If you think Sony is resting on its Spider-Man cash cow because it had to delay the rollout of its Spider-Man villain cinematic universe, then you don’t quite understand how desperate Sony is to make money off Spider-Man. The next step in its strange Marvel off-shoot is evidently a new film directed by Olivia Wilde that will focus on a female character from the Spider-verse. A Deadline report states that this character is most likely Spider-Woman.
Wilde is one of the hottest directors in Hollywood right now after pulling in plaudits from her directorial debut, Booksmart. One of the writers of that film, Katie Silberman, will be joining her in writing this new (possibly) Spider-Woman movie, and longtime Spidey producer Amy Pascal will be producing the film.
The film’s screenplay had a previous draft by Gary Spinelli, but the report states that Wilde is looking to completely revamp the project. That means it’s unclear just which Spider-Woman we will be getting. The original Spider-Woman was Jessica Drew, but since her initial turn in the ’70s many characters have taken over including Julia Carpenter and Mary Jane Watson. Regarding the latter, a character with the initials “MJ” has of course already shown up in Spider-Man films that are tied to the MCU, so that might add a layer of confusion. Then again, the Vulture was in the MCU and has made the jump over to Sony’s universe, so anything could happen.
Alongside its stable of Spidey villains, Sony is making a strong push to launch a host of female-led Marvel superhero movies. In addition to Olivia Wilde’s (again — probably) Spider-Woman film, it is also working on movies featuring Madame Web, Black Cat, and Silver Sable. Could we see an all-female superhero team go up against the likes of Venom, Morpheus, and Vulture?
