WANDAVISION Director Matt Shakman Confirms Collaborating With SPIDER-MAN 3 And DOCTOR STRANGE 2 Directors

WANDAVISION Director Matt Shakman Confirms Collaborating With SPIDER-MAN 3 And DOCTOR STRANGE 2 Directors

In a new interview, WandaVision director Matt Shakman confirms that he's been collaborating with Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness directors Jon Watts and Sam Raimi...

By JoshWilding - Jan 12, 2021 04:01 AM EST
Filed Under: No Way Home
Source: ComicBook.com

During Disney's Investor Day last month, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed that WandaVision will tie into both Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Common sense says the Multiverse will be a recurring theme in all three projects, with Strange exploring those alternate realities alongside the wall-crawler before teaming up with the Scarlet Witch in his own movie.

In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, WandaVision director Matt Shakman revealed that he's spoken to both Jon Watts and Sam Raimi to ensure that the three projects effortlessly tie together.

"There is conversation among filmmakers, which I think is great," he explained. "I mean, we are all part of this interconnected universe. I admire the heck out of everybody who has worked in Marvel before and are working on Marvel things right now. It's not just the movies. It's also the other Disney+ shows that we're interacting with."

" Even if it's not about a formal overlap, we're working next door to each other. 'What do you guys do?' And all that's so exciting. It's an amazing place to be," Shakman continued. "But yeah, definitely we've all had conversations about the work that we're doing now. Cause you know, it's a relay race, this whole thing. And so you're passing the baton from one group of filmmakers to another and you want to make sure that that is that handoff is, is effortless and perfect, right."

This isn't surprising, but it's further proof that there's a bigger plan at play here. It's unclear how the Multiverse will factor into WandaVision, but the Scarlet Witch's reality altering powers alone might explain how it eventually ties in to future stories. 

We'll have to wait and see, but things will no doubt start to become clearer in the coming months!


Click on the "Next" button below to check out things you
never knew about Sony's plans for The Amazing Spider-Man 3!

10. The Sinister Six Recruits Spider-Man

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wrapped up with the reveal that Harry Osborn and Gustav Friers had managed to get their hands on technology capable of outfitting a team of villains. That would have meant skipping the origin stories of the characters, which was an odd decision when they're not just bad guys in fancy suits. 

Sinister Six was going to spin out of the events of this sequel, with Drew Goddard's film expected to feature Doctor Octopus recruiting Spidey to his team under false pretences before his true colors were revealed.

The team was set to battle the alien Gog in the Savage Land, with the MacGuffin of this version the actual Pandora's Box. 

Another idea was to have Spider-Man don the Venom symbiote to ask for this group's help in stopping Carnage, though that idea appeared to be scrapped after the alien costume was cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2's final sequence showing what was hidden in the bowels of Oscorp.
 

9. Norman Osborn Returns

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Norman Osborn died in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, setting Harry Osborn on the path to becoming the Green Goblin.

It was a new direction to take the characters in, as it's always been Norman who first became the Goblin in the comics. There were, however, future plans for Chris Cooper's version of this iconic villain.

In a scene cut from the sequel, it was to be revealed that Gustav Friers was keeping Norman's head in Oscorp with a plan to bring him back from the dead. How he was supposed to grow a body isn't clear, though there have been other hints when it comes to the means of his resurrection. 

We'll touch on those later, but it's likely this Goblin would have resembled his Ultimate counterpart.
 

8. Spider-Man Resurrects The Dead

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Full details have never been shared about Marc Webb's plans for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, but the premise of the film was Peter Parker finding a way to use his blood to resurrect his loved ones.

Denis Leary had signed up to return as Captain George Stacy, and this was likely going to explain Norman Osborn's miraculous return as well. It appears there would have been a catch, and these previously dead friends and allies would have come back Pet Sematary-style. 

It's hard to believe this was in the works, but it's been confirmed by multiple sources.

There's a chance this would have borrowed ideas from "The Clone Saga" storyline, but it's unclear whether this meant there were further plans for Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy.
 

