Silver & Black was quickly taking shape at Sony Pictures a few years ago, with the idea being to pair up Silver Sable and Black Cat on screen before having them assemble as part of an all-female team of superheroes.
Scorpion, Tarantula, Chameleon, Tombstone, and Norman Osborn were all set to factor into Gina Prince-Bythewood's (The Woman King) movie. Alas, even after giving the green light to terrible movies such as Morbius and Madame Web, Sony reached a point where they decided this project simply wouldn't work.
Now, with Deadpool & Wolverine set to arrive in theaters, we're revisiting a plot leak for Silver & Black which takes us through what might have been beat-by-beat.
It had potential and, while Spider-Man wasn't going to factor into the story, we'd have rather sat through this than Madame Web or even this December's Kraven the Hunter! Find out what you missed by clicking the "Next"/"View List" buttons below.
10. Silver Sable Vs. Black Cat
The movie was set to mostly revolve around Silver Sable - a bounty hunter for the U.S. Department of Justice - attempting to track down Felicia Hardy to bring her to her paymasters.
In the past, Black Cat had volunteered to undergo an experimental surgery at the hands of Dr. Mendel Stromm (using his comic book alias "Gaunt" here) which would have seen A.I. tech installed in her body to give the master thief powers capable of enhancing her skill set.
It's unclear whether that means she was going to have Domino-style bad luck abilities, but it seems likely it was just Felicia's strength and speed which would end up being enhanced.
9. Silver Sable's Grudge
Black Cat escaped from Stromm by using her newfound abilities (even though she wouldn't have entirely mastered them at this point) and headed straight to the border for South America.
Silver Sable, meanwhile, was going to have her own motivations for wanting to capture Felicia; Gaunt was responsible for the deal of her father, Ernst Sablinova, not to mention the torture and death of many of her fellow Symkarians (the anti-hero's fictional home country).
Sable's plan was to use Hardy to lead her back to Gaunt so she could take her revenge on the villain.
8. The Wild Pack
If you've followed Silver Sable's comic book adventures, then you'll know all about The Wild Pack. This group of mercenaries have a storied history in the comic books and were brought together by Silver Sable's father.
In Silver & Black, Dominic Fortune had a leading role and worked with both Ernst and Sable before joining the U.S. Department of Justice.
Reunited with Sable under the direction of Agent Mark Sim, we were seemingly getting a version of the team here too, though the use of that character is particularly interesting as his comic book counterpart is known as Haechi, a NuHuman who first appeared in the pages of New Warriors in 2014. It could be that the plan was for them to be a generic group of mercs.
7. Ties To Spider-Man's World
Given when Silver & Black was being made, there probably weren't any plans for the movie to tie into what Spider-Man was up to in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As noted, the leak explained that Sable and Fortune (potentially joined by a team resembling The Wild Pack) were teaming up to track down Black Cat, with the end goal being to take down Gaunt.
In order to achieve that, it's said Sable would have reached out to one of her contacts in the Tri-Border region of South America (an epicentre for organised crime): Dimitri Smerdyakov.
As you should hopefully already know, his alter-ego is Chameleon, a classic Spider-Man villain. Would he have been the same Dmitri we met in Spider-Man: Far From Home? Probably not seeing as that Easter Egg was never elaborated on and the role has since been recast for Kraven the Hunter.
6. The Chameleon
So, what exactly should we have expected from this take on the character? Well, he was reportedly a man on the run from his own past who has earned quite the reputation in the Tri-Border area for being a man in the know.
Surprisingly, it doesn't sound like he was supposed to be a full-blown baddie and was instead another mercenary who served as an ally to Silver Sable.
Chameleon was only going to have a handful of scenes in Silver & Black, but was set to help Sable find Felica, while showing off his skills as a master of disguise. Some will argue that he deserved more than this, but it sounds more like this movie was meant to serve as little more than an introduction or fan-pleasing cameo.
5. Scorpion And Tarantula
While all that was going on, more familiar faces from Spider-Man's adventures were set to appear.
Gaunt's plan was to add Felicia to his gang of surgically enhanced villains, and after she ruined that, Mac Gargan (Scorpion) and Anton Rodriguez (Tarantula) were tasked to chase her down South.
As you might expect, they've both been enhanced, with Gargan wearing a full exoskeleton suit, and Rodriguez rocking a boot with some razor-sharp upgrades. It does sound a little like they were just generic goons meant to chase her down, so expecting them to look exactly like their comic book counterparts may have been wishful thinking.
4. Tombstone
Black Cat obviously has a criminal past, and that means Gaunt isn't the only one after her.
Once upon a time, it seems Felicia Hardy crossed Lonnie Lincoln, a villain better known in the comic books as Tombstone. He'd be out to put an end to her, but only has what sounds like an extended cameo. Was it worth even including him? Well, once again, it seems this may have been Sony's way of introducing yet another classic character who could play a bigger role down the line.
Luckily for Felicia, Sable finds her first, and the duo then go on the run from, well, everyone!
3. An Action-Packed Final Act
With Silver Sable and Black Cat being pursued by Scorpion and Tarantula, they teamed up for what sounds like an action-packed final act with a set piece on a train among other big moments.
Tarantula ended up being taken out, but Scorpion managed to get Felicia back to Gaunt and took great pleasure in torturing her after having his ass handed to him by the two female leads.
Teaming up with Fortune, Sable infiltrated Gaunt's lab and finally took her revenge after saving her newfound ally. Here's where things would have taken a very unexpected turn, though...
2. A Female Team Of Heroes
It wasn't specified how this came together, but Silver & Black was reportedly set to end with the two titular characters assembling an all-female team of heroes made up of Spider-Woman, Jackpot, Stunner, and Dusk. Described as a "female version of the Dirty Dozen," this was clearly meant to tease both solo projects for the characters and a future Avengers-style movie for them.
Casting this lot for a cameo and then locking them in for future films would have been a big undertaking. Honestly, it's hard not to get excited about what a scene like this may have looked like.
Of course, the big question many of us had about the film was Norman Osborn's long-rumoured role...
1. What About Norman Osborn?
Relatively early on, the plan was for Norman Osborn to appear in Silver & Black. As much as fans want to see the villain clash with Spider-Man again, it's already been done, and Marvel Studios definitely appears to be intent on using bad guys who haven't been featured in previous movies (outside of Spider-Man: No Way Home).
In an early draft, Osborn was the one funding Stromm's work, while Charles Standish was set to serve as his messenger. The future Green Goblin, meanwhile, would only be seen, not heard.
However, once Marvel Studios seemingly started expressing an interest in the villain, both Osborn and Standish were reportedly removed from the screenplay, likely because it was a bigger priority to resurrect Willem Dafoe's Variant for that threequel.