Olivia Wilde is joining the Spider-Verse! On Wednesday, Deadline reported that the actor-director has signed on to “direct and develop” a “secret Marvel film project revolving around a female character in the universe” for Sony Pictures, and she quote-tweeted the news story shortly thereafter with a spider emoji.
— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) August 19, 2020
While Sony refused to comment for Deadline’s report, the studio’s official Twitter all but confirmed the news by replying to Wilde with a clapping emoji. As for which “female character” this could be, Deadline surmises (and all signs point to) it to be Spider-Woman. Not only has Sony been developing multiple films in the Spider-Verse, but one of the other big “female-centric” Spidey films, Madame Web, is already being directed by S.J. Clarkson, while a live-action Silk movie has been in development at least since 2018, according to a Vanity Fair article on the future of Sony’s Spider-Verse movies.
There’s no word on which iteration of Spider-Woman the film could follow, or if Wilde will have a brand-new character step into the superheroine’s shoes. For continuity purposes, however, Jessica Drew seems the most likely. According to the 2018 Vanity Fair article, there’s already an animated Spider-Woman spin-off, written by Bek Smith, that will center around Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy), Silk (Cindy Moon) and Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew).
Casting details for the Spider-Woman movie are, of course, being kept tightly under wraps, and a production timeline is similarly up in the air.
Spidey fans can next traverse the Spider-Verse in Morbius, which is slated to arrive on March 19, 2021, followed by Venom 2, which is expected to premiere June 25, 2021. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 began production in June, and it has a tentative release date of October 7, 2022.
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