Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was truly one of the best films of 2018. And this coming from Sony, the studio who had struggled with the character post-Raimi (well, to be specific, post-Spider-Man 2). Yet, despite the lackluster efforts that followed the Evil Dead director’s films, Sony hit the big time with this animated flick, both critically and commercially. And given the movie’s intense popularity, fans are already hypothesizing about what the next film could have in store for Spider-Man. But thanks to a little tease from one of the first film’s directors, Rodney Rothman, we might have some idea of what evils Miles Morales and co. must face next. The funny thing? It’s someone we’ve met before. Doctor Olivia Octavius AKA Doc Ock.
“In the end, we found the movie played fine without us tagging every single possible thing,” said Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Rodney Rothman, in an interview with Total Film (Via ScreenRant), “But we definitely think of Liv as someone who is not gone from the story, and who in many ways, is our most powerful bad guy. She’s manipulating a lot of things to achieve her own grand ambitions.”
That’s right, it’s Liv – the new Doc Ock in the Spider-Verse saga. Compared to the first film’s Kingpin, she played a relatively smaller role. But it appears she’ll be locking horns in a bigger one with Spider-Man yet again in future films (or Spider-Men and Spider-Women in this case).
The last time a Doc Ock character appeared in a Spidey film was back in 2004 with the Sam Raimi-helmed Spider-Man 2. The character was the original Doc Ock and was played by Alfred Molina. Given the different tones of the two films, the ‘Liv’ version of Ock is far more eccentric and crazed than Molina’s version. But it’s nonetheless interesting to see how she plays into the bigger story of the Spider-Verse.
What do you think lies in store for the Spider-Man heroes in the Spider-Verse sequel? Who will join forces with Liv to take down the web-slingers? Let us know in the comments below!