Marc Guggenheim has been tapped by Sony to pen the script for a movie based on the Spider-Man supporting character Jackpot. Or rather, supporting characters, as Jackpot is the identity of two different women– Sara Ehret (above) and Alana Jobson. Perhaps appropriately, Guggenheim has written some of the comics that featured Jackpot, so if anyone will guarantee a faithful adaptation, it’s him.
Guggenheim has superhero experience having served as writer and executive producer of ‘Arrow’, ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, and ‘Supergirl’. On the big screen, he wrote ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’ and co-wrote ‘Green Lantern’.
This news arrives shortly after the announcement that S.J. Clarkson has been tapped to direct a Sony film starring another female character from the Spider-Verse, Madame Web. Previously, Sony had a different female-fronted Spider-film in the works, ‘Silver & Black’ featuring Silver Sable and Black Cat, to be directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. That project was canceled however, reportedly because Sony wanted the two characters to star in their own movies. It’s a bit ironic that the studio now has two movies in the works starring characters other than those two.
Two women have operated under the guise of Jackpot. The first was Sara Ehret, a scientist who gained super strength, endurance, and agility thanks to the usual scientific experiment gone wrong. But Ehret was a reluctant superhero and decided to focus on raising her child instead.
Alana Jobson paid Ehret to “license” the Jackpot name. Unlike Ehret, however, Jobson did not really have superpowers. She faked her abilities with a cocktail of illegal drugs including Mutant Growth Hormone. She was killed when a villain dosed her with a “blindness serum” that had a lethal effect when it mixed with the drugs in her system.
Ehret resumed the Jackpot identity after a lecture from Spider-Man… something about great power and responsibility. Sound familiar?
Sony previously had plans to include Jackpot in a team-up movie which would have also featured the original Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Dusk, and Stunner, but it looks as though they have once again changed their minds and are opting instead to feature Jackpot in her own film.
What do you think? ‘Madame Web’? ‘Jackpot’? Will these be “jackpots” at the box office for Sony?
Source: Deadline
