It’s baffling to me that, in developing a woman-led Spider-Man spin-off, Sony chose to concentrate resources on “Madame Web” instead of a Black Cat movie. (They placed “Silver & Black,” a movie putting Cat together with fellow feminine anti-hero Silver Sable, on the back burner.) Worse, Sony was able to get Sydney Sweeney under contract for one of their Spider-Man Cinematic Universe movies and didn’t cast her as Black Cat, a role that actually fits.
I’d wager Black Cat is at least marginally better known than Madame Web (she certainly shows up in Spider-Man media more, like the recent Insomniac Studios “Spider-Man” video games). Plus, there’s a better hook: Felicia Hardy/Black Cat is a thief (get it? cat burglar). So, with her, you can make a superhero heist movie. Black Cat is basically Marvel’s Catwoman and this set-up worked for the animated film “Catwoman: Hunted.”
But even better, put Sweeney in “Spider-Man 4” as Black Cat and have her face off with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. I’ve argued before that Black Cat is a natural addition after where “Spider-Man: No Way Home” left Peter Parker.
Sweeney is not only good at playing confident and sexy characters, she’s great at performing breakdown scenes, as seen in “Euphoria” (“I don’t even know why she would say that!”). Imagine her playing the scene from Brian Michael Bendis/Mark Bagley’s “Ultimate Spider-Man,” when Felicia takes off Spidey’s mask to kiss him, realizes he’s only a teenager, has a mild panic attack, and then vomits. It’s hilarious in the comic, and onscreen, it would turn the MCU’s aversion to sex into a gag.