It’s an amazing time to be a fan of Spider-Man. If you love animation, there are two spectacular Spider-Verse movies that showcase a slew of multiversal webheads. We are waiting on any new updates regarding an MCU Spider-Man 4 with Tom Holland. And Sony continues to develop out its side of the Spider-Man universe by introducing feature films based around his popular villains. Venom and Morbius each have received their own movies, while Aaron Taylor Johnson prepares to play Kraven the Hunter in a movie that was delayed until 2024. Kraven has been delayed. A movie centered around Silver Sable, however, seems to be off the radar at Sony altogether.
In an historic deal, Sony agreed to let Disney and Marvel Studios use Spider-Man in five MCU movies, which included a Spider-Man trilogy, and two Avengers films. At the same time, Sony Pictures continued to develop its own Spider Universe, and floated a number of potential movies that were built on classic Spidey villains. Many of those – including El Muerto with Bad Bunny – have been canceled. And according to screenwriter Lindsey Anderson Beer, we can throw Silver Sable onto the discard pile. While speaking with ComicBook, Beer talked about being hired by Sony to work on Silver & Black, an oft-delayed movie that might have teamed Silver Sable with Black Cat. And she admitted:
It was something that Sony was looking at and then, as far as I know, is not currently developing. I had to hop off that to another project at the time. I was only on it as — people hire writers as, it’s called a ‘weekly,’ I was helping them out. But yeah, I’m not sure.
That doesn’t sound promising for the potential future of Silver & Black, a movie that once had The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood attached, until she explained to us why she thinks the movie is stuck in limbo. The thing is, Sony has access to an unlimited number of Spider-Man characters that the studio could play with. And in the end-credits sequence for Jared Leto’s Morbius, the narrative at least started to draw these characters together into the same universe, as when Michael Keaton’s Vulture met with Dr. Morbius in the desert and started talking to him about their shared hatred for Spider-Man.
The thing about Silver & Black – and really, about all of these – is that until Sony starts to bring Spider-Man into these movies, they have to figure out how to stand on their own as stories. Kraven has the potential to create a universe of its own, and even suggests the introduction of a Rhino character for this side of the Sony universe. And because Silver Sable is a paid mercenary, and Black Cat is a master thief, there are plenty of places that the story could go without needing to lean on Spider-Man. But now it sounds like that movie is on hold (and possibly dead).
I’m on board for all of these spinoffs, and if they eventually lead to a Sinister Six movie, all the better for it. I also want news on Spider-Man 4, and now that the WGA has ended its strike, hopefully this means Marvel Studios can catch us up on their behind-the-scenes plans.