Sony’s Silver and Black, a film not about the life and times of Al Davis, but about two lesser known members of Spider-Man’s supporting cast, seems to be moving forward with a newly added director in Gina Prince-Bythewood (Cloak and Dagger) and script by Christopher Yost (Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok) and Lisa Joy. Part of Sony’s newly-christened Marvel Universe, it will follow Venom, which is set to be released October 5, 2018, though the release date seems to be up in the air after having been originally planned to hit theaters right after Venom. So why are we at the MCU Exchange once again covering a film that isn’t taking place in the MCU?
The folks at Splash Report, run by Kellvin Chavez, the founder of Latino-Review, have some details about the script that reveal some potential connections to the MCU and continue to build the cast that while these movies may not be MCU films, they might establish some loose connections that could allow for them to be about as close to the MCU as Marvel’s Netflix series. Among the many details shared by Splash Report, two stand out as VERY interesting: Dominic Fortune and Roxxon are both rumored to appear in the film.
Certainly for a film without a release date, details are subject to change, but if Roxxon and Fortune are involved in this version of the film, it would appear that some of collusion existed between Sony and Marvel Studios.Both Roxxon and Fortune have a past with Marvel owned IPs. Fans will probably recognize Roxxon from all 3 Iron Man films, some Netflix references, Agent Carter and the upcoming Cloak and Dagger. Fortune (played by Delroy Lindo) was set to play a key role in Marvel’s Most Wanted, a show which ABC ultimately passed on. Yost was only recently hired to write the script (well after Marvel TV failed to pick up Marvel’s Most Wanted) so this information from Splash Report probably did not come from an old version of the film. Whatever info they got, it would seem that it would be very recent and might just represent some willingness on Marvel’s part to work along with Sony even more than we knew about.
Of course we considered that Roxxon and Fortune are shared properties, like the Maximoffs or the Skrulls, but we can’t be sure about that one way or another. TV rights are a little different as it appears that Marvel as the TV rights to every character as long as the studio which hold the movie rights aren’t planning on using them, but a character like Dominic Fortune doesn’t seem like the type of character any studio was clamoring for when the deals were made. However, he and Roxxon do make sense in this story.
Fortune has at least some comic book history with Silver Sable, as the two worked together in the 2006 limited series Sable and Fortune. In it, Sable hired Fortune to help flush the traitor from her group of mercs known as the Wild Pack. Splash Report mentioned that the central point of the plot is that when Sable goes looking for Black Cat (who has some valuable secrets), she isn’t the only one on the hunt. It seems that a brigand for hire like Fortune would be just the kind of guy to take on this adventure. As for Roxxon, the company had a major impact of Sable’s life in the Ultimate comics and could honestly show up just about anywhere. As a fan, seeing Roxxon cross over into other studio’s properties has to make you wonder…
Obviously this is all just speculation and conjecture at this point but some evidence is mounting that there may be more at play here and that this all isn’t just coincidence. It’s nice to see the studios sharing and collaborating, but that’s not a reasonable long-term solution for Sony. They need to make money on their films and they need to do it soon. As cool as Venom is, it’s unlikely that you can make a lot of movies based on Spidey’s supporting characters that are going to turn a big profit at the box office. However, if Sony can catch the attention of a major buyer (coughDisneycough) buy putting out some attractive films that threaten to use up several very interesting characters in minor roles (Osborn, Kraven, Tombstone, etc.) then maybe they can sell at a reasonable price point.
I’m going to guess that in reality, Feige doesn’t really need to worry about what Sony is doing. In the end, he brought Spidey home and if the deal isn’t renewed when it expires, he can go on making movies forever and it’s likely all of them will make more money than Silver and Black. However, he likes Amy Pascal (so much so that I heard a version of Spider-Man: Homecoming included a nod to a potential Venom movie) and maybe he’s just doing her a favor letting her use Fortune and mentioning Roxxon because what could it hurt. So maybe that’s all this is; however, until we know one way or another, it’s just something very interesting to think on.
Source: Splash Report
