Sydney Sweeney's Madame Web casting has Spider-Man fans speculating she could play Black Cat. Sony is in the midst of making another run at building a cinematic universe after Venom became a surprise hit in 2018. The studio is currently working on a growing slate of projects, which includes Jared Leto's Morbius and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Kraven the Hunter. Part of these plans has long included getting a female-led Marvel movie into production, as Black Cat, Silver Sable, Spider-Woman, and others were eyed for solo films. However, it is Madame Web, led by Dakota Johnson, that is on track to be Sony's first female superhero movie.
The Madame Web movie has been in development since 2019, and fans have wondered just as long why Sony selected this character to lead a movie. Once Johnson became attached to star, it became clear that the studio was taking Madame Web in a different direction. It is widely expected that the movie will see Johnson play Julia Carpenter, who becomes Madame Web after previously being Spider-Woman. Now, Johnson has her first Madame Web co-star, as Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney has joined the Marvel film. Since her role was not revealed, speculation has started to run rampant about who she could be playing.
Following news that Sweeney is joining Sony's Spider-Man Universe for Madame Web, fans immediately began to speculate that she's Felicia Hardy a.k.a. Black Cat. The Euphoria and The White Lotus actress has long been a fan-favorite option online to play the Spider-Man love-interest/anti-hero. Now that she is officially part of a Marvel franchise, the speculation quickly has turned to this hope becoming a reality. It resulted in Black Cat becoming a trending topic on Twitter with over 8,000 tweets, including some of the following:
Sony previously used Felicia Hardy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as Felicity Jones played her in Andrew Garfield's universe. She never got the chance to suit up as Black Cat, but Sony has remained interested in the character ever since. The studio began working on a Black Cat and Silver Sable team-up movie in 2017, but the project was eventually scrapped. Reports then surfaced that Black Cat could get a solo movie instead. There has been no movement on the Black Cat film since then. As a result, it is possible that Sony wants to use Madame Web to introduce Black Cat to their Spider-Man universe - even if Sweeney doesn't play her. After all, some recent Morbius footage confirmed Black Cat exists in Sony's Marvel universe already.
For now, Sweeney playing Black Cat in Madame Web is merely internet speculation, but that clearly won't stop fans from getting their hopes up about the possibility. It would be a potentially excellent piece of casting for Sony, as Sweeney has proven her talents on Euphoria. She could even potentially carry her own film after Madame Web, which would allow Sony to revive plans for the Black Cat movie. Hopefully this speculation turns out to be accurate, otherwise, many fans could become disappointed with whatever Marvel role Sweeney actually plays.
Source: Twitter (See above)
