Kaya Scodelario in the MCU? The Character Fans Are Convinced She’d Play
Marvel hasn’t been able to release any new movies theatrically yet this year, so fans are abuzz with casting suggestions for future movies, while studios are busy putting together teams to make those movies. As usual, however, there are more questions than answers.
News broke last week that Sony is working on a Spider-Woman movie with Olivia Wilde in the director’s chair. However, what is not known is which Spider-Woman this will be, and it’s not even a given that this will be in the MCU.
What is the new Spider-Woman movie?
Last week Sony, which owns the rights to Spider-Man and associated characters, announced they were developing a new Spider-Woman movie with a woman who might have played Spider-Woman, but who will instead direct the new Spider-Woman movie – if, in fact, it is a Spider-Woman movie.
Deadline reported, “Olivia Wilde has closed a deal to direct and develop a secret Marvel film project revolving around a female character in the universe. While not confirmed, it is expected that the story will be centered on Spider-Woman.” Wilde is honing her craft on action scenes with a thriller called Don’t Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Shia LaBeouf, and Dakota Johnson.
Wilde is an actor known for titles including Tron: Legacy, Her, and HBO’s Vinyl. Last year she went behind the camera to direct the highly acclaimed comedy Booksmart, about two teens (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) who pride themselves on their academics but decide to indulge in one night of partying the night before graduation. It does not go as planned.
Who is Kaya Scodelario?
The casting for the title role has not been announced yet, but Scodelario’s name is being bandied about on Reddit. One fan described her this way:
“She has the right look for Jessica Drew and is British, just as the character is. She’s a strong actor too and has a solid big budget acting resume, with the recent Pirates of the Caribbean film and the Maze Runner franchise (some green screen/action background there), while starring in niche classics like Skins [UK] and recently Crawl, where she surprised many with her performance including myself.”
Other suggestions on the thread included Daisy Ridley, Alicia Vikander, Ana de Armas, Eiza Gonzales, Dakota Johnson, and Vanessa Kirby. Ridley’s name has come up in more than one forum about Spider-Woman, although whether she’d want to go from one giant franchise to another remains an open question.
Is this movie in the MCU or the SPUMC?
Another question is what Spider-Woman this is. The already mentioned Jessica Drew character is just one of the variations. Spider-Man’s paramours Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson have both been Spider-Women at one-time or another. In fact, audiences have seen a Gwen Stacy version via Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where that character was voiced by Hailee Steinfeld.
That movie took place in what is now called the SPUMC – the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters. That’s not the same thing as the MCU, although crossovers are possible. The SPUMC includes the 2018 Venom movie and the upcoming Morbius, with Jared Leto. These movies are about Spider-Man-adjacent characters, and so far, the “official” Spider-Man played by Tom Holland has not appeared in those movies at all.
That could change, given the sometimes tenuous agreement between Marvel Studios/Disney and Sony to share the Spider-Man character. But it seems more likely the upcoming Wilde movie would be in the SPUMC. Either way, fans may have something to look forward to if Scodelario does agree to sign on.
In the meantime, the next Spider-Man related movie in the pipeline, barring any further pandemic delays, is Morbius, which intrigued fans by apparently featuring Michael Keaton’s character from Spider-Man: Homecoming, which actually blurs the lines of the universes.
