Most fans of the classic Spider-Man films probably never thought they’d see Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock again, or Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. And after the less-than-stellar reception to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it really didn’t look like Jamie Foxx’s Electro would ever get another chance. Oh, and another reason we didn’t think we’d see these guys again? Their characters all died. But, in comic books, and in comic book movies, death is often just a mild inconvenience.
Thankfully, all three villainous gentlemen got over having died their untimely deaths in Spider-Man: No Way Home. We’re all so glad they did. And now you can watch the scene where the so-called “walking corpses” all have a reunion in Doctor Strange’s magic basement, along with Tom Holland’s Spidey.
We have a few fun things to point out about this scene. For starters, how did Doctor Octopus and Sandman know that Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin? It seems that information was never leaked to the general public. Osborn’s death would have been public knowledge of course. But that he “died fighting Spider-Man,” as Sandman said, would not have been. Although Doctor Octavius is a very smart cookie, and he knew Osborn in real life. He certainly might have figured it out on his own.
We must say though, it’s amazing to watch this scene again and see just how good a job the special effects artists were at digitally de-aging Molina and Dafoe. They really look as they did in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films of nearly two decades ago. And there’s not much “uncanny valley” action going on either. It’s pretty convincing. We’ve come a long way since Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were digitally de-aged in X-Men: The Last Stand. Maybe they need the Spider-Man: No Way Home teams to redo those two as well!
