What's Going On with Spider-Man 3?

Image: Screen Rant

It has been quite an eventful few days for Spider-Man 3 news! The first shocker (see what I did there?) was that Jamie Foxx would be reprising his role of the villain Electro, who he portrayed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opposite previous Spider-Man Andrew Garfield. Needless to say, the news surprised and excited fans since it brings up the possibility of the multiverse in the MCU. And then just yesterday, it was announced that Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange joined the film in a father figure-like role akin to Tony Stark's in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Since the next Doctor Strange movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will probably deal with elements of the multiverse, does this mean we're getting a live action Spider-Verse movie? Let's investigate.

Jamie Foxx as Electro

Image: Slash Film

Shortly after the Electro news broke, Jaime Foxx posted and then deleted an Instagram post confirming he would return to the role. Interestingly enough, he said he wouldn't be blue this time around and his post was accompanied by artwork of all three live action Spider-Man actors looking up to an electrical storm in the sky. So what does it all mean? For starters, having Foxx come back to play Electro is an interesting choice. Of all the past villains in Spider-Man movies, they chose one from the worst of the films and one that wasn't well received. I'm also not yet sold on Electro being the main villain of the film, unless he is strictly doing battle with the MCU Spider-Man. With Foxx saying that he won't be blue this time, it does raise the possibility that we won't be seeing the same version of Electro that we saw back in 2014, but rather a doppleganger from the MCU's universe. This would certainly fit since (SPOILER ALERT) during the post-credit scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home introduced J. Jonah Jameson who is played by the legendary J.K. Simmons, who also played the character in the Sam Raimi films. Speaking of Sam Raimi...

Doctor Strange's Return

Image: Emergency Awesome

While Doctor Strange's appearance in Spider-Man 3 makes sense to keep the MCU universe connected, fans are looking deeper into this news. As mentioned before, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is heavily rumored to explore the concept of the multiverse. And who is directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? None other than Sam Raimi...who directed the original trilogy of Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire as the web slinger. Now this could be just a coincidence, but my money is on that Marvel is planning something big here. What if Doctor Strange helps Peter Parker (Tom Holland) connect with others like him (Maguire and Garfield) to defeat a common enemy? Perhaps the famed Sinister Six? It also opens up the possibility of more characters appearing for a crossover, such as: Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, Kristen Dunst as Mary Jane, Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy...the list goes on and on! Let's not forget Tom Hardy's Venom and Jared Leto's upcoming Morbius, which features Michael Keaton's Adrain Toomes (probably) from Spider-Man: Homecoming, despite supposedly not existing in the same universe as the MCU. Doctor Strange and his power to travel to different universes may just be the key to getting this live action Spider-Verse idea to work. Just no Topher Grace returning as Venom please...I'm serious!

Multiverse Multiverse Multiverse

Image: The Cosmic Wonder

It seems like we've been talking about multiverses a lot this year as comic book movie fans. First the CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, then DC announcing its untitled Flash film featuring Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck both playing Batman, and now this whole thing with Spider-Man. Don't get me wrong, it is pretty awesome and exciting but is it going into overdrive now? Everyone wants to do a multiverse concept and bring back fan favorite castings of superheroes and villains past, but will it take away the specialness of it if we see both Marvel and DC doing it? It's pretty clear that the concept of the multiverse is the answer to how to "top" the Avengers crossovers, which is a pretty hard feat to accomplish given how epic those movies were. Even if both DC and Marvel go all in on multiverse-type movies and stories, I'll still be excited and go to see them all...whenever we return to normal after this pandemic.

Verdict

Is Spider-Man 3 going to to introduce a live action Spider-verse? I'm not totally sold yet, but it is heading in the right direction. However, it should be noted that Spider-Man 3 is scheduled to be released in December 2021, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is scheduled for March 2022. Wouldn't it make more sense to establish the concept of the multiverse in Doctor Strange's movie before Spider-Man? This makes me think that Spider-Man 3 may lay the groundwork for a live action Spider-Verse movie and then go all in with the multiverse a few months later during Doctor Strange. There is also the task of convincing both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to return, if they're even interested. Or maybe we'll get some more clues in Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. At this point, anything is on the table. My final verdict is that Marvel is looking to build on a live action Spider-Verse in Spider-Man 3, but not going all in on it just yet. But who knows, a week or a month from now we could find out Maguire and Garfield are confirmed to appear. Big fans will definitely be keeping an eye out!

What do you think of a live action Spider-Verse movie? Would it be cool to see all three Spider-Men team up or just focus on Tom Holland's iteration of Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments below!