Spider-Man Movies: 7 Perfect Performances & 7 That Sucked

3. Alfred Molina - Doctor Octopus

As many, many comic book movie writers and directors will tell you (mostly through the films they've already made), the best villains are the ones who pull a little empathy out of you before smashing you over the head with your own sentimentality. They're the guys who you could look at to a certain point and think "yeah, maybe he's actually got a point..."

Alfred Molina's Doc Ock is exactly that. He's a man driven to villainy by extreme circumstances - partly his desire to achieve his life's goal, partly the resulting death of his wife and invasion of his mind by the (accidentally sentient) robotic arms he uses to handle dangerous materials.

He has elements of Jekyll & Hyde about him too and an underlying guilt that clashes with his sardonic sense of humour. He's an absolute joy to watch.