Madame Web should have been a game-changer for Sony Pictures. While Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage were box office hits, neither received overly glowing reviews and the awful Morbius left any possible goodwill fans had for the studio bleeding out on the floor.
With Madame Web billed as a standalone adventure and a movie that finally put the spotlight on some of the heroes from Spider-Man's world, it looked like the stage was being set for a new female-led superhero franchise. Three Spider-Women swinging into the action under the watchful eye of Cassandra Webb seemed like a genius move, but when it hit theaters...well, you know the rest.
One of the biggest critical and commercial flops the genre has ever seen, Madame Web made it clear changes need to be made. It's likely too late for Kraven the Hunter and Venom: The Last Dance, but Sony might finally be about to take a step in the right direction.
According to scooper @MyTimeToShineH, a Spider-Gwen live-action movie is in the early stages of development at the studio. We don't have any more than that to go on, but if Spider-Man is going to remain off-limits because he's in the MCU, she's arguably the best possible choice of character to focus on.
Many of you will argue that Miles Morales should be a bigger priority, but it's widely been reported that he's going to appear in Spider-Man 4, setting the stage for the MCU to focus on two Spider-Men in this next trilogy.
Spider-Gwen first appeared in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 in 2014. Created by writer Jason Latour and artist Robbi Rodriguez, this Gwen Stacy hails from an alternate universe where Gwen Stacy was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker.
In her reality, Peter Parker becomes the Lizard after injecting himself with a serum, and Gwen is forced to confront and defeat him as Spider-Woman. This tragic event weighs heavily on Gwen's conscience, shaping her motivations and actions as a superhero.
Bryce Dallas Howard played Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3, with Emma Stone taking over the role in The Amazing Spider-Man. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the character is voiced by Hawkeye star Hailee Steinfeld.
While Stone and Steinfeld are often inserted into fan art depicting Spider-Gwen, we wouldn't bank on either of them getting the call to play her as the web-slinger is meant to be a teenager, not a woman in her 20s or 30s.
Stay tuned for updates.