Alfred Molina is joining the MCU as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: No Way Home — here's how his character could have survived Spider-Man 2.
Alfred Molina is returning as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: No Way Home — and here's how the character could have been transported into the MCU. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a multiversal event, and Alfred Molina's return as Doctor Octopus was the worst-kept secret of all — not least because Molina himself had surprisingly little fear of Marvel's snipers, and happily chatted about the role. This perhaps explains why trailers displayed him more prominently than other villains, with Marvel and Sony figuring he'd already given the game away.
Alfred Molina is playing the same Doctor Octopus he previously portrayed in Spider-Man 2, having somehow survived his apparent death. It's been 17 years since Spider-Man 2, but Molina will be de-aged because — for the character — absolutely no time at all has passed. Apparently Spider-Man: No Way Home will pick up straight from the moment Doctor Octopus was seemingly consumed by the fusion experiment that had gone so terribly wrong and was threatening the entire city of New York. As director Jon Watts told Molina, "In this universe, no one really dies."
The news has been received with a combination of intrigue and concern. Spider-Man 2 is rightly considered one of the best superhero films ever made, in large part because of the tremendous character arc followed by Molina's Doctor Octopus. His heroic sacrifice was a tremendous moment of redemption, as Otto Octavius conquered his own inner darkness — and the seductive, sinister influence of the arms that had grafted to his body. In bringing Doctor Octopus back, Marvel risks undoing the ending of a classic film. But, surprisingly, the potential for a return is already there in Spider-Man 2 - and there's no reason to assume Marvel will make a mistake.
Doctor Strange Has Damaged the Multiverse
Spider-Man's secret identity was blown by Mysterio's agents in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and — as seen in the trailers — Peter Parker hits upon the idea of going to Doctor Strange for help. The future Sorcerer Supreme unwisely uses a spell to rewrite reality, and he doesn't realize he needs to gag Spider-Man before conducting the spell. Everything goes wrong, affecting the fabric of the multiverse itself, and drawing beings associated with other versions of Spider-Man into the MCU. It's amusing to note that Spider-Man goes straight from dealing with Mysterio's false multiverse — to confronting the potential end of the real one.
A number of classic Spider-Man villains make the jump into the MCU, including Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Sandman, the Lizard, and Electro. According to trailers, all these villains are destined to die as a result of an encounter with their Earth's Spider-Man, and they've been brought into the MCU sometime before their death. It's unclear exactly how Doctor Octopus' story has been interrupted by these multiversal events, though; how close was he to his death in Spider-Man 2, and could he actually have been particularly vulnerable to being drawn into the multiverse?
How Doctor Octopus Could Have Survived Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2's Doctor Octopus was an expert in nuclear fusion, and he was conducting experiments to create the world's first fusion reactor. Unfortunately as brilliant as Otto Octavius may have been, the science was clearly beyond him, because his fusion reactor was turning into what seemed to be a miniature black hole. Otto's continued attempts to charge the reactor were threatening to consume the entire city, and perhaps even the whole planet. Fortunately, Spider-Man was able to persuade Doctor Octopus into confronting the psychosis that threatened to tear his mind apart, and the scientist ultimately came up with an idea for flooding the reactor and thereby saving New York. He sacrificed himself in the attempt, a moment of heroism that meant his story ended in redemption.
But that fusion reactor could actually be the key to Doctor Octopus' survival. In the real world, many scientists have argued black holes could contain wormholes that allow people to travel through space and even time. New models of quantum mechanics suggest it is possible to pass through the heart of a singularity and emerge in another region of the universe, or indeed in another universe altogether. This theory has been propounded by scientists as prominent as Stephen Hawking, who outlined it in a speech back in 2015. "Black holes are not the eternal prisons they were once thought," he explained. "If you feel you are trapped in a black hole, don’t give up. There is a way out."
In superhero movies, the most complex and sophisticated scientific theories can become the basis for the latest Hollywood blockbuster. In fact, Marvel has a history of working with quantum physicists, recruiting several to act as advisers for Doctor Strange. Given this is the case, Marvel could easily tell a story in which Doctor Octopus survived the destruction of his reactor by being plunged into the singularity he had unwittingly created. Doctor Strange's magic could well have unwittingly opened the other side of that wormhole, meaning he arrives in the MCU sometime in 2024.
The Return of Doctor Octopus Wouldn't Negate Spider-Man 2
The return of Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus makes sense using pseudo-science, then, but would it negate his character arc in Spider-Man 2? It's important to remember that it is not Doctor Octopus' death that redeemed him, but rather his heroism, his willingness to die to save the city. Otto Octavius was a brilliant man, but he had unlocked scientific secrets that were infinitely beyond him, and he was dealing with forces he did not fully understand. He didn't realize he was creating a singularity and had he done so the scientific theories had not yet progressed to the point where such a singularity was considered to potentially be a wormhole. Thus Octavius' survival would be a happy accident, not affecting his character journey at all.
The interesting question, of course, is just what frame of mind Doctor Octopus would be in when he entered the MCU. He would still be bonded to those fearsome tentacles, which were influencing his mind and driving him towards destruction; but he had proven once before that he could master them, that his willpower was sufficient to take control of them, and thus he'd be able to resist their influence. That means the Doctor Octopus of Spider-Man: No Way Home could be a much more ambiguous character, perhaps even an ally who helps Spider-Man and Doctor Strange as they deal with what seems to be a fracturing Multiverse.
Curiously enough, such a portrayal would have a strong basis in the comics themselves; Doctor Octopus is actually a hero in the modern Marvel Comics. There, he evaded death by temporarily possessing the body of Spider-Man himself, but in doing so he learned that age-old lesson that with great power must come great responsibility. He's still arrogant and egotistical, still convinced of his own scientific supremacy and tending to take absurd risks, but he's been transformed by the moral code of Spider-Man — and has worked hard to save the world many times. It's quite possible Spider-Man: No Way Home will tap into this modern portrayal of Doctor Octopus, revealing a character who is striving to do good in spite of a dark shadow that pushes him towards evil. Rather than negate Doctor Octopus' character journey in Spider-Man 2, then, Spider-Man: No Way Home could instead complete it.
