Spider-Man: No Way Home Star Recalls Scary First Encounter With Green Goblin's Willem Dafoe

After a wait that felt like an eternity and more, Marvel fans were finally blessed with the second full trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Looking at everything that was shown to tease Tom Holland's third MCU "solo" outing, it seems safe to say that this will be a trailer that has fans talking for quite some time to come.

The second round of footage from No Way Home largely centered around the movie's actual plot, in which Doctor Strange's spell to help with Peter Parker's identity crisis goes horribly wrong. Amongst the thrilling action, fans got plenty of humor featuring Scooby-Doo references and Deadpool-esque jokes about the names of this movie's newcomers, setting the stage for nearly three hours of intense fun.

Along with new plot details, this trailer showcased more exciting footage of Alfred Molina's Doctor Otto Octavius while giving the first true looks at four other big-time bad guys that will face the movie's core web-slingers, and possibly more. Following this debut, that core web-slinger, Tom Holland, spoke about his experience meeting one of the villains' actors for the first time.

Tom Holland and Willem Dafoe's First Meeting

Marvel

At the Southern California premiere event for the second Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, via The Hollywood Reporter, Spider-Man star Tom Holland reminisced on his first time meeting Green Goblin actor Willem Dafoe. Holland also revealed that Dafoe and the other actors behind the film's villains would walk around on set completely cloaked to ensure secrecy for the movie.

Dafoe and others reportedly came to the set "a week before they started shooting" to get a feel for the environment, and Holland recalled bumping into Dafoe completely cloaked and even being scared upon the actor's eventual reveal. In the end, all scary memories aside, Holland enjoyed his time working with Dafoe as he praised their time on set together:

“These guys are very excited to be coming back and bringing these roles back to life. They came to set a week before they started shooting to see what it was like. I  just bumped into this guy in a cloak. I was like, ‘Watch out mate.’ He took his hood off and I almost got really scared. ‘Oh shit, the Goblin is here.’ But he was lovely. He was really wonderful and a real joy to work with.”

Green Goblin Encounters a New Spider-Man

The first trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home from August only hinted slightly at Willem Dafoe's return as Norman Osborne with the image of a pumpkin bomb from 2002's Spider-Man blowing up on the bridge. The original live-action Spidey adversary also came into full form in the film's first official poster, although he was quite tiny in the image behind Tom Holland's web-slinger.

With this new trailer, fans get their first full shot of Dafoe as he makes his glorious return alongside villains and heroes from every generation of live-action Spider-Man movies. The footage showcases Dafoe's Green Goblin both sporting his classic terrifying mask and throwing Goblin bombs with only goggles on as he takes some of the spotlight in No Way Home's marketing campaign.

Taking into account Dafoe's status as one of the pioneers of Marvel's live-action movies, his comeback after helping introduce Spider-Man to the movies nearly two decades ago is quickly having an impact on all involved.

Tom Holland's quotes confirm just how easily Dafoe got back into character for this role and teased just how fun the comic book movie veteran was to work with in their first superhero movie together. Both actors appear to be at the top of their games with their respective hero and villain on-screen, and with just over a month until No Way Home debuts, this fight is shaping up to be one for the ages.

Spider-Man: No Way Home will swing into theaters on December 17, 2021.