Sony seem determined to establish their own comic book franchise that exists adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, buoyed by the fact that Venom earned over $850 million at the box office, and also that the studio reportedly now have the option to include Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in their movies as part of their recently re-negotiated agreement with Marvel Studios.
The first trailer for this summer’s Morbius only increased the speculation that the two former rivals were working closer together than ever before, with Michael Keaton’s Vulture showing up at the end of the promo to the surprise of almost everyone, not to mention the other overt references to Spider-Man that were also spotted.
Many speculated that Sony were on the fast-track to developing a Sinister Six movie, with Holland’s wall-crawler set to do battle against the villainous group, but it seems as though they could be set to branch out in different directions, which is probably a wise decision, as their last attempt to get to the Sinister Six as quickly as possible didn’t end so well.
In any case, if you’ll recall, We Got This Covered were the first ones to tell you that Sony were actively working on a solo movie for Spider-Woman, albeit one that would make several changes to the character’s established comic book origins. And now, a new report from The Illuminerdi confirms our scoop, while also revealing that the brain-trust behind Sony’s Marvel Universe are looking at Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander to play the title role.
Should Morbius and October’s Venom 2 both turn out to be successes, then the studio would be three-for-three in terms of box office hits, and would no doubt be keen to push forward with more superhero adaptations. Not only would it bring a female lead into what has so far been a male-dominated shared universe, but the potential is obviously there to have Spider-Man also show up and share the screen with his namesake.
Not to mention that if Sony are intent on getting Spider-Woman up and running, they could certainly do a lot worse than Alicia Vikander. The 31 year-old is one of the most talented young actresses in the business, and has already proven that she can balance critical acclaim with more action-orientated, franchise-driven performances in the likes of Jason Bourne and Tomb Raider.
