A hero is only as good as their villains. Although the concept applies in every medium with a narrative, few story forms illustrate the importance of good villains as potently as the world of professional wrestling. In wrestling, a babyface(good guy) is only interested in winning the match, which means they can only move forward. In opposition, a heel(bad guy) is focused on controlling the match, allowing them endless latitude in the narrative.
In the world of film, villains function in a similar capacity. Despite being the focal point of a narrative, heroes are always playing the villain's game. One salient example of the aforementioned idea is Willem Dafoe's turn as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home. As the Goblin, Dafoe cycles through a stunning array of emotions and motivations across the film's run time. And if his maniacal grin in character wasn't evidence enough, Dafoe has spoken openly about how much he enjoyed playing the Green Goblin.
According to Variety, Dafoe enjoyed the role so much that he has recently expressed a desire to step onto the Goblin's glider again.
Willem Dafoe is not ruling out a third appearance as the iconic Spider-Man villain Norman Osborne/Green Goblin. The actor's beloved role in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" remains his most recognizable performance, and he reprised Green Goblin to rave reviews in 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Dafoe told Inverse in a recent interviewto promote his new thriller, "Inside," that a third go-around with the Spider-Man villain is not out of the question.
"If everything was right, sure," Dafoe said. "I mean, that's a great role. I liked the fact that it's a double role both times. Twenty years ago, and fairly recently, both times [were] very different experiences, but I had a good time on both."
During his press tour for "Spider-Man: No Way Home," in which his Green Goblin reunited on screen with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and became a villain to Tom Holland's Spider-Man, Dafoe said that his main stipulation for reprising the villain was that he not be a cameo appearance.
