Between The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s so-so plot and unwieldy embarrassment of characters, it’s surprisingly easy to find one’s self unable to recall many of the movie’s finer details. But there’s no way of seeing the 2014 film without having the image of Jamie Foxx’s surprisingly Doctor Manhattan-like spin on Electro being seared into your memory.
Of the many changes Electro went through in order to be adapted for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, his electric-blue skin was by far the most divisive, because it was a significant deviation from the comics. For some diehard fans, Electro’s cheesy comic book costume was a crucial part of his identity that would have made his depiction in the film stronger. For many others, the problem was much sillier: Electro looked goofy lighting up like a Christmas tree.
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From what little we’ve seen Electro’s upcoming appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, someone over at Sony and Marvel got the memo about the villain being in need of a revamp, and in a recent panel discussion, Foxx admitted that he’s more than pleased with his character’s new look.
Speaking alongside Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina about reprising their respective roles as the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus, Foxx recalled the multiple hours in the makeup chair it took to get screen ready as Electro for Amazing Spider-Man 2, and that even though he truly wasn’t feeling the blue, he “was just happy to be in this wonderful chorus.” Foxx is well aware of the way people have dunked on his old costume, but he’s confident that his new outfit, which bears much more resemblance to the character’s classic costume, is going to click with fans.
“With this one it just feels more comfortable, and I think it feels more today, modern; like not trying so hard,” Foxx said. “I sort of relate it to R&B. Back in the day in R&B, you used to have to have fringes on your outfit, and like shoulder pads, and now you can just sing.”
A costume change like this might seem innocuous. But Electro more closely resembling his comics depiction, within the context of a movie involving a collapsing multiverse, may be another indicator that Spider-Man: No Way Home is going to have much more far-reaching consequences than the trailers have let on. But we won’t know whether the movie delves into all of that sort of madness until No Way Home hits theatres on December 16.