Jared Harris is shooting down fan theories that he’s secretly playing Doctor Octopus in the upcoming Spider-Man villain movie, Morbius. If true, it wouldn’t be the actor’s first time playing a baddie either, with Harris having previously portrayed Professor Moriarty opposite Robert Downey Jr.‘s Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and the insidious Dr. David Robert Jones on Fringe. Of course, that was only part of the reason a number of people were immediately suspicious of him when he showed up playing an as-yet unnamed character in the Morbius trailer released last week.
In addition to teasing Michael Morbius’ (Jared Leto) journey from sickly biochemist to blood-thirsty vampire in the film, the trailer confirmed Morbius is part of the MCU by including a cameo of Spider-Man graffiti and, at the very end, Michael Keaton’s Vulture in the flesh. In case there was ever any doubt, it’s clear now Sony’s intention is to use Morbius to further build up to a Sinister Six movie featuring Vulture, Morbius, and potentially Woody Harrelson as Carnage from the upcoming Venom 2. Question is, will the spinoff introduce new versions of any other Spider-Man rogues?
After Harris showed up as Morbius’ unnamed mentor in the trailer, fans were quick to suspect he’s really playing a new version of classic Spidey foe Otto Octavius or Doctor Octopus (aka. Doc Ock). However, when interviewed by Variety at the 2020 SAG awards (where he was nominated for Chernobyl), Harris said “No” to the rumor before adding “I love the imagination that the fans have, it’s exciting for me to think about the imagination that that fans have. But yeah no, it’s not”.
Considering Doctor Octopus is a frequent members of the Sinister Six in the Marvel Comics universe, there’s a strong chance he will team-up with Vulture and the rest of his gang in the film adaptation, should it ultimately come to pass. It’s not clear how far out a Sinister Six movie could be though; Morbius is the only Spider-Man villain spinoff with a confirmed release date (though Venom 2 is rumored to be the mystery Marvel film Sony has scheduled for October) and Sinister Six hasn’t had a writer and/or director since Bad Times at the El Royale filmmaker Drew Goddard was attached pre-Spider-Man joining the MCU. Not that it’s stopped producer Amy Pascal from teasing the film or saying she hopes Goddard returns for Sinister Six over the last two years.
As is often the case with these types of rumors, Harris’ denial should be taken with a grain of salt; if he were secretly playing Doc Ock, he wouldn’t confirm it so far ahead of Morbius’ release this summer, anyway. He’s a great character actor and would do well as just about any Spider-Man villain, so hopefully there’s more to Harris’ part in Morbius than meets the eye (be he a secret baddie or not) and he isn’t simply playing a throwaway supporting role in the film. Many feel Alfred Molina delivered one of the all-time great live-action supervillain performances as Doctor Octopus from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, but someone of Harris’ caliber could certainly fill his shoes. For now, however, that will have to remain a rumor only.
Source: Variety
- Morbius Release Date: 2022-04-01 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Part One Release Date: 2023-06-02
