Black Phone 2 star Madeleine McGraw wants to play a fan-favorite Marvel hero, even though she’s already technically played a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. McGraw earned rave reviews for her role as Gwen Blake in The Black Phone and its recently released sequel; prior to those films, her biggest break was playing Young Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp. She later voiced the character in What If…? Season 2.
Now, McGraw has an interest in playing another bug-themed superhero within the MCU. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, McGraw revealed her dream role is to play Spider-Gwen. It appears the stunt work is what drew her to the role, but if she can’t play Spider-Gwen, she seems to be open to playing any Spider-Man-related character. McGraw said:
“That is literally my dream. That is easily one of my dream roles. I am just such a big Spider-Man fan, and that whole universe draws me in so deeply. I want to do those stunts. So I would do anything to play Spider-Gwen in a movie or any Spider-Man character.”
One Spider-Gwen Star is Already in the MCU
Spider-Gwen, aka Spider-Woman, is an alternate reality version of Gwen Stacy who was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker. Created by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez in The Edge of Spider-Verse #2 in 2014, Spider-Gwen has quickly become one of the most recognizable heroes in the Marvel Universe, thanks to her recurring role in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The irony of McGraw wanting to play Spider-Gwen is that the current voice actor for Spider-Gwen in the Spider-Verse movies, Hailee Steinfeld, also plays another Marvel character within the MCU in the form of Kate Bishop / Hawkeye.
If Steinfeld can voice Spider-Gwen and also play Kate Bishop, McGraw’s dreams of playing Spider-Gwen in a potential live-action project don’t seem so far-fetched. Even the fact that McGraw is in the MCU shouldn’t stand in the way, as Gemma Chan played Min-Erva in Captain Marvel before landing the role of Sersi in Eternals. Given that McGraw played a young Hope van Dyne in a few scenes in one of the MCU’s lesser-seen films, audiences likely wouldn’t be confused about her playing a new character.
It’s worth noting that Hope van Dyne’s MCU status remains up in the air. Evangeline Lilly, who’s played Hope since Ant-Man, stepped away from acting in 2024. Lilly was notably absent from the Avengers: Doomsday casting announcement; however, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang / Ant-Man will be there. Wasp may not appear in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, but with the multiverse in play, McGraw could return to play a younger Hope variant to assist the Avengers in the fight against Doctor Doom. If not, that could also be the perfect place for her to appear as a live-action Spider-Gwen and set the stage for the character’s live-action future.
- Release Date
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July 6, 2018
- Runtime
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119 Minutes
- Director
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Peyton Reed
