Molina 'squids in' as Spiderman villain

The British actor Alfred Molina needs plenty of help with his role as the villainous Dr Otto Octavius – known as Doc Ock – in Spider-Man 2.

Sixteen puppeteers work his expandable 13-foot long tentacle arms and he has been in training to wear his costume, which weighs up to 100lbs.

“Alffred happens to be a great actor who has some of the qualities of a loved character,” director SAM RAIMI told USA Today.

“Doc Ock had to have a commanding presence and intelligence. He’s got the look of a bodybuilder from 1954.”

Molina, who has recently co-starred in Frida, Chocolat and Dudley Do-Right, wears dark goggles and a swept-forward hairdo for the role of the doctor who conducts an experiment that goes horribly awry and accidentally fuses a quartet of huge squid limbs to his spine.

“I’m told he’s one of the more popular villains,” said Molina, 50. “It would have been foolish to have said no to the role.”

Raimi considers the doctor to be Spider-Man’s perfect foe since both possess the nature of eight-legged creatures. “His many arms can really put an agile athlete like Spider-Man to the test,” he said.

Spider-Man 2, which again stars Tobey Maguire as the web-swinging superhero, is due to be released next July.