Willem Dafoe’s return as Green Goblin was such a big secret even Tom Holland didn’t know about it

The current Spider-Man actor found out on set after bumping into a cloaked Dafoe

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Willem Dafoe’s return as Green Goblin was such a big secret even Tom Holland didn’t know about it
Spider-Man: No Way Home Screenshot: Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios always goes the extra mile to keep major spoilers hidden from fans and Spider-Man: No Way Home was turned into a whole spectacle of speculation. Andrew Garfield has been giving the performance of his life, denying that he’ll reprise his role as Spider-Man, as the movie is rumored to feature all three Spider-Mans. But at least one rumor is now confirmed: Willem Dafoe is back as the Green Goblin.

While Alfred Molina was already said to play Doc Ock again, Marvel had yet to officially say whether or not Dafoe would be behind the mask. At a fan event in Los Angeles last night, where the newest trailer premiered, it was finally revealed.

After the trailer was played for fans, Tom Holland—who can now sigh in relief after not sharing yet another major spoiler, as he’s done in the past—told the audience that Marvel Studios kept Dafoe’s casting such a big secret that not even he knew about it.

“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. So they would walk around set with these cloaks on,” he recalled.

“Naturally, these guys were very excited to be coming back and bringing these roles back to life,” Holland said. “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 shit, the Goblin’s here.”

If rumors of James Franco being the voice behind Green Goblin in a previous trailer hadn’t been put to rest already, they’re now dead and buried. Fans will get to find out if the rest of the rumors are true when the movie premieres on December 17.

96 Comments

  • labbla-av says:

    Willem Dafoe didn’t even know he was in the movie he just walked on set and started monologuing and they started filming it.

  • b-2-d-o-m-av says:

    I believe the correct spelling is “Spiders-Man”

  • laserface1242-av says:

    And it’s shockingly way less convoluted and nonsensical than most of Norman’s schemes against Peter…Hell one time Norman swapped out Aunt May with an actress augmented with Aunt May’s DNA and faked her death just to gaslight Peter.And, much like his father, Harry also fucked with Peter’s head by hiring the Chameleon to create LMD’s of Peter’s parents and claim they were still alive.Hell, Harry fucked with Norman’s head from beyond the grave by hiring Mysterio to fuck Norman and use his illusions to make him believe he had sex with Gwen Stacy and also implant false memories into MJ to make them both believe that Norman and Gwen fathered two kids. And this extremely convoluted and nonsensical retcon to Sins Past was part of a revenge scheme by Harry to get back at his father for selling his soul to Mephisto.

    • suckadick59595-av says:

      Wait Norman sold his soul or Harry’s soul?SSomebody asked why I still come to AVC. Laser face comic panels in the comments!

    • cmartin101444-av says:

      Hell, Harry fucked with Norman’s head from beyond the grave by hiring Mysterio to fuck Norman…There’s a second “with” missing there, right?  I thought Mysterio just posed as Norman’s psychiatrist, or has he branched out from SFX work to SEX work?

      • laserface1242-av says:

        Like, his special effects where good enough to make Norman actually believe he fucked her. So technically he didn’t fuck Norman. At best it was a very elaborate handjob.

    • soylent-gr33n-av says:

      Wouldn’t it have been easier, and probably less expensive, for Norman to just murder Aunt May? Hiring an actress, manipulating her DNA, killing HER, just to later get Peter with the “fooled you!” bit doesn’t torment Peter, it just kills a working actress.It’s like that joke Norm McDonald told about the guy whose friend dressed up as Satan and convinced him to murder his family and put their body parts in a duffel bag just as a gag.

      • suckadick59595-av says:

        That is my favorite norm bit. 

      • laserface1242-av says:

        Most of Noman’s schemes are usually the result of hastily made retcons. In this case it John Byrne’s condition that he got to bring Aunt May back from the dead when he worked on the ASM book. At the end of the Clone Saga, it was implied that Norman faked the death of Peter and MJ’s child, named after Aunt May, and absconded with her. So John Byrne does a fake-out claiming that Norman has “May”, Peter thinks Norman has his daughter, and it’s revealed Norman had a very much alive Aunt May.Whatever happened to Peter and MJ’s daughter has never been explained and it’s pretty much dropped that MJ was ever pregnant.

    • uselessbeauty1987-av says:

      Fucking Clone Saga. What a disaster. 

  • maymar-av says:

    the movie is rumored to feature all three Spider-MansAhem…And that’s still omitting Chris Evans Spider Man!

  • kendull-av says:

    When DaFoe de-cloaks in front of you, of course you’re going to compensate by becoming more cockney.

  • rogueindy-av says:

    Such a big secret they didn’t even wait for the film to be out to reveal him.After all the overwrought buildup, the film itself is gonna be so goddamn anticlimactic.

    • pitaenigma-av says:

      I’m expecting a bit of a Far From Home thing. Everyone who knew anything about spiderman knew that Mysterio *probably* wasn’t a great dude. But we’ll get the twist, it’ll be like “Cool, knew it”, and the rest of the movie will be fun too.

