So we really are going through with this then, are we? Spider-Man movies without Spider-Man. Spider-Man movies that have no connection whatsoever with the monstrously popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man movies starring the wall-crawler’s B and C-list supporting cast.
That’s Sony’s plan, anyway. Having driven what’s arguably Marvel’s best known and most marketable property into the ground — twice — the film studio thought that maybe selling back the film rights to its rightful owner was the best thing for them to do.
Although the exact details of their deal aren’t immediately clear, they’re worked out a way for them to share custody of the character. Marvel gets to use Spidey in their movies, which Sony still gets to profit off of. In addition to this, Sony still has access to all the same characters as before and can use them in movies not canonically connected with the MCU.
At first, Sony was just planning on making an animated side-series of movies starring Miles Morale: the half-Black, half-Hispanic Brooklynite who took up the alias after Peter Parker was killed in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic. That was it, and it was a smart move: letting them capitalize on a popular version of the superhero that Marvel Studios has no immediate plans to work with, capitalizing on the property’s name-recognition while not having to worry about the time and expense that goes into a live-action film.
But Sony’s starting to get greedy. After seeing what Marvel’s made of Peter Parker with a two-scene cameo in Civil War, they think that they can bullheadedly revive their long-since abandoned plans for a Spider-Man Cinematic Universe.
They’ve recently revived the ill-conceived Venom solo movie with Tom Hardy in the lead. Now they’re going ahead with a movie based on Silver Sable and Black Cat: a dynamic female duo built from two characters few people have even heard of. But these are the times that we’re living in: where prequels now count as world-building and a single entertainment property can somehow crossover with itself.
Black Cat, aka Felicia Hardy, was Marvel’s half-successful attempt to copy DC’s Catwoman. DC’s fingerprints are all over the character too: she’s a rich socialite and sometimes Spider-Man love interest with a predilection for black bodysuits and an over-the-top cat theme, frequently contracted by New York’s crime bosses for any number of misdeeds, although they usually involve some degree of burglary.
To those ends, it’s not uncommon for her to team up with any number of Spider-Man’s expansive Rogues Gallery, thus the team-up here. Most recently in the comics, she’s been seen bumming around with the spider-powered hero Silk (who would have been a much more interesting person for her to team up with in this movie).
Silver Sable, aka Silver Sablinova, is the daughter of a famed Nazi hunter whose mother was killed by Ivan Trevkov, a Hydra agent. Watching her mother die caused her hair to turn silver, and she’s spent her time in and out of comics for the past thirty years as a mercenary, Hero for Hire and, you guessed it, love interest of Peter Parker.
Neither character is especially interesting. Their use in both the comics and their adaptations has generally been relegated to being Spidey’s on-the-job romance and the cause of concern for his civilian love interests. They serve their purpose as extra bodies to throw at Parker and Co., but really don’t do anything that any number of other costumed characters couldn’t have just as easily done.
Of all the Spider-related movies they could have gone with, I honestly can’t figure out why they chose this one. Venom I get: he’s an iconic and highly marketable character that’s turned a heroic leaf in the past and people know and care about him. Miles Morales’ Ultimate Spider-Man I get. Hell, fans would have tripped over themselves if they would have announced a Spider-Gwen movie.
But Black Cat and Silver Sable? More than asking what the point is, I just can’t imagine anybody cares enough about them in the first place to buy a ticket to their movie.
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