Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige, revealed why the MCU avoided using Green Goblin and Doc Ock until Spider-Man: No Way Home. Spider-Man has one of the most iconic lineups of villains in comic book history, with two of the most famous being Norman Osborn, a.k.a. The Green Goblin and Otto Octavius, who is the villain Doc Ock. Both villains appeared in the Raimi trilogy, with Norman and his son Harry appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man films and Doc Ock being teased for an unmade Sinister Six film.

However, when Spider-Man joined the MCU, he faced a different set of villains. Instead of his two arch-enemies, Peter Parker has faced off against some of his other enemies who had yet to be seen in live-action, like Vulture (Michael Keaton), Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), and Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine) as well as helping the Avengers face off against Thanos (Josh Brolin). Spider-Man finally met Green Goblin and Doc Ock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but they were not from the MCU. Instead, they were the versions played by Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina respectively.

Related: Can Spider-Man's Sinister Six Movie Still Happen After No Way Home?

Feige recently revealed in an interview with FilmIsNow Movie Bloopers & Extras, via Comicbook.com, that Green Goblin and Doc Ock were never considered as villains in the MCU before Spider-Man: No Way Home. He revealed that part of the reasoning was because he couldn't think of anyone else in those roles, specifically name dropping Molina as Doc Ock. Feige wanted their Spider-Man to be different from the previous two film incarnations, and part of that meant going for a new type of villain. Feige said:

"For the first few films, it was always, 'How do we do things that have never been done before?' It did not occur to us to do a new Goblin story, or to do an Oscorp story, or to do Doc Ock, or anyone that had been done before, which is why Vulture and Mysterio were really the key characters. Even as we were doing that - and I had been saying for years, even before anybody asked me what I thought - that you can't get better than Alfred Molina as Doc Ock. [I said] stepping into those shoes would be very, very difficult. And wouldn't it be fun to find a way, if you were ever going to bring Doc Ock back, it would have to be Alfred Molina and in early development on this third Homecoming movie, we realized that thanks to the MCU, there was a way to do that."

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Not including Green Goblin and Doc Ock in the MCU Spider-Man films for so long makes a certain amount of sense, as it was the third reboot of the franchise, and it helped stand out from past versions. it also helped to put a spotlight on other villains. Given how much The Amazing Spider-Man films relied heavily on Oscorp, as they were responsible for both the spider that bit Peter as well as all four villains of the series, the MCU decided to avoid it altogether to make their Spider-Man more unique by comparison. The decision to hold off and bring back the popular incarnations from previous films benefited the overall movie by helping make Spider-Man: No Way Home more of an event film and a $1 billion dollar grossing film.

With Peter Parker having already now battled Green Goblin and Doc Ock, it is unlikely the MCU versions of the two characters will appear given Spider-Man fighting them again in another film so soon after Spider-Man: No Way Home may appear a bit redundant to general audiences. Spider-Man: No Way Home drops the reveal that Oscorp does not exist in the MCU, and hints that versions of Norman and Harry Osborn don't either, likely closing off that possibility for future films. This leaves the MCU version of Spider-Man to fight other villains, like the return of Michael Mando as Mac Gargan suited up as Scorpion, or for Peter Parker to finally fight Venom.

Next: Willem Dafoe Kills Hope Of MCU Green Goblin - But It's Worth it

Source: FilmIsNow Movie Bloopers & Extras (via Comicbook.com)

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