No matter how many delays are coming with the current state of affairs in the world of movies, plans are always being made for the future. Some of these plans don't come to fruition until years down the road, although the major comic book movie studios are masters of knowing exactly when to make big announcements regarding their futures.
Marvel in particular is well known for having things planned out a long time in advance, which even sometimes applies to other studios that have owned Marvel properties throughout the last couple of decades. In that light, some cryptic but exciting news has just broken from one of the comic company's parent studios...
NEWS
In a new report from Deadline , news has broken that Sony Pictures has hired actress/director Olivia Wilde to direct and develop an untitled female-centric Marvel movie from Sony Pictures. There is no confirmation as to which hero the movie will be centered around or when it will release, although theories are circling around Spider-Woman.
Additionally, there's no confirmed word on if or how this movie will be connected to the MCU. Insider Daniel Richtman has reported that the movie will be centered around the Jessica Drew iteration of Spider-Woman:
Update: Wilde has now seemingly confirmed her involvement in the film with a Spider-themed social media post:
🕷 https://t.co/hkchsQsaaX
WHAT THIS MEANS
Sony Pictures is clearly still hard at work trying to build their own Marvel Universe of Sony Characters (MUSC), and the addition of someone as highly accomplished in sci-fi movies as Olivia Wilde is a big step forward. Wilde has an extensive history in action movies, and has even auditioned for the MCU in the past , so she feels like a solid choice to lead one of Sony's next blockbuster superhero movies.
The Spider-Woman theory is probably the best bet for this film's hero, although it does make for an interesting dilema the way it usually does with Sony and Marvel. Sony still owns her movie rights, and she is a compelling and powerful heroine to feature in a big-budget movie, but she also has plenty of connections to Peter Parker and other characters that live in the MCU. It will obviously be a matter of time before fans find out if Jessica Drew and Spider-Man will ever team up or connect, especially with the agreement between Sony and Disney stating that Spider-Man will only return in two more MCU movies (at the moment).
