Sony Developing Spider-Man Spin-Off Centered On Black Cat And Silver Sable
Last week, Sony announced that they were making aVenommovie. And now, it looks like they’re trying to go all-in on theSpider-Manspin-off business, as a film centered onBlack CatandSilver Sableis on the way. The two characters, both adversaries and allies of Peter Parker depending on the storyline, represent the studio’s desire to stay in the comic book movie business, even though their stable of characters is a bit limited.
And by “a bit limited,” I really mean “How can we make this superhero movie business work with only one corner of a much larger universe?”
The news of the Black Cat and Silver Sable movies comes our way viaThe Hollywood Reporter, who report thatChris Yostis currently rewriting a screenplay penned byWestworldshowrunnerLisa Joy. Yost will be familiar to comic book fans as the writer of many Marvel comics, but he is also credited onThor: The Dark Worldand the upcomingThor: Ragnarok. His extensive television credits includeStar Wars RebelsandAvengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Yost has also written his fair share of Spider-Man comics, which makes him a solid fit for these characters. Silver Sable (real name: Silver Sablinova) is a professional soldier who hunts war criminals and is CEO of her own company. Black Cat (real name: Felicia Hardy) is a professional thief who sometimes allies herself with Spidey when a mutual enemy rears its ugly head. While these two characters don’t have a direct connection in the comic book world, they are two of Spider-Man’s more interesting allies and it’s refreshing to see a major studio expressing interest in a comic book movie starring two female characters.
But like theVenomannouncement, this news raises as many questions as answers. While the upcomingSpider-Man: Homecomingtakes place in Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to a special deal with Disney, it’s not entirely clear if these spin-off movies will also be set in the MCU or how directly they’ll be connected to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. THR notes that this movie will not be a direct offshoot of that film, but what would be the point if that’s the case? Would audiences really care about Spider-Man characters who don’t share the same world as Spider-Man? It’s easy to imagine all of this Spider-Man spin-off movies attempting to rideHomecoming’s coattails and exist without being explicit about which particularly universe they’re set in. This could get weird.
However, it’s important to remember that Sonywas planning a whole slate ofSpider-Manspin-offsto followThe Amazing Spider-Man 2and those projects collapsed as soon as audiences rightfully rejected that movie. CouldSpider-Man: Homecomingrejuvenate everything? Could Sony actually build their own superhero movie universe out of the Spidey corner of the Marvel world? We shall see.
