How do you do, true believers? I’m doing pretty okay, myself. I spent the weekend catching up on Donny Cates’ run on Venom and while that shit fucks, hard, that’s not the Spidey news you’re here for, is it? Over the weekend, it was announced that Jessica Drew a.k.a Spider-Woman would not only be appearing in the upcoming sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but that she would be voiced by none other than Issa Rae.
Hella dope, indeed.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, details are still light on what the sequel to the 2018 film is actually going to be about, but since this is the internet, and I read a lot of comic books, we’re just going to do some good-old-fashioned baseless speculation.
Sounds good? Great!
Unlike Peter Parker and Miles Morales, Jessica Drew wasn’t bit by a radioactive spider. Instead, she was born with her powers after her mother was struck with a radioactive beam that contained the DNA of several spiders. You might be asking “why was there a beam containing the DNA of several spiders?” and I’m here to tell you, reader: I don’t know.
While Jessica Drew wasn’t really around in the comics during my formative years, some of you old heads might recognize her from her short-lived Saturday morning cartoon in the ‘70s. I mostly just know her from being in splash pages whenever the big crossover at the time needed that “THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS AT STAKE!” moment.
That said, she has actually come back into prominence in recent years, with writer Dennis Hopeless’ well-received arc from 2015-2017 featuring a storyline where Drew became pregnant and had to deal with the struggles of being a mother/superhero.
Considering Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did an incredible job of celebrating the past, present and future of the Spider-Verse while also creating its own distinctive take on the Spider-Man mythos, it wouldn’t shock me if we saw some version of the character’s recent storylines make it to the big screen.
Also of note is the fact that a female-led spin-off movie was announced to be in the works after the release of the first movie. With Rae, they didn’t only get a solid actress, but also a producer, writer, and director. All I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if we get a Women of the Spider-Verse movie with Rae both starring and producing. (I very much want this to happen, please and thank you.)
The sequel to Into the Spider-Verse is set to be released Oct. 7, 2022, with Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld returning as Miles Morales/Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen, respectively.