The cinematic futures of the hallowed characters originating from Marvel Comics continues to expand…and seemingly become ever more confusing than ever to follow. It’s always been a bit of a head-scratcher to focus on what studios have the rights to what characters with Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe gobbling most of the focus, just as Fox’s X-Men arm further expands and Sony’s Spider-Man wing cementing to regroup following the lackluster results of their Andrew Garfield-led second franchise reboot.
At the moment, attention is flashing towards Sony, with their new Spider-Man, played by rising young actor Tom Holland (The Impossible). In partnership with the MCU, the revamped webslinger made brief, but memorable appearance in last year’s smash Captain America: Civil War and will soon head the eagerly anticipated Spider-Man: Homecoming, coming to theaters this summer. As an offshoot, Sony is reportedly in active development to bring more characters of this particular wing of Marvel to big screen, with standalone Venom (as previously reported) gaining traction as well as a potential Silver Sable and Black Cat title, as first noted last week by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Silver Sable-Black Cat prospective project, which doesn’t currently have a title, is noteworthy as it would be headlined by two female characters – still somewhat a sore subject in superhero movies – and also appears to have a screenwriter set up in Chris Yost, who most recently contributed to MCU’s upcoming Thor: Ragnarok. For the uninitiated, Silver Sable (created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz in 1985) is mercenary who heads a company specializing in hunting war criminals; as a character she has at times been both friend and foe to Spider-Man. Black Cat aka Felicia Hardy, on the other hand, is an acrobatic cat burglary whose longstanding relationship with Spider-Man in the comics at times led to the romantic. (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 featured Oscar nominated actress Felicity Jones as Felicia Hardy, but the blink-and-you-missed-it appearance left out any explicit character details.)
While casting and a director for the title have yet to announced, it appears that the Silver Sable-Black Cat is a priority for Sony. Reports are beginning to surface that the studio is angling to start production later this year – as is also the case with Venom. The project was previously described as “secret female spinoff project” with Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy first taking a whack at the script; Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal are producing the title.
What remains to be seen in where both Venom as the “Secret Female Spinoff Project” lie in the greater landscape of the Marvel world. What’s unclear is if either will be fully connected to Spider-Man: Homecoming and the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe; early suggestions appear neither may fully apply.
Watch this space.
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