7. Ambitious Plans To Outdo Marvel Studios With Sinister Six

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With Marvel Studios finding the success that Sony Pictures desperately craved with their own Marvel characters, Sony Hack emails revealed ambitious plans to outdo the competition.

With Doctor Strange on the horizon, Sony execs believed that stealing Tom Hardy from Marvel (the actor was then among the top picks to play the Sorcerer Supreme) was their path to success. The plan was to cast him as Sandman, and make the villain even bigger than in Spider-Man 3.

"He's gonna storm through London at the end like God-f***ing-zilla," read one email. "That is not purple prose. He's going to be AS TALL AS A SKYSCRAPER in the third act of the movie. What does Dr. Strange have? Magic tricks? F*** you, magic tricks — we've got a skyscraper Tom Hardy knocking down buildings!!!!"

That's a real email, FYI. Crazy. 
 

6. Emma Stone Returns...As Gwen Stacy Carnage!

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Emma Stone was still a rising star in 2014 when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released, so it's easy enough to understand why Sony was keen to keep her a regular part of this franchise.

This was only ever a rumor, but if true, the actress was going to return as a Gwen Stacy combined with the Carnage symbiote. That's what happened in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, and it was controversial there, so we can't say for sure how fans might have responded to this being in a film.

There were conflicting reports about how this was supposed to tie into the Venom film being developed by Alex Kurtzman, but Spidey contending with his girlfriend being part-human, part-monster might have been fun to watch.

It's unclear whether Stone was on board with this direction for her character.
 

5. Sinister Six's A-List Cast

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It seems Sinister Six went through a number of iterations, but there was one thing every version had in common: an A-List cast Sony hoped would blow away the competition.

One version of the team was to have featured Spider-Man fighting alongside Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Sandman, Mysterio, and Black Cat. Idris Elba, Francis McDormand, Bryan Cranston and Jackie Chan were wanted for undisclosed roles, as were Woody Harrelson, Channing Tatum, Joel Edgerton, and Jason Clarke.

Chris O'Dowd, Michael Peña, Seth Rogen, and Danny McBride were among the actors the studio hoped would bring their comedic skills to the spinoff. 

Whether Sony could actually sign any of them up was never revealed.
 

4. Marc Webb's Final Amazing Spider-Man Film

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It's a little known fact that despite Sony announcing plans to release The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4, Marc Webb was only going to direct the former.

The filmmaker planned to take on a consultant role with the fourth film, handing directing duties to another filmmaker. At the time, it was widely speculated online that Drew Goddard might make the leap to the main franchise after working on Sinister Six for the studio.

That would have been a solid enough pick, but it's interesting that Webb was getting ready to move on.

He was clearly happy enough to finish his trilogy, but it seems Webb was ready to leave the franchise to be taken in a new direction once he was done with that. 
 

3. Felicity Jones Suits Up As Black Cat

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Felicity Jones had a bit part in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but there were future plans for "Felicia" in this Marvel Universe. 

The name is a dead giveaway; Jones was going to don a catsuit to play Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, in Sinister Six and The Amazing Spider-Man 3, potentially serving as a new ally and love interest to Peter Parker. 

It's likely she was in Oscorp with a plan of stealing that tech from Harry Osborn, but when this series was cancelled, so were plans to bring Black Cat to the silver screen. Silver & Black was later developed, of course, but that was not set in this world and there was no mention of Jones being sought after to reprise the role. Now, it too has been scrapped.

It's a shame, because she would have been a great pick!
 

2. The Spider-Slayers

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The Spider-Slayers are rumored to be part of Marvel's Spider-Man 3, a fitting decision if Peter Parker is on the run after being framed for Quentin Beck's murder.

Early rumors for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, however, also claimed that there were plans for these robotic enemies of the web-slinger. It's no great surprise when B.J. Novak played Alistair Smythe in the second film, though it seems doubtful J. Jonah Jameson was going to be involved given his absence from this iteration of Spider-Man's world. 

