Word came out earlier this week that Sony Pictures is looking to expand the Spider-Man movie franchise. It was announced during Comic-Con Sinister Six will be released on November 11, 2016. It's always made sense to try to bring a feature focusing on Spider-Man's villains to the big screen. There are so many good characters and this could be a way to avoid the problem when a superhero movie contains too many villains.
With The Amazing Spider-Man 3 pushed back to 2018, it was reported that Sony was planning on a movie to featuring a female character from the Spider-Man universe to fill the gap in 2017. Apparently there are some characters being considered: "There are several strong possibilities — Silver Sable, Black Cat, Stunner, Firestar and Spider-Woman, to name a few."
Some of these make more sense than others. There are also other female characters in the Spider-Verse that might make more sense.
Black Cat
Felicia Hardy seems like the most logical choice. She's had a big role in Spider-Man's life in the comics and has appeared on animated shows such as Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Spectacular Spider-Man. She's also possibly already appeared on the big screen.
In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, we saw Harry's receptionist was named Felicia, played by Felicia Jones. This could be just a coincidence or perhaps it was Sony's way of planting a seed. Black Cat has a mixed history of being a burglar/villain as well as a hero, of sorts. The question is, would she have enough recognition and appeal to carry a solo film?
Spider-Woman
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She even has "Spider" in her name. What better way to try to cash in on the SPIDER-MAN name and franchise? Jessica Drew has been around since 1977. She has a pretty complex backstory that would give plenty for screenwriters to work with. We even did a 3-Minute Video (seen above) on her history.
The big question is where exactly does Spider-Woman fit? Is she part of the Spider-Man franchise? Her origins aren't directly related to Peter Parker's world and she's been more active in the pages of Avengers comics.
If she's not available to Sony, what about the Ultimate Comics version? It could be possible that a female clone of Peter Parker could carry her own movie. That would definitely change things up a little.
Silver Sable
Silver Sable was mentioned in the original report. She's another character with a bit of a story to her. While she first debuted in 1985, her mercenary background could give Sony a different type of movie to shoot for. If we're making comparisons, many have marveled over Black Widow's big screen portrayal and this could be Sony's way to try to capture that excitement before Marvel Studios gets around to making a solo Black Widow film.
She might be dead currently in the comics but that's never prevented a character from moving on to bigger things.
Stunner and Firestar?
These seem like odd choices. Does anyone care about Stunner? She's definitely not a household name. She had a tie to Doctor Octopus so he'd have to be established first (in Sinister Six). Would Sony want to make a movie focusing on villains and follow it with another movie on a lesser known villain? Probably not.
Firestar got her start in the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends animated series. But she's also a mutant. The question is, where do her rights lie? Is she another ambiguous character that Fox would have to share with another studio?
What about Spider-Gwen?
We'll see this version of Gwen Stacy in September's EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #1. People are already Cosplaying as her. It's Gwen Stacy from another universe but it could be a way to get more Emma Stone on screen. Sony could use this as a way to feature Gwen in a third movie. Does this movie have to be tied directly into their Spider-Man movie universe? Maybe they'd be willing to do a movie in an alternate universe. But that could be confusing for some. They could also go the Ultimate Comics route with Carnage's involvement.
Silk
She recently made her debut in the new (current) volume of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. It turns out before the spider that bit Peter died, it also bit another. She's been in hiding all these years to avoid really bad things (you should be reading the current series to find out why). Even though she was bitten by the same spider, her abilities are a little different than Peter's. This, again, gives some slight variation so it's not simply a female version of the movies we've just seen.
Someone Else?
There are plenty of other female characters in Spider-Man's world. We've had the future daughter of Spider-Man and Mary Jane with May "Spider-Girl" Parker. But we'd need Mary Jane introduced first. There's also Anya Corazón. Her story is different enough from Spider-Man's so it doesn't feel like a simple retread over what we've just seen. Or maybe we'd see a movie dealing with all of Spider-Man's past girlfriends and them realizing they don't need him for anything.
What are your thoughts? Which female character do you think could carry a big budget live-action movie?