I’ve checked the date and this is not an April Fool’s Day joke or a Halloween trick.
The Hollywood Reporter is stating that Jamie Foxx is in final talks to play the villain Electro in Sony/Marvel Studios’ upcoming third, as yet untitled, Spider-Man film.
Fox originally played the villain in Amazing Spider-Man 2 opposite Andrew Garfield as the titular superhero. However, when the franchise was rebooted to be part of Marvel’s interconnected cinematic universe and Tom Holland stepped into the lead role, the continuity of the previous movies was swept aside. Foxx’s return to the role, therefore raises a number of questions as to whether he is playing a new version of the character or if he has somehow come over from his own universe in a way similar to what we saw in the animated Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Marvel and Sony had no comment on the Reporter’s story.
Personally, I am rather cautious about this casting. I was not a fan of director Marc Webb’s two Amazing Spider-Man films and I didn’t particularly care for the second one’s take on the classic villain Electro. I also think that the current cinematic iteration of Spider-Man is strong enough on its own that it doesn’t need stunt casting like this. And yes, I know that I have previously said that I was excited to see J K Simmons returning from the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy to once again play newspaper publisher J Jonah Jameson. But Marvel and Sony have been pretty solid with what they have done with Spider-Man over the last couple of years, so hopefully that streak will continue here.
Filming is expected to get underway in Atlanta later this fall for November 5, 2021 release date.
