While we’re awaiting Wonder Woman’s part in Batman v Superman and the rumors of a Black Widow movie keep coming and going, Sony has beaten DC and Marvel to the punch, by announcing a female-led superhero movie for 2017.
Thing is, we don’t actually know who it’s about yet. So, while Sony has effectively called dibs, the actual follow-up is still a ways off.
We do know that the movie will be set in the Spider-Man universe, with Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach producing. It will be written by Lisa Joy Nolan, best known for Pushing Daisies and Westworld, a script she collaborated with husband Christopher Nolan on.
Deadline spoke with an insider with supposed information on the impetus—take with the usual grain of salt:
What other movies we could do was something everyone started talking about when shooting the last movie. With Salt, Wanted, and Lucy, there is a huge appetite for this right now.
…The one thing you can’t ignore is the fans. There was a rejection going on with having another Spider-Man come out so soon, and you have to listen to the fans in this world. We all took a good look in the mirror and said, we have to try to have to figure it out and revamp it.
Sony has a number of masked heroines (and antiheroines, as the case may be) from which to choose. Our best bet is Black Cat—after all, there must have been some reason to have Felicity Jones play Felicia Hardy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, right? We never did see what happened to Harry Osborn’s assistant after he got un-Goblined (or was the influence just subdued?) at Ravencroft.
The next most likely option is any one of the heroines who have “Spider” in their names. The producers could go with Charlotte Witter, who became a supervillain, with the help of Dr. Octopus, and took on the title of Spider-Woman.
Then there’s Spider-Girl. One is Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s daughter, though we doubt Sony would go that direction on their first time out, especially since we haven’t even met MJ in the new canon yet. The other Spider-Girl is Anya Corazon (formerly Araña).
If you’re gonna dig even deeper, other choices include Silver Sable, Stunner, or even Firestar. Both Stunner’s and the Charlotte Witter Spider-Woman’s origin stories involve Doc Ock; since he’s likely to appear in Sony’s upcoming Sinister Six movie (out 2016), that could strengthen the argument for either one.
Who do you think we’ll see leading Sony’s first female superhero movie?
Photos: Marvel Comics, Columbia Pictures
