Sony has been trying to build a shared universe around Spider-Man for a while now. Their first attempt died in the cradle when ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ failed to live up to expectations, and now the success of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming has given them the confidence to try again. This time around, the plan is to kick things off with this October’s release of the long-gestating ‘Venom‘, which recently released a notably underwhelming trailer. Following ‘Venom’, the next step was to be ‘Silver and Black’, a frankly bizarre outing that serves to team up Black Cat and Silver Sable. But the latest reports from Sony have cast doubt on those plans.
Citing “a source with knowledge of the production,” The Hashtag Show is reporting that ‘Silver and Black’, which was originally planned for release on February 8, 2019, has been delayed indefinitely. While this by itself might be cause to take the news with a grain of salt absent an official announcement, ‘Silver and Black’ co-writer Gina Prince-Bythewood has at least partially corroborated the report on Twitter:
Still working on the script. All about the script.
— Gina Prince-Bythewood (@GPBmadeit) February 24, 2018
In other words, a conceptually ludicrous team-up movie that seemingly exists only to prove that Sony learned nothing from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ has script problems? Well butter my biscuit!
And frankly, this is hardly surprising. Previous reports had indicated that the film was due to begin production on March 5th in Atlanta, though neither of its leads has been cast. The real question now is exactly what this means for the film’s fate. After all “indefinitely” in this context just means “an unspecified amount of time.” While it might mean “forever,” it could just as easily mean “three months”.
Regardless, the delay is a good thing. Either it’s the first step toward the quiet cancellation of a frankly ill-conceived project, or it means that Sony will at least not be rushing this thing through production if it does get made. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that the reception ‘Venom’ gets in October will have a lot of sway over the fate of ‘Silver and Black’.
Be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more on ‘Silver and Black’ and whatever ‘Spider-Man’ spinoffs Sony announces next.
