Anne Hathaway almost played Spider-Man’s bisexual love interest

Anne Hathaway has played some pretty iconic roles, from Princess Mia Thermopolis in Princess Diaries to Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. But she almost had her hands on another franchise. 

Hathaway stopped by the Happy Sad Confused podcast to talk about her career in Hollywood and her upcoming film Eileen. The Oscar winner is acting opposite Thomasin McKenzie, playing the title role, as psychologist Rebecca Saint John where the two form a parasitic relationship. 

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However, before Hathaway signed on to play a mysterious psychologist, she was set to play queer Marvel icon Black Cat. Felicia Hardy, a.k.a Black Cat, was a cat burglar with feline superhuman abilities, a villain-turned-hero arc, and a love interest to Spider-Man.

Hathaway snagged the coveted role, but Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 film was scrapped by Sony in exchange for an Andrew Garfield reboot of the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man. Therefore, Hathaway didn’t get too far into the role when this happened. 

“I did not get into costume and did not get to read the script past the audition sides.”

But she harbors no ill will about the lost opportunity. She did go on to play another famous cat burglar, just within the DC Universe.

“If [‘Spider-Man 4’] had gotten made, I don’t know if I would’ve been considered for [‘The Dark Knight Rises’],” Hathaway said. “Perhaps [Christopher Nolan] would’ve said, ‘No, she’s occupied in another universe.’”

Another character Hathaway almost played was everyone’s favorite doll, Barbie. In 2017, Hathway was announced as the film’s leading lady, a role that comedian Amy Schumer was initially cast in until she left the film, with Alethea Jones in talks to direct. 

The film originally followed Barbie’s adventure in the “real world” after she was cast out of “Barbieland” for not being perfect enough. The project never came to fruition and Margot Robbie became the titular character in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film. 

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But Hathaway has no love lost on Barbie either. She even praised Gerwig and Robbie’s creation, calling the lead actress “sublime” and Ken would be proud.

“What’s so exciting about what Greta and Margot and that phenomenal team [did] is they hit a bullseye,” Hathaway said. “The bullseye caused the entire world to reach this level of ecstasy. Now imagine that version … that much energy, that much anticipation, that much emotion … but it’s not the right version. I actually think of it as a lucky thing [it didn’t get made].”

For Hathaway, what’s meant to be, will be. 

“You learn to just go … the right role finds the right person, and sometimes it’s you and sometimes not,” Hathaway said. “When it doesn’t happen, trust deeper and keep going … it sounds maybe corny but you really do have to keep it grateful.”

Maybe in an alternate universe Hathaway is Barbie and Black Cat. Yet, in this one, she’s the monarch of Genovia and a DC Universe anti-hero. You can check out the full interview below.