Spider-Man: Homecoming may be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Sony still holds the rights to the wall-crawler. That means they can do whatever they like with his supporting cast, hence why we recently learned that Venom is moving forward and an adventure for Black Cat and Silver Sable is also in the works.
It’s been reported that the former will start shooting in the fall for its October 2018 release date, and it now appears as if the studio wants the female-led spinoff to also find its way into theaters next year. Considering the fact they’re hoping for these movies to launch a new shared universe, it makes sense that they’d shoot around the same time, and you can’t blame Sony for wanting to get two big tentpoles out the door in 2018.
However, with Spider-Man not expected to be involved in the spinoffs in way, it’s hard to imagine fans really getting behind these newly launched franchises. After all, one of the things that makes characters like Venom and Black Cat so special in the first place are their ties to Peter Parker.
Perhaps these movies will work the same way as Deadpool then, where they’re tied to Spider-Man (or the X-Men, in his case) in the loosest way possible. Still, that doesn’t sound particularly satisfying. Either way, if Black Cat and Silver Sable’s spinoff really is shooting this year, we can expect some casting updates very soon, so be sure to stay tuned.