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Tom Holland's 'Spider-Man 3': As Alfred Molina returns, Internet says 'biggest fight will be for screen time'

'Too many characters' can legitimately be a problem. A film packed with all fan favorites may not necessarily be a good one but MCU has proven itself capable of this stunt in the past

The legendary Alfred Molina, who portrayed the evil Doctor Octopus in Tobey Maguire’s 2004 ‘Spider-Man’ sequel, is returning to the Spider-verse. The actor is reportedly reprising his role for the third installment of the Tom Holland-led superhero film. Molina’s performance in Sam Raimi's ‘Spider-Man 2’ as Otto Octavius, a brilliant scientist turned eight-limbed villain, was a fan favorite. Naturally, this news is exciting for fans. 

'Spider-Man 3', which has ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ director Jon Watts back at the helm, is set to premiere in December 2021. And Molina is not the only big star and past Marvel character to feature in it. The film is set to feature multiple generations of ‘Spider-Man’ actors. Jamie Foxx will reportedly appear as Electro, a villain he first played opposite Andrew Garfield in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’. Benedict Cumberbatch is making an appearance as Doctor Strange. Zendaya, Marisa Tomei and Jacob Batalon are all reprising their roles from the first two Holland-led ‘Spider-Man’ films. 

In fact, while Holland’s character is the only version to appear in the Disney-owned MCU, fan-favorite actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are reportedly going to appear in 'Spider-Man 3', reprising their respective Spider-Man roles next to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. What’s more, a Collider report even suggested that Kirsten Dunst will come back as Mary Jane Watson from the Tobey Maguire films and Emma Stone might reprise her role as Gwen Stacy from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ films.

So, what we essentially have here is a very packed film. “The biggest fight in Spider-Man 3 is for screen time,” noted a fan on Twitter. Another fan tweeted, “So if we have 20 spider man characters are they all getting less than 3 minutes of screen time each or.” One fan said, “I’m mad hyped right now but let’s not forget: Spider-Man 3, with all these characters, is either gonna be REALLY good or REALLY bad. Hopefully, the script allows for each character to have enough screen time without overshadowing the continuation of the previous film’s plot.” While another fan wrote on Twitter, “I'm starting to fear they're trying to pack way too much into this spider-man 3 and essentially repeat the same issues that hurt the last spider-man 3 lol. or, all these rumored multiverse cameos (Maguire, Garfield, Foxx, Molina) will have like 10 combined seconds of screen time.”

"Too many characters” can legitimately be a problem. A film packed with all fan favorites may not necessarily be a good one. But MCU has proven itself capable of this stunt in the past. Take for example, ‘Captain America: Civil War’ or ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ or ‘Avengers: Endgame’. Each of these films had dozens of important characters, all superheroes.

Even the critically acclaimed 2018 animated feature, ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ featured multiple versions of the web-shooting hero from alternate universes. And that did not feel crowded at all. Only time will tell if this film will be a success in that regard. But really, till now, Holland’s version of Spider-Man in the first two films has caused anything but disappointment. 

Sony plans to release the third ‘Spider-Man’ film on December 17, 2021.