Willem Dafoe Says 'Criticism' of Green Goblin Costume Led to Changes in No Way Home : 'We Heard It'

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Willem Dafoe says past criticism of his Green Goblin costume prompted a redesign for his return in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The 66-year-old actor first played Norman Osborn, aka the villain Green Goblin, in Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man, which starred Tobey Maguire as the superhero. Dafoe reprises the character in No Way Home after Tom Holland's Peter Parker opens a portal to other universes, bringing villains and heroes from previous Spider-Man movie series into his own world.

Dafoe, plus Spider-Man 2's Alfred Molina (Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Jamie Foxx (Max Dillon/Electro) spoke to The New York Times about returning for the crossover event 20 years in the making.

According to Dafoe, his character's look was reimagined because fans of his original performance expressed disappointment that his Goblin mask didn't move and appeared overly cartoonish.

In the film, Dafoe first appears in a similar costume to the original, but the mask is smashed and destroyed early on. He then appears in a hood with his face visible.

"I must be honest, I am aware that there was some criticism of that mask in the original one. We heard it enough that it was probably a consideration, to change it up a little bit," he said. "I don't think about that because I don't think about emoting with my face. My face follows my heart. It's just an expression of what you're feeling."

RELATED: Jamie Foxx Would Bow to Willem Dafoe on Spider-Man: No Way Home Set: 'You're Just Amazing'

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No Way Home costume designer Sanja Milković Hays told Variety last month about updating some of the characters' outfits for this film. She said the Goblin "needed to respect the originals, but also bring them up to the aesthetics of what the new generation expects from us. So it is upgraded and the technology for the way it was made is very different."

Hays said of creating the many costumes for the movie: "All design work is done in coordination with Marvel's visual department, who are heavily involved with the details. I then have to bring it to life, which is a huge process, as there is nothing simple about them."

Dafoe also revealed that he agreed to return for No Way Home with a list of requirements for the character.

"When [producer] Amy Pascal and [director] Jon Watts called me up and said we'd like to pitch you this idea, I thought, 'This is crazy, but let's see what they have to say.' I really didn't want to do a cameo," he explained. "I wanted to make sure there was something substantial enough to do that wasn't just a tip of the hat."

"And the other thing was, I said I really want there to be action — I want to take part in action scenes," continued Dafoe. "Because that's really fun for me. It's the only way to root the character. Otherwise it just becomes a series of memes."

Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters.