Willem Dafoe got physical for his return as Green Goblin inSpider-Man: No Way Homebecause the actor wouldn’t have it any other way. Now playing in theaters, the epic superhero movie introduces a live-action multiverse by bringing in various characters from alternateSpider-Manrealities. This includes Dafoe as the supervillain he played nearly two decades ago in Sam Raimi’s firstSpider-Manmovie in 2002.
While it’s been a while sinceWillem Dafoehas suited up as the Marvel supervillain, the 66-year-old insisted that he get to do his own stunts in the new movie. In fact, as seen in a viral clip onTwitterof the actor speaking about his role inNo Way Home, Dafoe explains that the physical aspects were so important to him that he wouldn’t have signed on otherwise.
“To do this physical stuff was important to me. In fact, one of the first things I said to Jon (Watts) and Amy (Pascal), basically, when they pitched it to me before there was even a script, was, ‘Listen. I don’t want to just pop in there as a cameo, or just fill in in closeups. I want to do the action because that’s fun for me. And also, because it’s really impossible to add any integrity or any fun to the character if you don’t participate in these things. Because all that action stuff informs your relationship to the characters and the story, and also, it makes you earn your right to play the character in a funny way.”
Initially, theSpider-Man: No Way Hometeam was planning to keep all of the multiverse villain returns a secret, only intending to promote the inclusion of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). The cat was let out of the bag when Alfred Molina revealed that he was returning as Doc Ock, the villain he played inSpider-Man 2. There had since been a heavy focus on not just Doc Ock, but the returns of other supervillains as well, including Jamie Foxx’s Electro fromThe Amazing Spider-Man 2and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from the firstSpider-Man. In the trailers, Doctor Strange tells Peter how fracturing the multiverse has flooded in these visitors from other worlds who’ve died fighting Spider-Man.
“It’s actually a funny story when I met Willem for the first time. Obviously, at that time, all of the villains in the film, it was a huge secret that they were in the film," Tom Holland said ofthe first time he met Dafoe. “So they would walk around set with these cloaks on. Naturally, these guys were very excited to be coming back and bringing these roles back to life. I just sort of bumped into this guy in a cloak. I was like, ‘Watch out, mate.’ He took his cloak off, and I almost got really scared — Oh sh*t, the Goblin’s here.”
Indeed, fans have been particularly excited to see Willem Dafoe back in action as the Green Goblin, and it’s fun to know that all of the action you see from the character is really him.Spider-Man: No Way Homeis playing in theaters as of Jul 06, 2025.
