Pardon the pun, but this is a shocker. Jamie Foxx will be reprising his role as Electro in Sony’s upcoming Marvel-produced “Spider-Man 3” starring Tom Holland. This is now the second character in the MCU that has been reintroduced from the old Sony Spider-Man films. J.K. Simmons reprised his role as Daily Bugle newspaper chief J.Jonah Jameson in “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” after appearing in Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy. Foxx appeared as Maxwell “Max” Dillon, aka Electro in Sony’s second “Amazing Spider-Man” franchise film directed by Marc Webb. That series, meant to be a trilogy, only lasted two films and starred Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.
Marvel apparently had no comment and no details are given, but presumably, this will be a soft reboot of the character introduced in 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (a film that failed to impress critics and was considered a failure despite grossing $708.9 million globally (Sony chiefs made the mistake of calling ‘Spider-Man’ a billion-dollar franchise in the lead up to its release). Some fans have speculated that Sony is going to go the multiverse route with “Spider-Man” given the way they already have with “Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse,” and while that remains to be seen, this re-casting, will surely re-spark those speculations.
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And to be fair, “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” and “WandaVision,” along with the events of “Avengers: Endgame” which have given life to a new alternate-reality version of “Loki,” all point to the idea of Marvel playing around with continuity and past characters in such a manner that could please fans hoping for multiverse crossover.
Currently untitled and to be directed by ‘Homecoming‘ and ‘Far From Home’ filmmaker Jon Watts, the third Spider-Man Marvel/Sony film is currently scheduled for a November 5, 2021 release date (though that could change with COVID flare-ups).
J.K. Simmons has already teased that he will return as J. Jonah Jameson. Meanwhile, as Marvel expands their side of Spider-Man, Sony is planning so much; new films based on Spider-Man characters like Silk, Kraven The Hunter, and Spider-Woman. [THR]