Spider-Man to reportedly bring back Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus

Spider-Man 2
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)

Could the next Spider-Man movie be taking us into the Spider-Verse?

Alfred Molina is set to return as Doctor Octopus in the upcoming third Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland, The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Tuesday. Molina originally played the villain in 2004's Spider-Man 2.

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That makes three different Spider-Man universes that this upcoming film will apparently be drawing from, and already, 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home grabbed an actor from the same movie series as Molina's character: J. K. Simmons returned as J. Jonah Jameson.

It's always possible that both Molina and Foxx will be portraying different versions of the same characters from the previous movies, which just happen to be played by the same actors as last time. But there's also speculation that the film could actually involve multiple Spider-Man movie universes crossing over, similar to the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — potentially allowing Garfield and Maguire to swing into action once again.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.