There was clearly an overarching plan for this series, and Smythe sending these robots after Peter at the behest of Oscorp would have been a logical next step. 

We can't say we're heartbroken this didn't happen, but it might have been fun to watch. 
 

1. Crossover With The MCUs

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The Sony Hack emails made it clear that Sony was keen on the idea of crossing over with the MCU, and rumors persisted during both of The Amazing Spider-Man films that there were plans to include Avengers Tower as an Easter Egg. 

An MCU crossover was high up on the list of the studio's priorities, and an early hope was that Captain America could appear in the threequel, setting up a possible appearance in Civil War.

As these talks progressed, and Andrew Garfield fell out of favor with Sony brass in Japan, it became clear Marvel Studios wanted to reboot the web-slinger. However, it's hard not to wonder what it might have looked like for this version of Spidey to join the MCU. 

Then again, that reboot is probably for the best all things considered!
 

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Mando
Mando - 1/12/2021, 5:12 AM
Marvel seriously need to drop that spiderman 3 teaser we were promised by sony


Like come on now

bbting
bbting - 1/12/2021, 6:13 AM
@Mando - will most likely drop during the superbowl
Mando
Mando - 1/12/2021, 6:21 AM
@azimiq - please dont give me hope
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 1/12/2021, 6:32 AM
@Mando - According to rumors, Tobey is holding them back by playing hard to get. They probably want the first teaser have all three Spider-Mans together.
Mando
Mando - 1/12/2021, 6:37 AM
@FinnishDude - dang it
zedkate
zedkate - 1/12/2021, 11:22 AM
@Mando - doubt it. we had no Eternals nor Shang Chi trailers...
GhostDog
GhostDog - 1/12/2021, 5:14 AM
More interested in how WandaVision blends into Strange 2 than how it sets the stage for Spidey 3.
Ace101
Ace101 - 1/12/2021, 5:19 AM
Morty! Just two more days for wandavision morty. *Grabs mortys head* Just two more days for a mcu fix morty ..ehhhhh yo..you don't understand how fkn excited I *buuuurp* am morty!
BigBoiJoe
BigBoiJoe - 1/12/2021, 6:29 AM
@Ace101 - cringe
Ace101
Ace101 - 1/12/2021, 2:07 PM
@BigBoiJoe - fair enough
Vigor
Vigor - 1/12/2021, 6:40 AM
Feige said the secret with strange 2 is all in the title.

Madness - scarlet witch
Multiverse - Spiderman 3

I think the witch causes a rift or opening into the multiverse. Strange has to deal with interdimensional beings (comes across Chavez, alternate versions of earth's mightiest heroes) and spidey gets caught all up in the sauce
TheShellyMan
TheShellyMan - 1/12/2021, 6:52 AM
Hopefully, we'll get a Spidey 3 teaser soon!
Tonic24k
Tonic24k - 1/12/2021, 7:41 AM
Watch Tobey and Andrew just be playing themselves as actors that portrayed in-universe Spider-Man. Lol
Tufasrox
Tufasrox - 1/12/2021, 11:23 AM
Amazing how Marvel Directors speak of collaboration like it's great and awesome then DC directors hate it and believe in independent directions.

Like interconnectedness CAN be fun DC you dumbwits and you can still make your own movie. Ug.
SnideCut
SnideCut - 1/12/2021, 9:03 PM
I think this is why Scott Derrickson leaving, like Edgar Wright before him, feels like the best way forward. I think Derrickson most likely wanted to make a Scott Derrickson Doctor Strange film in a way where he didn't have to collaborate with the other filmmakers etc and could focus on the story by himself. Thats not a bad thing, but when it comes to the nature of the MCU, which is this unprecedented episodic behemoth ( in the best way possible ), just focusing on your own project and not paying any heed to anyone else's simply doesn't work.
Repian
Repian - 1/22/2021, 7:05 AM
Raimi and Maguire together again !! It would be great if Raimi directed a new Spider-Maguire movie in the MCU. A satisfying ending for all the spectators. Spider-Man 3 was terrible.
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