Silver & Black could be split into two films with Silver Sable and Black Cat

While Sony’s slate of films based on characters within the Spider-Man universe (but not Spider-Man himself) continues to firm up, a possibility has arisen for the planned Silver Sable and Black Cat joint movie to be split into two separate films, EW has learned.

Silver & Black was once meant to hit theaters on Feb. 8, 2019, but the studio pulled the project from its schedule. We’re told that film, intended for director Gina Prince-Bythewood, is back in production, but there’s now also the potential for it to be spun off. Nothing at this point is set in stone and, as many know about the Hollywood development process, things can change.

Variety was the first to report the news, while also citing comments made by Columbia Pictures President Sanford Panitch: “We believe Black Cat is enough of her own character with a great backstory and a canon of material to draw from to justify her own film.” The trade, as well as Deadline, reports Prince-Bythewood is expected to fall off Silver & Black and that the first of the split films will likely feature Black Cat.

Again, nothing is cemented just yet.

Venom, starring Tom Hardy and directed by Ruben Fleischer, will be the first of Sony’s Spider-Man-based films and will hit theaters on Oct. 5. Also in the works, Jared Leto will star as the “Living Vampire” Morbius in a movie directed by Daniel Espinosa, while the studio is looking at developing films based on characters Silk, Jackpot, and Nightwatch.

“Spider-Man connects to a lot of the characters,” Panitch told Variety. “There are villains, heroes, and antiheroes, and a lot are female characters, many of whom are bona fide, fully dimensionalized, and utterly unique.”