A great bit of news for any Marvel fan today: Deadline is reporting that Olivia Wilde is developing and is set to direct a new female-led project for Sony set in its expanding Marvel universe.
That the universe is expanding isn’t a surprise, but Sony clearly has some definite ideas about where it wants that universe to go. Wilde made her directorial debut, Booksmart, in 2019 and while the film didn’t do that well commercially, it was a critical darling and has the feel of a movie destined to become a cult classic as more people find it. She’s been sought-after for more directing jobs since. Wilde will be penning the new Sony Marvel script alongside Booksmart co-writer Katie Silberman. Gary Spinelli wrote a previous script. Longtime Sony producer Amy Pascal will be producing and Rachel O’Connor is set to executive produce. Wilde confirmed the news with a single spider emoji on Twitter:
Sony’s Marvel universe, which is more accurately described as a Spider-Man universe, has gone through a few iterations since its second run at a Spider-Man franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man. Projects have been announced and then abandoned and then resurrected in other forms, such as Silver & Black, the now-canceled movie that was set to revolve around Spider-Man villains Silver Sable and Black Cat and directed by The Old Guard‘s Gina Prince-Bythewood. That movie was then canceled, then Sony started developing it as individual movies for each character, then the entire theatrical angle was scrapped entirely and as of this past January, it’s now being developed as a television series.
Since the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Venom, however, and their renewed contract with Marvel Studios keeping Spider-Man in the MCU, Sony’s footing with the future of the Spider-Man universe seems somewhat more sure. The next Sony Marvel movie to be released is Morbius, starring Jared Leto as the titular Spider-Man baddie, now rescheduled for a March 2021 release. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 is also a go. as is Tom Hardy’s second turn as Venom in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, set for release in June of next year. Still, the dearth of female-led movies was growing more apparent and Wilde’s project is the first step toward balancing the scales.
Sony did not confirm what Wilde’s project would be, but Deadline is reporting that sources have said it’s expected to center around Spider-Woman, which is a bit surprising. Considering Booksmart‘s irreverent humor revolving around teenage girls, and lighter but poignant tone, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be a Spider-Gwen movie. However, it was reported in 2018 that an animated Spider-Gwen spinoff movie is already in the works at Sony, so we’ll see.
Still, my personal choice is for Spider-Woman. Sure, Spider-Gwen is great and the new hotness, but Jessica Drew, a.k.a. Spider-Woman, has been one of the low-key coolest characters in the Spider-Man comic book universe ever since her introduction in the late ’70s. While it’s likely it will be an origin story no matter what, if it is Spider-Woman, I’d argue the smarter and more interesting angle would be to skip the origin story and get right to the part where Jessica Drew is already in her prime. As Spider-Man, Peter Parker may be cool, but Spider-Woman is cooler. Not only does Jessica Drew have all the same powers that Peter Parker has, she’s upgraded. She has the added bonus of being able to discharge blasts from her hands thanks to the build-up of bio-electrical energy in her body, as well as exuding a pheromone that can seduce and attract others – though she likes to negate this sometimes-annoying passive ability with a neutralizing perfume. On top of this, she’s also a master spy, first trained by HYDRA and then S.H.I.E.L.D. and has all of the abilities you’d expect of an expert in espionage: Superb hand-to-hand fighter and martial artists, trained in various forms of weaponry, covert ops, speaks at least seven languages fluently and is an expert fencer. Basically, she’s like if Black Widow and Spider-Man had a baby, and that baby also turned out to be a bug-themed superhero.
Whichever character this movie revolves around, the news is exciting. It’s been great to see women finally, at long last, getting their shots at big-budget comic book movies in recent years: Patty Jenkins with the Wonder Woman franchise, Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey and Ava DuVernay’s The New Gods for DC; Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck co-directing Captain Marvel, Nia DaCosta getting tapped for Captain Marvel 2, and Chloe Zhao on The Eternals for Marvel; S.J. Clarkson working on developing Madame Webb and potentially Gina Prince-Bythewood on the Black Cat and Silver Sable projects for Sony. Wilde now joins their growing ranks and her voice will be a welcome one.
