Spider-Man: No Way Home star Willem Dafoe dropped a hint about the evolution of Green Goblin from his first appearance. Spider-Man: No Way Home, which swings into theaters on December 17, is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man trilogy. However, it is the first entry in the MCU to meaningfully interact with previous iterations of the character. In No Way Home, a spell from Doctor Strange goes awry and previous Spider-Man universes fold in on one another, causing chaos in the current world of Tom Holland's Peter Parker. Holland will face off against a number of returning Spidery villains, including Thomas Haden Church's Sandman, Rhys Ifans' Lizard, Jamie Foxx's Electro, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock and, of course, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin.
Green Goblin was the very first of these villains to be introduced into live-action Spider-Man films. He appeared in Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire, serving as the movie's Big Bad. Dafoe's Goblin also featured in cameos in Rami's two Spider-Man sequels. Green Goblin begins the film as Norman Osborn, the neglectful CEO father of Peter's best friend Harry. When an experimental enhancement drug causes his mind to shatter, Osborn develops a second, sinister personality who dons an insect-like green costume and uses prototype weapons and a hoverboard to wreak havoc on New York City.
The official Spider-Man YouTube channel shared a video of a CCXP panel where the former Spidey villain actors Foxx, Molina, and Dafoe were being interviewed. During the interview, Dafoe started joking about how uncomfortable the costumes are. However, the actor said that, 20 years later, the technology used to create the costumes has improved greatly given advances made since the early 2000s. He explained that now they can "scan [him] and they can design it and then make the costume." Dafoe also said his Spider-Man: No Way Home costume is "more flexible" and he can "do more things" with it. Read the full quote below:
"You wanna know the truth? Nobody knows how uncomfortable those costumes are! But they look good. We are actors, you forget about the discomfort and you know… It’s part of it. But the costumes are much more comfortable than they were before. I remember the initial fitting to create the costume for the Green Goblin. I stood there for 8 hours and they put different pre-formed pieces on me. Now, they scan me and they can design it and then make the costume and then try it on me. It’s a huge leap in the technology. And they’re more flexible, we can do more things with them. Also, I don’t know how much we wanna fool with spoilers but the look’s a little different. Norman and the Goblin are further down the line and they have a few more tricks up their sleeve. So it’s not an exact… There’ve been upgrades on the costume, let’s say."
In his final comments, Dafoe also let slip that his character has progressed from the Raimi films. The actor may have accidentally confirmed the theory about these Spider-Man villains being multiverse variants that aren't the specific characters audiences saw in the original films. Both sides of Osborn's personality, according to Dafoe, are "further down the line" and have "more tricks up their sleeves," meaning that there have somehow been developments in the intervening years. This would be despite the character dying at the end of Rami's first Spider-Man movie.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is promising to be one of the biggest movie events of the year, with pre-sale tickets topping charts across the world. Audiences are clamoring to see how all the Spider-Man universes could possibly interact with one another in this unprecedented level of crossover. Dafoe just threw more gas on that burning fire of curiosity, though luckily there are only two weeks left for Spider-Man fans to wait and find out exactly what is going on, and whether this Green Goblin is the one audiences know and love, or a different one altogether.
Source: Spider-Man
