Issa Rae is entering the Spider-Verse as she is cast as Jessica Drew (a.k.a. Spider-Woman) in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2. Rae is the star and co-creator of HBO's Insecure, which is currently filming its fifth and final season. She is also on her second season of Robin Thede's A Black Lady Sketch Show, where she is also an executive producer. It seems that she can now add superhero to her list of roles.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse released back in December of 2018 to wide critical acclaim, with critics praising the characters, story, voice acting, animation, and humor. The film went on to win Best Animated Feature at the 2019 Academy Awards, which made it the first non-Disney/Pixar movie to win that category since Rango (2011). Centered on teenager Miles Morales as he gets bitten by a radioactive spider giving him "Spider-Man" like abilities, the film takes a wild turn into the Spider-Verse once Miles finds a "Super-Collider" built by the supervillain, Kingpin. From there, Miles interacts with other Spider-Man heroes from different dimensions, including Peter Parker (Chris Pine), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), and the lovably hilarious Spider-Ham (John Mulaney). It appears that Miles is gearing up to meet another superhero from the Spider-Verse in the newest sequel.
THR reveals that Rae will join the cast of the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as Jessica Drew, better known by her alter ego, Spider-Woman. Rae is joining returning voice actors Shameik Moore (playing Miles Morales) and Hailee Steinfeld (playing Gwen Stacy, a.k.a. Spider-Gwen). Director of the first film, Peter Ramsey, will be returning as an executive producer. The sequel is slated to release on October 7, 2022 after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Though not much is known about the plot of the newest movie, fans of Marvel comics will recognize the character Rae is cast to play.
Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32, and was then featured in fifty issues of the ongoing self-titled comic series, Spider-Woman. Though initially intended as a one-off character, Marvel Spotlight #32 unexpectedly sold well, which allowed writer/editor, Marv Wolfman, to take over the character for the ongoing series. In her first appearance, Spider-Woman was presented as an actual spider evolved into a human; however, shortly after her debut, Wolfman presented a different origin retcon. She was portrayed in a four-issue arc in Marvel Two-in-One, where she was identified as a human (Jessica Drew) who held memories of being a spider implanted into her mind by the terrorist group, HYDRA. Spider-Woman's costume was even redesigned, allowing her long hair to become uncovered, which became a prominent part of her appearance. At the conclusion of her self-titled series, Spider-Woman is killed off, and although she is later resurrected, her character fell into disuse, only to be supplanted by other Marvel characters taking the name of Spider-Woman, until seeing a revival in early 2000s.
With Rae being cast to play Spider-Woman in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2, it will be interesting to see how the film portrays her backstory. Will the movie dive into her death and later resurrection? Will it pick up from where she was written in her 2009 second self-titled limited series, or from her third ongoing series from 2014? What will be really interesting is if the sequel dives into the original backstory of her being an actual spider evolved into a human. With a character as interesting as Spider-Woman, the next film is set up to deliver some interesting new views into the different dimensions of the Spider-Verse.
Source: THR
