The hunt for Marvel’s Peter Parker may still be on, but that hasn’t stopped rumors from spreading that the studio – along with new Spider-Man partner Sony – may have their eyes on another web slinger: Spider-Gwen.
Spider-Gwen debuted in the pages of Dan Slott’s 2014 Spider-Verse crossover event, but quickly became so popular that she received her own series, along with fellow female Spideys like Spider-Woman and Silk. The character is an alternate-universe version of Gwen Stacy, who is the one who’s bitten by a radioactive spider and granted superhuman powers, and who loses her boyfriend Peter Parker as a result.
Considering that Marvel and Sony are just now getting a new version of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man off the ground (he’ll debut in next year’s Captain America: Civil War and get his own solo film in 2017), the prospect of a Spider-Gwen movie seem slim. However, that hasn’t stopped the folks at Bleeding Cool from doing a bit of research into some documents from last year’s Sony hack, and finding some evidence that there’s at least interest in the possibility from Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter.
[zerg]We already know that, at one point, Sony was planning a female-centric Spider-Man spinoff (dubbed Glass Ceiling) and even an Aunt May-centric prequel akin to Marvel’s Agent Carter. While those specific plans have likely been put on the back burner now that the deal to include Peter Parker in the MCU has been made, I doubt they’ve been scrapped entirely. Sony will need to continue the franchise on its own after 2017, and are reportedly still keen on spinning off characters like the Sinister Six. With Spider-Gwen’s growing popularity on the comic book page, it’s probably only a matter of time before the character gets her own movie.
The biggest question here is whether or not audiences would be able to stomach the idea of alternate universe versions of these characters, and if that concept can be properly handled on film. The Flash will be trying that in its second season, so perhaps if that’s a success, it’ll give Sony the courage to move forward with something like Spider-Gwen.
Tell us, would you like to see Spider-Gwen get her own film? Let us know in the comments below.