As the superhero film genre shows few signs of fading in popularity, every studio is scrambling to create their own version of the MCU or DCEU. And while many promising comic book adaptations are announced, there are plenty that never make it to production. One such project is Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Silver & Black movie, which was announced in 2017 but never got past the development stage.
The film would have followed the adventures of Silver Sable, a mercenary who runs a company that hunts war criminals, and Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), a cat burglar and martial arts expert. It’s disappointing that the project never coalesced, as Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, Beyond the Lights) is a talent and would have been the first Black woman director helming a major studio comic book movie. But Silver & Black, which was planned as the second Spider-Man spin-off after Venom, struggled to gain traction as a female-driven comic book film.
Prince-Bythewood moved on from the project to direct Netflix’s upcoming The Old Guard, which stars Charlize Theron as an immortal warrior. But she still holds out hope for a Silver & Black project.
In an interview with Games Radar, GPB discussed the status of the film saying, “My honest answer is I don’t know, … I really love those characters, I loved having them together. I thought, what we came up with was a really good, really organic way to have the two together. That world is changing so much because of the success of the Spider-Man films.”
She added, “There’s a question of, ‘Can you really have these films with Spider-Man not in them? Should he at least have some sort of part in them?’ That’s always the question. I’ve taken two years off of that for [The Old Guard] so once this gets out into the world, I hope it’s a success, and then I’ll certainly go back and start talking with them again.”
While Sony has had great success with the Spider-Man franchise, they’ve struggled to capitalize on their own cinematic universe. One issue is of course Disney’s ownership of Marvel and the division of characters between the two studios. Another is the fact that Silver & Black are lesser known characters, and female at that.
Given the less than stellar (but still profitable!) box office of Birds of Prey, studios are more hesitant than ever to bank on a female-driven comic book film. After all, what else could explain Sony’s decision to move forward with Morbius, a similarly obscure character?
There is still hope for a Silver & Black film, if Sony is looking to launch a Sinister Six franchise (Michael Keaton’s Vulture is rumored to appear in Morbius). There is also the possibility of a Silver & Black series on Disney+. GPB told The Hollywood Reporter in April, “I really love that project, and I do hope it can still happen in some way. It keeps going through different thoughts. First, it was going to be the two of them, and then the decision was made to separate the two. Now, there’s a thought of ‘Hey, maybe we put it on Disney+ as a limited series,’ but I loved it more as a film with the two of them. So, my hope is that one day it can still happen.”
I don’t know, the idea of a Silver & Black series? I’m not mad about it.
(via Games Radar, image: Marvel)
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