Silver & Black Movie Includes the Wild Pack?

Sony's Silver and Black movie will reportedly include the Wild Pack, aka. the team of mercenaries that Silver Sable/Silver Sablinova leads in the world of Marvel Comics. First introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man comics in the mid-1980s, the Wild Pack was formed by Silver's father, Ernst Sablinova, before Silver herself became its leader as a young teenager. Seeing as Silver and Black is being likened to a female antihero buddy movie adventure in the vein of Thelma and Louise, the film may also explore how Silver's tragic past spurred her decision to join forces with the Wild Pack to begin with.

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights) is currently revising the Silver and Black script - itself, based on earlier drafts written by Christopher Yost (Thor: The Dark World) and Lisa Joy (co-creator of Westworld) - and getting it into shooting shape, ahead of the start of production sometime over the next 4-6 months (from the time of writing this). Although it was previously reported that Silver and Black would contain a nod to the Wild Pack from the world of Marvel Comics, it now appears that Silver's ragtag team of not-so-lawful employees are going to be making a proper appearance during the film.

Related: Silver Sable & Black Cat's Villains Explained

According to That Hashtag Show, Wild Pack members Powell (Silver's right-hand man) and Klein will be appearing in Silver and Black along with their fellow mercs Chen, Morty (Silver's executive assistant) and Arnold. Reportedly, the film will see Silver (re)assemble the Wild Pack after she is tasked with hunting down and capturing Felicia Hardy (aka. Black Cat), providing Silver with a chance to seek revenge against the movie's central villain, Mendell Stromm (who she has a dark history with), in the process. THS also notes that Morty, in particular, looks to take inspiration from the Ultimate comic book version of the character, since he will be male (and not female) in Silver and Black.

Both Silver and Black and director Ruben Fleischer's Venom will serve to establish the tone and style of Sony's own Marvel Cinematic Universe, populated by Spider-Man antiheroes and/or supporting characters. The idea of the Wild Pack being included as part of Silver and Black aligns with the picture of the Sony Marvel-verse that has emerged at this stage - an edgier superhero movie universe where a body horror-inspired Venom and possibly even a Spike Lee-directed Nightwatch film will feel at home, alongside law-breakers like Silver Sable and Black Cat. However successful or not Sony's comic book franchise proves to be, it does stand out as something unique compared to other superhero universes for these reasons.

At the same time, there are fair comparisons to be made between the rumored version of Silver and Black and other hit comic book films released over the past few years. The Wild Pack, for example, begs comparison to not only the DC Extended Universe's Suicide Squad, but perhaps even the ragtag team of (male) WWI-era fighters that teamed up with Diana Prince in the DCEU's solo Wonder Woman movie. That is, there seems to be a method to Sony's madness as the studio attempts to get a Spider-Man-inspired franchise off the ground for the second time (following its abandoned efforts to launch an Amazing Spider-Man shared movie universe), by taking some cues from its competitors' success.