When the news broke that Jamie Foxx would play Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home, we were all surprised. Initially, the expectation was that Tom Holland's web-slinger would face off with the MCU's take on Max Dillon, with Marvel Studios giving the Oscar-winner an opportunity to make up for the mistakes that were made in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
However, shortly after the story went live, Foxx took to Instagram to share a piece of artwork depicting Electro facing down the three live-action Spider-Men.
That led to speculation that the movie would be a Multiverse-themed adventure, something that was pretty much confirmed when Alfred Molina was cast as Doctor Octopus. Of course, it wasn't until we sat down in theaters that we got to see Holland's Peter Parker teaming up with the Variants played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
During a recent interview with Cinema Blend, Foxx looked back at his well-received return as Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home and admits to making a blunder with that Instagram post.
"It was crazy. It was like a - it was like a rock concert, when we did that film," he recalls. "And I thought Sony did a fantastic job of mystique. You know what I’m saying? Holding things, keeping things – you know, I kind of almost blew it."
Foxx would go on to discuss the level of secrecy on set. "As soon as I got on the set and there was all three Spider-Mans, I was like this [picks up cell phone]. 'Oh, we up in here, baby, bout to go live...' And somebody just dove on me like I was a fire. I was like, 'What the hell?' 'Shh! No one’s supposed to know.' 'Okay, my bad. Okay, we ain’t supposed to know that all three of them are here!'"
"But I think they did a great job in doing that, bringing some mystique," the actor continued. "And I think that that’s what was needed to get people back in the theater."
He's not wrong there, and Spider-Man: No Way Home has been widely hailed as saving the box office in the wake of the pandemic. As for Foxx, there have been rumours he could star in an Electro movie, though that would be a project developed by Sony Pictures instead of Marvel Studios.
Foxx stole the show with his return as the charged-up bad guy, and thanks to Marvel Studios, got to show what an amazing choice he was to play that iconic Stan Lee and Steve Ditko creation.