Get ready for a film full of bad electricity puns. Jamie Foxx is apparently getting a second stab at the Spider-Man villain Electro as THR is reporting that the actor is essentially set to return to the role for Spider-Man 3. This comes as a pretty major shock as the Tom Holland-starring films have been under the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) umbrella and have pretty much entirely ignored previous Spidey films, including the Andrew Garfield The Amazing Spider-Man movies Sony made. Foxx played Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
This actually isn’t the first returning character from previous Spider-Man movies as J.K. Simmons showed up at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home as J. Jonah Jameson, reprising the role he was born to play from the Tobey Maguire films. However, this is drastically different. Simmons starred in a trio of films that were overall praised, and his portrayal of J. Jonah Jameson was so spot-on that it seemed almost impossible to cast anyone else in the role. The character was also seen being more of an Alex Jones-style blowhard than a newspaper reporter in his brief appearance.
Jamie Foxx’s Electro on the other hand was routinely panned. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was universally reviled with Sony clearly having no idea what it was doing. The movie underperformed so much that it played a part in Sony reaching its agreement for a new Spider-Man to enter the MCU. Since then, most people have happily forgotten the Garfield years as both of Holland’s outings have been met with praise. Given Marvel, returning director Jon Watts, and producer Kevin Feige’s involvement in the film — despite a near separation last year — it’s easier to believe that the filmmakers know what they’re doing. This may also play into Sony’s continued plans to build a Spidey villain cinematic universe.
There’s no word on the plot for Spider-Man 3, and Marvel has no comment on this casting report. Jamie Foxx is a talented actor, and given a decent script, he could turn in something good. Maybe Sony is just trying to pull its own stunt casting as DC did with bringing Michael Keaton in for The Flash, but this obviously doesn’t have quite the same kind of clout.
