How Raimi's Doctor Octopus Returns In Spider-Man: No Way Home

The first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has finally arrived, with the explosive - but not unexpected - twist reveal of Alfred Molina's return as Doctor Octopus. The self-titled "worst kept secret in Hollywood" is the blue-chip reveal at the end of an already action-packed trailer, but how can he return, given that he's from an entirely different Spider-Man universe? The answer, most likely, comes thanks to Marvel's multiverse as the trailer hints.

When Spider-Man: Far From Home trolled the MCU's fans with a Multiversal false start, thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio, the possibility of a dream reunion of Tobey Maguire, Andre Garfield, and Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man looked to be slipping away. But WandaVision teased dimensional shenanigans before Loki's Kang ending opened the Multiverse of Madness well before Doctor Strange's sequel explores it further. Now, with what feels like years of story and casting rumors already in the bank, No Way Home looks like it might just be shaping up to be the fan-baiting crossover event everyone's dreamt of for some time.

Crowning an otherwise mischievous marketing campaign that sought to actively weaponize trolling - especially around No Way Home's title - Sony stole back the reins with the release of the first trailer out of CinemaCon. And that final moment, which sees Alfred Molina greet Holland's Peter Parker like an old friend is one of the MCU's biggest stand-out trailer moments ever. The question now is how the franchise will justify Molina's return as Doctor Octopus after his character was killed off in Spider-Man 2. The answer seemingly lies in the multiverse and the suggestion that while he looks like the same character, he's presumably a variant from a timeline in which he didn't die.

Spiderman no way home Doctor Octopus alfred Molina

There have already been hints that Spider-Man: No Way Home will include variants, since Jamie Foxx confirmed months ahead of the trailer's release that his Electro would look different to The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The solution to that particular conundrum was always speculative, but then Loki established the logic of variants who didn't just look different, but who had lived entirely different lives. If Throg can exist in the MCU, so too can a non-blue Electro and a Doctor Octopus who didn't drown and take down his nefarious "greatest" invention. There's also already established technology in the MCU that can allow characters to jump through dimensions - by navigating the Quantum Realm. The specifics of that technology in conjunction with the multiverse is unclear, but if the Green Goblin hint from the trailer means Norman Osborn is involved, there is money behind it, motive (Spider-Man hate), and technological genius.

The more likely source is that the multiversal Sinister Six that presumably end up stalking Holland's Peter Parker are the result of Doctor Strange's attempts to help Spider-Man's secret identity be forgotten. There appears to be a warning of getting what you wish for, which may hint at Strange drawing on the Dream Dimension (and thus Nightmare - who was speculated to be Doctor Strange 2's villain) to pull off the dangerous magic required. That might tie into the comic book arc Spider-Man: One More Day, which followed Civil War's reveal of Peter Parker's identity and saw Spidey make a deal with the devil that comes with a heartbreaking price. Nightmare could be the stand-in for Mephisto here, and the price for Peter's anonymity may be having his greatest foes on his tail. Bringing in Doctor Octopus as the first sign of that in the trailer - given that he could well still be the greatest Spider-Man movie villain - would be the perfect teaser of Spider-Man: No Way Home's explosive plot. After all, Peter has previously wished he could face bigger threats than his "friendly neighborhood" could provide, and the warning in the trailer appears to be the dangers of wish fulfillment.

Next: No Way Home Proves Spider-Man Still Can't Let Iron Man Go