Could Silver & Black Launch All-Female Team?

Another rumor suggests Sony's Silver & Black will launch an all-female team in their Spider-less universe, but is that what is best? Before the days of Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and long before the company was a part of the Disney machine, Marvel sold the theatrical rights to various comic characters. These deals led to 20th Century Fox holding onto the X-Men and Fantastic Four or Universal getting Hulk. But it also saw Sony receiving the rights to not only Spider-Man, but also an entire universe worth of supporting characters - both heroes and villains alike.

Sony has since attempted twice to get a long-running franchise going with these characters and came the closest with Sam Raimi's trilogy in the early 2000s, but it crumbled when Sony forced in Venom and seeds of a larger universe. This exact same thing happened with Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as set up for an entire cinematic universe worth of films unfolded in messy fashion. This is ultimately what led Spider-Man back to Marvel Studios as Sony agreed to share his rights and allow the third big screen Spider-Man (Tom Holland) a chance to live in the MCU.

They've already experienced success with a short but impactful role for Holland in Captain America: Civil War, and look to build off that as Spider-Man: Homecoming is projected to be one of the biggest openings of the summer. Even with future appearances planned for Holland and a sequel already announced, Sony is not content in letting the rest of their Spider-Man rolodex of characters sit out.

This is ultimately why we've seen Venom be announced with Tom Hardy in the lead, and furthermore the reasoning behind Silver Sable and Black Cat receiving their own film. Silver & Black has just found its director in Gina Prince-Bythewood, and while she will reportedly also be rewriting the script, rumors have not stopped coming out suggesting what this film could be about. Previously, a rumor with heavy Spider-Man connections forced us to question what this movie could be about, but now a new report suggests an all-female team will be set up by the film's conclusion.

Why This Could Be Great

The report comes again from Splash Report stating the movie will end with Silver Sable taking on a Nick Fury type of role in this universe by assembling a team consisting of Felicia Hardy (Black Cat), Jessica Drew (Spider Woman), Charlotte Witter (Stunner), Sarah Ehret (Jackpot) and Cassie St. Commons (Dusk). The reasoning for this is to set up an all-female team in the vein of the Avengers.

Even though many of these characters are not well-known to the general public, if this is true, it gives all of them a chance to breakout. Not only would it do that, but an all-female team/film in today's market could be met with open arms. Wonder Woman is one of the highest reviewed superhero movies of all-time and is poised to make a lot of money at the box office with a female star and director backing the project. Should this be true, it would be a progressive move from Sony to not just do a film with two female leads and directed by a female of color, but the chance then to have six female leads and possibly a female director as well would be a move that would be praised.

With this chance, audiences could see multiple actresses poised for breakout roles. Gadot is set to have only more opportunities after Wonder Woman and seeing multiple actresses be given this same opportunity on the biggest stage would be great, not only for the superhero genre but the film industry overall.

Why This Could Be Sony Rushing a Universe (Again)

But, as exciting of an idea as six females leading an Avengers style film may be, it could also signal Sony once again doing what they've done many times before. If both this report and the previous are to be believed, Silver & Black would include over a dozen supporting characters from the comics - with the sole reason being expanding the universe and doing so quickly.

Sony has continued to make it apparent that their primary goal with this universe is making money - just like every other studio - but they appear to be developing the universe because they can not because they should. If Sony truly believed that these characters deserved the chance to make it onto the big screen, working with Marvel Studios would be in their best interests to make this happen. Most fans have made it clear they'd be more interested in these spinoffs if they could actually interact with Spider-Man.

Bottom line, this move smells of rushing a universe to the big screen so Sony has their own universe to compete along with the MCU, DCEU, and what Fox is doing with the X-Men. It could very well turn out to be great, but with them so far not showing the ability to a) make a universe and b) grow it organically, having a dozen characters introduced to early on continues to make it seem like that is not the option. With Silver & Black still in the development process, this reported plot could change, or wind up working great with the right plan behind it.