    • monsterdook-av says:

      Spider-man hates Spoilers!

      • skipskatte-av says:

        When I was a kid I lived for those Electric Company Spider-Man bits. Because of those, I spent a good portion of my childhood thinking that Spider-Man didn’t talk.

      • weboslives-av says:

        There came point that I only watched Electric Company for Spiderman and Easy Reader.

    • cjob3-av says:

      I was avoiding trailer to avoid spoilers. But good luck avoiding every headline discussing the spoilers in the trailer.

    • egerz-av says:

      I always feel like you can’t blame the filmmakers for constructing their story assuming the viewer is coming in cold, when all of their surprises will inevitably be revealed in set photos, cast lists and trailers.They wanted to make a crowd-pleasing Sinister Six movie with all of the live-action Spider-Men, and they wanted the audience to have fun and be surprised as they rolled out all those elements. Except movies don’t work like that anymore, every major plot revelation gets leaked a year before release and then the trailers confirm all the leaks. Should the movie just open on the curtain call? The story beats still need to come out organically and surprise the characters, even if the audience knows what’s coming.

      • rogueindy-av says:

        Not blaming the filmmakers, it’s the obnoxious marketing machine that annoys me. It feels like Sony are worse for this than Marvel too; so it’s standing out more with this film compared to, say, Eternals and Shang Chi.

        • suckadick59595-av says:

          Believe it or don’t, but I just read a rumour that Sony wanted to reveal Garfield and Maguire in the trailer and Feige talked them down. I think you’re right about Sony v Disney marvel

      • mikeypants-av says:

        Yup, especially the filmmakers behind almost every Terminator movie after the first one, where the twist is inevitably given away by the trailers. 

    • gargsy-av says:

      “After all the overwrought buildup, the film itself is gonna be so goddamn anticlimactic.”

      Why? Were you only planning on seeing it in order to find out who is in it?

    • suckadick59595-av says:

      🤷 reveals don’t equal story   

    • labbla-av says:

      It’s not a secret. That’s why he’s in the trailer and there’s an article about him. 

  • norwoodeye-av says:

    A shame filmgoers can’t ever be surprised.

  • falcopawnch-av says:

    Disappointed that this movie will apparently not showcase the villains’ plan to kill Spider-Man by writing a musical about his life and then persuading him to star in it

  • brickhardmeat-av says:

    Nowhere near as bad given the relentless months of coverage, and the studio’s own tip of the hat, but in a nutshell:  

  • 000-1-av says:

    I still say that is not the real strange but a disguised ….

  • flawedlogic-av says:

    $10 Holland-Spidey dies at the end of this movie and we get a Morales stinger at the end.

  • cjob3-av says:

    It would probably be a lot more fun if they kept these big surprises from the audience instead of the actors.

  • gargsy-av says:

    “If rumors of James Franco being the voice behind Green Goblin in a previous trailer hadn’t been put to rest already, they’re now dead and buried.”

    Why is it dead and buried? Has it been confirmed that Franco isn’t involved?

  • seanpiece-av says:

    I admire Sony’s attempts to salvage their past products by shoving them into a current successful product. But I’ll admire it even more if they give me Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker in live-action.

    Also Charlie Cox as Daredevil, but that’s a Marvel call. Anyway, I’ve been very good this year, thank you in advance Santa.

  • frankwalkerbarr-av says:

    I think cloaking technology should be banned from movie fiilming. Yes, I understand that they wanted to keep Dafoe’s presence a secret, but having invisible people on set is just dangerous — as mentioned Holland even ran into Dafoe because of it.

  • drkschtz-av says:

    This movie is going to end all the nervous mumbling about the MCU possibly dying out.

    • cosmicghostrider-av says:

      On the contrary, I loved Eternals but am kind of expecting this movie to suck based on the “we want all your money” approach Sony has been taking since day one with it.

  • ghostofghostdad-av says:

    This production was so secret I heard Zendaya thought she had filmed Dune Part 2 until the trailer released

  • akabrownbear-av says:

    Andrew Garfield has been giving the performance of his life, denying that he’ll reprise his role as Spider-Man, as the movie is rumored to feature all three Spider-Mans.If this isn’t the case, it’ll make the choice to reuse villains from the older Spider-Man movies stranger. Personally was really hoping we’d see Michael Mando’s Scorpion.But whatever.

    • badkuchikopi-av says:

      It would have been neat if Strange also pulled in the Rami-verse version of Mando’s character who was Scorpion. 

      • mikeypants-av says:

        … and also pulled in other Mando-played characters from Far Cry 3 and Better Call Saul. Now that’s a multiverse!

  • jhelterskelter-av says:

    Marvel Studios always goes the extra mile to keep major spoilers hidden from fanPity the same can’t be said for this fucking website.

    • suckadick59595-av says:

      If it’s in the actual trailer and advertising, is it still a spoiler? 

