Sony is building its cinematic The Amazing Spider-Man Universe bigger with the announcement of a 2017 female superhero movie.
Last month, Roberto Orci had suggested that Sony Pictures was reconsidering the release process of its budding The Amazing Spider-Man cinematic universe. Only several days later, Sony confirmed that Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six was due out on November 11, 2016 and that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 had been moved to May 27, 2018.
But fear not, True Believers, there will still be more web-spinning goodness in a female form before the next Andrew Garfield adventure. As reported in Deadline, Sony has plans in the immediate future to spin-off a female character from Spider-Man’s considerably deep bench of supporting characters and altruistic mythos for 2017.
While the female character in question remains a mystery, Sony is moving seriously forward on the project as Lisa Joy Nolan, who has written for Pushing Daisies and Burn Notice, and is currently attached to Jonathan Nolan’s HBO series Westworld, has been tapped to script the project. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will also continue to produce.
If we had to make an educated guess, the obvious candidate for this movie would be Black Cat. It is true that Sony retains the rights to several female superheroes beyond the fair Felicia Hardy, however neither Silver Sable or Spider-Woman, as popular as they are in fan circles, have reached the level of pop culture notice that Black Cat has. While similar to another female anti-hero at DC, Black Cat carved out a unique place by being Spider-Man’s unofficial sidekick during the 1980s in the pages of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man and is routinely treated by writers as the “third love of Peter Parker’s life” after Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy. She also was Marvel’s first destination once they bizarrely erased the Peter/MJ marriage out of continuity after 20 years. Sony also cast Anne Hathaway, ironically enough, in the role of Black Cat for the eventually scrapped Spider-Man 4.
Further, the part is already cast since Felicity Jones made a brief, if memorable for its wasted potential, cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Harry Osborn’s second-in-command, Felicia. Ms. Jones has also hinted in the past that she hopes to play the Black Cat one day.
It could make a nifty through-line to have Felicia Hardy return for Sinister Six in a supporting role, have her own movie in Black Cat, and then steal MJ’s jackpot luck in The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
Of course, it could conceivably be Jessica Drew too.
Which superpowered lady from Spidey’s orbit would you like to see go solo on the big screen?
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