30th March 2023, Mumbai: The Sandman’s Thomas Haden Church hinted at a potential big-screen appearance for his Marvel character. Church, who made his Marvel debut in 2007’s Spider-Man 3 by competing against Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker, recently made a comeback in the world of superheroes by playing the role in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The actor only made a cameo appearance in the MCU Spidey 3 sequel as a CG character who fought the three Spider-Men in an iconic battle atop the Lady Liberty. In addition, despite his character getting another chance to shine on the big screen, Church himself was never actually present on the No Way Home set, preventing him from making the full return he may have had in mind.
Star of Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man: No Way Home Thomas Haden Church stated that his time as Marvel’s Sandman might not be over in an interview with Pilot Productions. Church said that he, No Way Home director Jon Watts, Sony producer and executive Amy Pascal, and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige would be interested in playing his super-powered role again “all have several discussions, which included discussions “about the potential return of Sandman:
“Kevin [Feige], Jon [Watts], and I spoke extensively, as did Amy Pascal, the lead producer. And I would add that discussions have taken place over the prospect of Sandman being in a later version of it. There has been discussion about him returning and possibly picking up a more satisfying Flint story as well as changing from Sandman to returning to human form because there was a story about it.”
The renowned actor said that in Spider-Man: No Way Home, “there’s a reason” Sandman “couldn’t be human,” and that he and Watts have “talked about the possibility in the future that [the character] can come back as Flint Marko” later on:
“There’s a reason he can’t- that in ‘No Way Home,’ he can’t be human, until the very end when you just see him very briefly, which is really a screen grab from ‘Spider-Man 3,’ because they kind of wanted to be that throwback thing, where you see him the way he was, and because… there’s a chain of events where he could not be human. and now… We’ve discussed Jon’s potential for returning as Flint Marko in the future. Well, yes, that has been brought up.”
At the conclusion of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman/Flint Marko and the other Mutliversal villains appeared to have had their final wave goodbye. It appeared that the story had come to an end for that incarnation of the character. Although, the possibility of this character showing up anywhere in the Sony Spider-Man Universe appears to be more likely. There is some real ‘villain-focused’ solo movie momentum behind Church’s comment about being able to tell a “more meaningful story with Flint.”
Hence, while Sandman (and subsequently Flint Marko) may appear in a Spidey movie proper, Venom, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter seem like the more likely candidates to appear if Church’s return as the character is going to truly take place.