There are any number of actors who could have taken on the role of Dr. Otto Octavius in 2004's Spider-Man 2, but Sam Raimi made a somewhat unlikely choice with Alfred Molina. However, it would prove to absolutely be the right one.
The actor made Doctor Octopus his own and, even two decades later, his Doc Ock is still considered one of the best comic book supervillains to ever grace the screen.
In a recent interview, Molina reflected on his career and admitted he was surprised to be considered seeing as he was best known at the time for his roles in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Frida.
"It was a big surprise to me, because it's not the kind of movie that I imagined myself to be qualified for. You always think of these big action films as [casting] physical types, and I've definitely never been that. We had a great meeting. And I kept saying, 'Look, I'm up for it. But I've got to be honest with you, I've never done anything like this before. And I've certainly never worked on a film with all this technology, I've never done much green screen or anything like that."
"But what swung it was we did a screen test, where they gave me an approximation of the costume - the big leather [harness] with the big trench coat. And then Avi Arad, who at the time was the head of Marvel, takes off his sunglasses and goes, 'Put these on.' I put the sunglasses on, and the whole room sort of went, 'Oh, this could be the image.' And I think that's what swung it."
"The beautiful thing about a lot of the Marvel villains - and, in fact, a lot of the Marvel heroes - is that they all become so reluctantly. Otto Octavius has this terrible tragedy in his life which changes things, and so they become these monsters, these villains, almost against their will. And what that does, it gives those characters a real level of humanity. It gives them kind of moral dilemmas to deal with, and there's always a moment when they're struggling with that dilemma: 'Should I carry on doing this? Should I pull back? Am I being a bad person?'"
"And that was all in the script. Sam wanted to develop that, and it gave the character a depth and something that the audience can hang onto. Because he's no longer a two-dimensional character. He's not just the bad guy, he's actually the bad guy with a kind of emotional life. And that just, I think, makes them so much more interesting."
Doctor Octopus' story reached a definitive end in Spider-Man 2's closing moments when Otto regained his sense and sacrificed himself to save Peter Parker and New York.
However, with the Multiverse in play, he got to take another crack at the villain in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Pulled into Earth-616 moments before his demise, Doc Ock initially clashed with Tom Holland's web-slinger before his mind was cured and he helped the Spider-Men turn the tide against Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman, and The Lizard on the Statue of Liberty.
"I was delighted, obviously," Molina said of his return. "Apart from the fact that it's great fun to play, playing that part, in all honesty, completely changed my life. I mean, it did. It just took everything not just to a different level, but also to a whole other group of cinema fans."
"There's a fan group that loved all the movies like Chocolat and Enchanted April and Frida and all those movies, and now suddenly the children of those people are kind of digging Fred Molina 'cause he's playing Doc Ock."
While we don't anticipate seeing any of Spider-Man: No Way Home's sinister villains again, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are expected to reteam with Holland in the not-too-distant future.
Watch the full interview with Molina below.