      • jhelterskelter-av says:

        Trailers can and often do spoil major shit that would’ve made the movie more enjoyable on first viewing (Thor Ragnarok for example). Hence why so many people avoid them, and why it’s so frustrating when websites that know this don’t put in pretty basic effort to address that.
        But honestly? I see you on this thread trying to make yourself feel big by smugly addressing folks who are disappointed in this getting spoiled (just look how quickly you found this comment, you’re clearly just refreshing and looking for more people saying what I’m saying), so gonna have to leave you with blue balls and leave here rather than put up with that sad bullshit. Take care!

        • suckadick59595-av says:

          Lmao I scrolled through the comments and found yours. That’s… How it works. New?Also, yeah, the whinging about “spoilers” is gross. So much entitled whining from y’all. 

      • briliantmisstake-av says:

        I understand that people have their own ways of enjoying movies and for some that means avoiding all information beforehand. That said, getting mad at people for openly discussing what’s in the studio approved promotional material for the movie is just nonsensical. 

        • suckadick59595-av says:

          I know some people who do their best to avoid trailers and promotion in general. Sometimes, for them, that means not visiting websites trafficking in pop culture news. I don’t engage too heavily with most trailers and try to avoid the “let’s pick apart the new trailer frame by frame” articles. I suppose I can see some merit in not splashing Dafoe’s name in the headline. Maybe you’re on av club or wherever and intentionally not clicking on articles relating to Spider-Man. I can see that, I guess. At the same time it’s a trailer with a gazillion views so… 🤷🤷🤷🤷

          • labbla-av says:

            Yes, you can’t expect a website to cater itself to your specific spoiler preferences. Especially when it comes to a new upcoming movie in the largest franchise on Earth. If you do have to be so tender about knowing the slightest thing about the movie then it’s best just to avoid websites like this.

      • cosmicghostrider-av says:

        Hulk in Ragnarok was in the trailer and the poster, however, the film built up his presence as a secret the entire first half until his appearance.

        Id say that’s a spoiler considering the story in that film was told with the assumption that Hulks appearance was a surprise. I assume the weak performance of the previous Thor films made them nervous and they decided to give the marketing team the go-ahead to spoil that.

        But cmon Hulk in the marketing is definitely a spoiler and this trailer right here is too.

        • cosmicghostrider-av says:

          It’s a real thing that a director / filmmaker makes a film with things intended to be surprises but the producers and marketing team decide that “hey we’ll sell more tickets opening weekend if we spoil this during the lead-up to the premiere”. This kind of thing is out of the directors hands so yeah Id say they spoiled the directors surprise here. Definitely. It’s not about Spider-Man: No Way Home being this amazing film experience, it’s about this film making a crazy amount of money the first two weekends. That’s liteerally all they care about here.

        • suckadick59595-av says:

          I like your take. It doesn’t change that these things are part of the advertising and thus, imo, fair game for articles, but…I think your instincts are correct on it being done to drum up business rather than story. Nervous about Thor underperforming so make sure folks know HULK HERE. On one hand, sure, they want ticket sales. Otoh as you rightly note, the movies story plays the whole thing up with suspense and mystery. But I don’t know if this is entirely a new phenomenon. The old trailers for Soylent green literally market it as WHAT IS SOYLENT GREEN? Thing is, that’s not how the story works. It’s not about what is it. That’s the reveal/twist, that green is people. The story is mysterious but the main doesn’t really know what he’s looking for. Iirc. So I don’t know if it is fully new, but our context is different.

  • graymangames-av says:

    Good lord, James Franco. I’d forgotten about that. I imagine Disney wasn’t in any mood to pull the pin on that pumpkin bomb. 

    • caulsapartment-av says:

      At 2:11 in the new trailer there’s a pretty clear image of Franco’s version of the Goblin coming in hot. I’m surprised that hasn’t gotten more attention just yet.

  • aaaaaaagh-av says:

    Is this supposed to be cool? This is so deranged.

  • tigersblood-av says:

    “…all three Spider-Mans?”

    Or is it Spider-Men? Spiders-Man??

  • kinjacaffeinespider-av says:

    Way to go, Dafoe!!!

  • slackware1125-av says:

    I really hope Andrew Garfield continues to deny any involvement in the movie long after it comes out. Even when he’s on screen I want him to just pretend it’s deep fakes or someone else.

  • taumpytearrs-av says:

    Why bother with all the secrecy on set if its still revealed ahead of release? It would be wonderful if it was possible to do something like this and actually have it be a surprise for viewers (at least, the first night’s viewers before some of them go online and spil it for everyone else), but they know its probably going to be leaked by someone and definitely going to be revealed in pre-release promotional materials, who are they pretending for? What’s the difference between me finding out Defoe is in it 6 months ahead of release vs. 6 weeks ahead of release?

  • igotlickfootagain-av says:

    Dafoe brought his own cloak in from home.

  • linoleum-blownapart-av says:

    But do we get the ultra-secret reveal of Italian Spiderman?

  • jeffreywinger-av says:

    All the marvel secrecy and stuff is pretty fucking annoying, but on the other hand, this is pretty fucking hilarious.

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