Summary
While there’s no word on what theSpider-Manfranchise has in store for fans following the end of the Home trilogy stemming from the Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures collaboration concerning the character, an exec close to the franchise gives fans some insight on one recent casting rumor.
WhileSpider-Manhas been a massive success for the Disney and Marvel Studios as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony has seen far less success with its standalone Marvel projects focused on the web-slinger’s comic book antagonists. Despite this, many expected that at least one of these projects would eventually cross over with the mainline Tom Holland-led franchise. One idea that was floated early on was Black Cat, a character that Sony was supposedly interested in exploring before the wave of negative reception brought the future into question. Fans who have taken it upon themselves to startcasting Black Cat for futureSpider-Man movieshave pushed Anya Taylor Joy, recent star ofFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagaand a part of theDunefranchise, to the fore of the running.
With theSpider-Man: Hometrilogy now wrapped up and a fourth film in the works, that consideration has become even more prominent while plot details get sorted. Most recently,rumors have begun swirling that Taylor-Joy’s casting decision has actually moved forward, and now fans have gotten some official word on the matter. In a video uploaded to social media by userzachaniff on TikTok, fans can see Sony’sSpider-Manproducer Amy Pascal weigh in on the question of Taylor-Joy’s casting for an upcomingSpider-Manfilm. “She would be fantastic,” Pascal answered. “She’s amazing. We’re not quite at that stage yet. There’s a lot of fantastic female characters, but I can’t talk about all this!”
While this is a clear refutation of the rumors that have been swirling around Anya Taylor-Joy, it also seems to completely shut down any talks of Black Cat being in the nextSpider-Manfilm. WhileKevin Feige has allegedly disapproved of the current iteration ofSpider-Man 4’sscript, taking the statements about not being there yet despite the film already being in production and referencing the existence of other female characters that could get the nod instead all but tells that Black Cat won’t be in the film. Tons of other female characters have indeed been put forth by Sony, including the cast ofMadame Weband others like Spider-Gwen, could potentially make it to the screen before Black Cat, and Anya Taylor Joy could play many of them just as well.
The currentSpider-Mancinematic franchise is a part of the MCU, which is reason enough for a character like Black Cat to stay away from the mainlineSpider-Manfilms. More likely to make it to the screen was the rumored team-up film centering Black Cat and fellow Marvel Comics dame Silver Sable, as well as solo films for both, which is where Anya Taylor-Joy could have potentially gotten the nod. Withtons of great Black Cat storylines from the comicsthat don’t involve Spider-Man directly, this could have worked out fairly well on paper. However, that ship might have sailed with the spectacular failure of Madame Web, a film that burned tons of goodwill with fans by fumbling the film despite having Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor in the most prominent roles as well as other substantial cast members. This misstep might have soured attitudes toward the female characters inSpider-Man’s periphery, in much the same way the male heroes will never recover afterMorbius.
Unfortunately, Sony’slatest box office outing withKraven the Hunterhit a new low for the franchiseand pretty much forced the company to toss any future plans for more films in the trash to instead focus on theSpider-Manfilms. With her involvement in the upcoming fourth film seemingly out of the question, the odds of a character like Black Cat joining the MCU seem quite far off. While Anya Taylor-Joy could still join the franchise, that role probably won’t be the launching-off point for her.
TheSpider-Man: Hometrilogy of films is available to stream on Disney+.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is one of the biggest names in entertainment today. The superhero first appeared in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15 before becoming a leading figure in the Marvel comic-book universe.Spider-Man has also featured in numerous films and a plethora of video games, most notably Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
