Here’s some shocking news! Spider-Man’s longtime nemesis, Electro will be making his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character is set to be played by “Project Powers” actor Jamie Foxx. The same actor who played Electro in 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”.
There’s a lot more to this story than a simple case of cinematic Deja Vu, though. In a deleted tweet screenshot by user @cosmic_marvel, we see the Oscar winner expressing his excitement at reprising his role as Electro in the latest instalment of Disney’s Spider-Man films. Things get even more intriguing when we consider one of the images used in the tweet. One depicting multiple versions of Spider-Man staring at an ominous Electro cloud in the distance.
Jamie Foxx confirmed tElectro won’t be blue in ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’ and hinted at a possible Spider-Verse in the MCU 👀 pic.twitter.com/KLqiV76PDI
— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) October 2, 2020
Not sure about you guys but our Spidey-senses (or Peter Tingle) are going through the roof! Could Foxx’s arrival to the MCU simply be a fun, little nod to Spidey fans? Or could it be a sign of bigger things on the way? There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s swing right into it.
Sharing Spider-Man
Before we can even touch on the potential for a future Spider-Man crossover film within the MCU, we need to answer one question. Is it even possible? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.
For the longest time, Sony and Disney have had to share the property of Spider-Man. It wasn’t always easy though. There were moments in which it seemed like Sony was going to break away from Disney, taking Spider-Man off the table completely. However, thanks to Tom Holland and a strong push for reconciliation from fans, the two companies seemed to have worked out their differences and have learnt to share.
In fact, it seems like both of them are on fairly good terms with one another. There have even been talks about future collaboration between their respective cinematic universes. In October last year, Disney’s President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige confirmed that audiences will be seeing a Tom Holland Spider-Man-Venom film in the future. This isn’t a hypothetical situation he’s pitching mind you, he’s saying that it will happen. Before the whole Sony-Disney cold war over the wallcrawler, there were even some rumblings about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man making a cameo in Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse”.
So as far as precedence goes, there is a reasonable amount of hope for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to interact with Sony’s characters in the foreseeable future. Disney seems more than happy to extend an olive branch over to Sony. That being said, we did have some doubts about these claims. Perhaps Feige was simply pitching pleasant ideas to ensure fans that there won’t be any more scuffles with Sony. That Spider-Man is safe in the MCU and that the two parties have worked out a deal. After Foxx’s announcement, however, we started to take a deeper look into this whole situation and what we found was pretty interesting.
The Clues are in the Cameos
There’s actually some fairly compelling evidence to show that the MCU has been sowing the seeds for a future crossover film. The trail goes as far back as 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home”. During a post-credits scene, the film decides to drop an utter bombshell on us all. Quentin Beck aka Mysterio managed to upload footage framing Spider-Man as the one responsible for the drone attacks. Furthermore, we also see the MCU’s version of Jonah J. Jameson go on a tirade about the Spidey before revealing to the world the hero’s true identity.
In case you didn’t know, actor J.K. Simmons also played the role of Jameson in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy under Sony Pictures. Initially, we thought that “Far From Home” would be our introduction into a wider cinematic multiverse through Beck. Turns out that Mysterio was lying about being a magical warrior from an alternate Earth. After that reveal, we had simply chalked up Simmons’ reprisal as Jameson as some fan service on Marvel’s part. A callback to the good old days.
In spite of that, we couldn’t help but feel like Disney’s Marvel was still teasing the prospect of a wider multiverse. As of now, we do know that the MCU will undoubtedly be touching on this concept. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” will be seeing to that in the not-so-distant future.
Let’s break down the facts.
We know Disney has confirmed some sort of future collaboration with Sony. We definitely know that multiverses exist within the MCU. And with Foxx, we now have two actors from Sony’s previous Spider-Man films reprising their same roles but this time inside of the MCU. Coincidence? We think not!
We believe that the MCU is not only setting up for a future Spider-Man crossover film with Sony’s current properties from “Venom” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse”. Rather, they’re planning to create a crossover with all other live-action versions of the character. Both Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield! There have been rumours that both actors have been in talks to be in Disney’s third Spider-Man film.
If this is the case, then there’s a viable explanation as to why J. Jonah Jameson and Electro look so similar to their previous counterparts and yet so different. It’s because they’re alternate versions of the same person! This idea isn’t particularly new, it happens all the time in comics. Imagine Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man and Holland’s Peter Parker battling against the MCU version of the Electro. Then Garfield turns to Holland going “Yeah, I know a guy like that from where I’m from.” The sheer metatextual novelty of it all would be so awesome.
To answer the question, we’re fairly certain that we’ll be seeing a future Spider-Man crossover film with Sony’s Spiderverse. There are of course a few details we’ve yet to hash out. For one, we’ve yet to confirm the scope of the crossover and how many of these Spider-people will be visiting the MCU. Will it be limited to only the live-action versions of the character? Will Sony find a way to make put their beautifully animated heroes next to a very real Tom Holland? Rest assured, we’ll keep you updated.
In the meantime, be sure to tell us which version of Spider-Man you’re most looking forward to seeing in the MCU in the comments down below!
