Marc Guggenheim Has Been Working on Jackpot Way Longer Than You Think

Hot on the heels that Arrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim would write Prophet, a movie based on Rob Liefeld’s creation of the same name, came last week’s announcement that he was also developing a Jackpot movie for Sony. Jackpot, a heroine introduced as part of Spider-Man’s “Brand New Day” relaunch in 2007, will reportedly get a movie set in the same universe/multiverse as Venom, Madame Web, and Morbius. It may seem to most casual observers l ike social distancing has been pretty good to Guggenheim — but the reality is, at least Jackpot has been in development for much longer than fans might imagine.

Back in 2018, reports first hit that Sony was mulling the idea of a Jackpot movie, and while Guggenheim’s name wasn’t attached, it isn’t that much of a surprise. At the time, we noted that Guggenheim and artist Salvador Larocca arguably did more to develop the character than creators Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez.

“It’s a little deceptive,” Guggenheim told ComicBook.com of the recent, rapid-fire announcements. “I’ve been working on Jackpot for two years now.”

That suggests that not only did Sony not ever really stop developing the film, but that they have had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to do with it from the get-go.

In a lot of ways, Jackpot was initially kind of a one-note thing: she looked like Mary Jane Watson, whose famous line was “face it, Tiger, you hit the jackpot.” This was a bigger deal than it sounds because the events of Civil War and One More Day had erased Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s marriage, leaving fans wondering about her status quo.

Instead of being MJ, though, Jackpot turned out to be Sara Ehret, an Oscorp scientist who got powers and joined The Initiative, the government-sanctioned, post-Civil War superhero team. She would eventually retire her identity and license the name and costume out to another heroine, Alana Jobson. As Spider-Man eventually learns, she obtained powers from taking several drugs — including Mutant Growth Hormone — and dies as a result of the drugs in a battle alongside Spider-Man. Ehret eventually takes the identity back, but the rest of the story also has its share of tragedy.

Interestingly, since they had resisted doing another origin story for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, it’s possible that Guggenheim could cram all of that story into a single film and deliver the “With great power comes great responsibility” theme, and the accompanying gut-punch of a loss.