Jamie Foxx reprising his role as Electro for Spider-Man 3 and no this is not a joke

Now 2020 has been a bit of a strange year for film and TV news but I think this one tops the lot. So it was reported last night that Jamie Foxx will be reprising his role as Electro that he played in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the third Marvel Studios led Spider-Man Film. Now to say this news came out of nowhere would be an understatement so I am going to look at it in a bit more depth.

Why is this happening?

Now I actually don't think The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is as bad a film as most thought but one thing I did not like was Foxx's performance as Max Dillon/Electro. It was just so goofy and over the top and literally felt like he was in a different film and that he would have fit in better with the Sam Reimi directed trilogy. But somebody who did like the character was Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, so this could have been his decision, it is just a surprise that after all these years Foxx would be up for coming back in the role. 

This could be a new version of the character

I mean the most answer to this is that Feige wanted to use the character of Electro for the third film and liked Foxx for the role so that is why he is back and he is playing a different version of the character. Knowing how the MCU likes to do things there is a good chance that Foxx will be playing a new version of Electro made specifically for the film.

Or he will be reprising the role from ASM2

In Spider-Man Far From Home, there was a clear hint at the multiverse and with Doctor Strange 2 going to look at this subject heavily this can't be ruled out. If Electro has somehow travelled from another Earth then that does offer the chance for other characters from the past to reappear and add an interesting wrinkle to the future of The MCU. But with Sony still being heavily involved and with them distancing themselves from The Amazing Spider-Man franchise I see this option as unlikely. 

Foxx is good enough to redeem the character

Jamie Foxx is a great actor, we have seen that over many years and it just seems like the script hurt him in ASM2. With a fresh approach, new cast and new director hopefully he can deliver a performance worthy of this film. 

How will he play into the plot

After the events of Far From Home it seems like villains are going to be hunting down Spider-Man now they know his secret identity and it seems Electro will be one of those. I am also hoping for Michael Mando to reprise his role as Scorpion and an appearance by Kraven The Hunter which could be interesting. 

Overall

Overall, I am not even sure what to make of this news and initially I was not a fan of it. But with a bit more news I could be dragged into liking this