider-Man 2, Otto mentions that Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) called Peter brilliant but lazy. Peter had the same reply back then: "I'm trying to do better."
During a recent interview with Discussing Film, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers talked about balancing the character returns in the new Spider-Man.
"Very carefully," Sommers replied when asked how they divided up the actors' screentime. "Because, I mean, you want to give everyone their due, and just as a fan, you want to see those people as those characters and have fun with them. But at the end of the day, it's a Spider-Man movie – you have to be telling the story of Peter Parker, and everything has to be in service of that. So there were a lot of painful decisions made, you know, we would have loved to have done this and that and 'Oh, wouldn't be great if these two villains could do this!' But it has to be in service of Peter's journey, and you have to keep things moving. There were definitely a lot of what we call 'little darlings' – little moments and things that you really just love – but sometimes you have to let them go."
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters.
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