Willem Dafoe gave us one of our first and most memorable superhero villains when he starred in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man as Norman Osborn AKA the Green Goblin.
Osborn died in that first film, but would Dafoe be interested in bringing him back for the MCU’s Spider-Man?
Speaking with CinemaBlend, Dafoe didn’t sound like he was against the idea, “Oh god. Norman Osborn was a really fun role to play. I don’t know about that, I don’t know what they’re doing. That was then, this is now. Who knows?”
Dafoe wasn’t really sure where Marvel and Sony were at with Spidey and wasn’t sure if there’d be a place for him in that world anymore.
It’s been 17 years since the first Spider-Man film was released and while Dafoe doesn’t seem all that sure of how reprising his role would work, he seems potentially open to the idea.
However, he did add that he’s very busy at the moment which would make things very difficult, “Now’s a really good time. I’m finding really interesting things to do. So… I can’t wrap my head around that question.”
Dafoe has two films coming out shortly with Motherless Brooklyn and The Lighthouse. He’s also starring in Togo, a Disney+ film, and has projects lined up with Guillermo del Toro, Wes Anderson and Dee Rees. So, we get it, the man is very busy.
It’s also expected that he’ll return to Aquaman 2 as Vulko, so he’s already part of one superhero franchise.
With J.K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson from the original Spider-Man trilogy in the new Marvel/Sony movies, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if Dafoe did return.
Though, it does seem as though the new MCU movies are trying to avoid villains that have been tackled previously, however, the Osborns are a large part of the Spidey story so you never know.
Maybe Dafoe could do a cheeky little cameo in between all his other work?