Back when Andrew Garfield was still playing Sony's Spider-Man and leading The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, the studio was cooking up a Sinister Six spin-off movie, written and directed by Daredevil creator Drew Goddard. The movie would have brought back Garfield as Spider-Man and set him on a collision course with some of his greatest foes, including Otto Octavius, aka Doc Ock.
Concept artist Victor J. Martinez revealed a new look at his work for Sony's canceled Sinister Six crossover event on Instagram, offering the first peek at Doctor Octopus' costume. Powered by four mechanical tentacles, Doc Ock was expected to lead the Sinister Six in Drew Goddard's script, which even had a theatrical release date set for November 11, 2016, before it was canceled.
Martinez also shared an inverted version of the same Sinister Six concept art, showing Spider-Man and Doc Ock fighting upside down on the roof of what appears to be a library, with crowds of terrified civilians fleeing below.
Sinister Six was canceled in 2014 after a major Sony hack leaked details and emails from throughout its development. Those emails revealed that Goddard was looking for a "movie star" to lead Sinister Six and was keen on The Odyssey and Jason Bourne actor Matt Damon to play his Doc Ock (via ComicBookMovie).
Other supposed names that were discussed for Doc Ock included Sean Penn, Denzel Washington, Colin Firth, Will Smith, George Clooney, and Daniel Craig.
The plans for Doc Ock were compared to Al Pacino's Michael Corleone from The Godfather, acting as "a character you are totally rooting for even though he is doing bad things." Ultimately, it was suggested that Sinister Six would culminate with "the establishment of the iconic Spidey [and Doc Ock] rivalry."
As Goddard's crossover blockbuster was developed as a spin-off to The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker would have, naturally, been Andrew Garfield, who was pictured crashing toward the Savage Land in another Sinister Six concept art.
Whoever took the role would have become the second live-action Doc Ock, following in the footsteps of the legendary Alfred Molina, who was introduced in 2004's Spider-Man 2 and fought Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker.
Unfortunately, as Sinister Six was canceled, fans are still waiting to see Doc Ock team up with five other villains against the web-slinger in live-action. Sony and Marvel Studios abandoned "talks" to bring the Sinister Six into Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Molina reprised his role alongside just four other Multiversal foes from previous movies: Green Goblin, Electro, Lizard, and Sandman.
Before Sinister Six was abandoned, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 teased that a mysterious man had "identified several worthy candidates" for a new Spider-Man-killing team led by Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin. As he walked through the halls of Oscorp, Doc Ock's tentacles were spotted hiding in the background alongside Vulture's wings and Rhino's giant mechanical suit.
Doc Ock Could Return to Marvel Twice This Year
Spider-Man: No Way Home allowed the MCU to tackle five of Peter Parker's greatest foes in quick succession, continuing their stories from years ago. The unfortunate consequence of that is that Marvel Studios is unlikely to repeat any of those villains (except perhaps Norman Osborn) in live-action for the foreseeable.
There have been rumors that Molina will reprise Doc Ock this year in Avengers: Doomsday as part of an opening sequence that features an Incursion between the RaimiVerse and the X-Men universe. Having returned to his Earth healed after Spider-Man: No Way Home, it only makes sense that Doc Ock would set aside his villainy and fight alongside Tobey Maguire's Peter 2 to protect their world.
Fortunately, Marvel Television will still be toying with its own Doc Ock this year in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2. Otto Octavius was teased as a disgruntled Oscorp genius supplying advanced tech to super-villains, setting him up as the sophomore year's big bad, voiced by Hannibal actor Hugh Dancy.
