Hey folks, Precious Roy here. Word is out that Sony is pushing ahead with SILVER AND BLACK, a non-MCU Spider-Man spin-off featuring Silver Sable, a bounty hunter, and Black Cat, one of Peter’s long-term frenemies and possibly the most interesting relationship he ever had.
t’s being written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood—creator of SHOTS FIRED, and who wrote LOVE AND BASKETBALL and directed the pilot for CLOAK AND DAGGER. It’s slating between March and June this year and is currently set to debut in the U.S. on February 8th, 2019.
There’s very little solid information right now; some of it is speculation and most of it is just rumor, so I won't repeat it here. But what is clear is that Tom Holland is in no way attached to this film yet as Peter Parker or Spider-Man, and neither is Tom Hardy as Venom. Meaning, these two characters, Silver Sable and the Black Cat—not exceptionally heroic in their history, and much more valuable to Spider-Man continuity as supporting characters—are meant to stand on their own and pull an audience.
Now, I’m a fairly positive guy. I occasionally take issue with parts of a film, but I’m not really out to destroy another’s person’s relationship with a franchise or shut down anything that brings fantasy and adventure to the screen. I also don’t want to diminish the work of Prince-Bythewood, as I’m really psyched to see what she brings to CLOAK AND DAGGER this year.
But I have to wonder… what the hell Sony is thinking, with this? What kind of a plan is this for a franchise? Superhero movies, television, and streaming shows are saturating the market right now. A great number of them are well-loved, but some don’t fare so well. While I want to champion female superheroes getting their day out, why on J. Jonah Jameson’s crewcut would you make a SILVER AND BLACK instead of a GWEN STACY?
Occasionally, we get a news item on the Tom Hardy VENOM film. I avoid covering those stories because while I think using Venom outside of any context of the Marvel Cinematic is like creating a fine piece of art that ultimately traps you into the corner that’s unpainted, I can understand the fan draw of Venom. That makes sense to me. So I'd rather let someone kind of thrilled by a VENOM flick talk about it than have me rocking on my heels nervously as I relay the story. This makes me really nervous. I'm worried that this kind of film could be damaging to the genre as whole right now.
The thing is, Silver Sable and Black Cat have never been introduced before in a Spider-Man film, and there's been six of them (not counting the television series). Comic book readers will know Silver Sable and Black Cat, sure—but will they flock to see them, having zero cinematic context for them beforehand? This feels... very cynical.
I mean, if we just saw Gwen Stacey briefly in the next Spider-Man movie and got to know her—ten minutes at most of screen time—we’d have all the introduction we need to launch an amazing GWEN STACY movie. They could work out a deal with Marvel to have her be an alternate-reality Spider-Man (which she is) and cross-pollinate this idea with the Multiverse that will come into play in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP and AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. That would be good for both properties, and allow them to play off of each other. It feels like someone researched what properties sell within their Spider-Man franchise, and decided to go with something to compete with HARLEY QUINN, without giving a thought to what kind of fan they were reaching.
To paraphrase JURASSIC PARK’s Ian Malcolm: Sony producers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could make a new property, that they didn't stop to think if they should. They are generating these movies without building a long-term benefit for fans. To my mind, this is worse than the since of the DC film universe of late. DC may have cut corners in introducing a Justice League, but at least there was a coherent story tying it all together, a continuity to enjoy. This is just throwing things at the wall of fandom and expecting money and success to bounce back. It lacks any benefit to fandom, really. Why should fans invest in a bunch of spin-off Spider-Man one-shots that don’t intersect and don’t involve Peter Parker…?
Okay. Sorry, rant over. It’s just so frustrating. A little negotiation and they could be doing something AMAZING that will have fans in love. But I keep seeing studios try to emulate Marvel’s success without applying the same care and worldbuilding, and I just think, ooof, what a horrible waste of a license.
Read the rumors and more here: https://www.cbr.com/silver-and-black-filming-dates/
I'm out of here sucker's!
Precious Roy
