Sony’s SILVER & BLACK is intended to be the second film in a series of spin-off movies starring Spider-Man villains. In this case, the movie will bring Silver Sable and the Black Cat into head-on collision. Gina Prince-Bythewood will direct the film, and she’s currently believed to have delayed production while she works on the script. In the meantime, Sony continues to recruit cast and crew.

In February, fans were thrilled to learn that Sony had scored a coup: BLACK PANTHER costume designer Ruth E. Carter was confirmed for the project. In an interview with Discussing Film, Carter revealed that she was signed up to the film, but was waiting for the script to be finished.

Ruth E. Carter’s Is One Of The Best

Nominated for two Academy Awards, Ruth E. Carter is one of the best costume designers in the business. She’s an expert at creating immersive worlds; her skills can be seen in films ranging from MALCOLM X to CHI-RAQ, from FOUR BROTHERS to WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? Carter’s work in BLACK PANTHER is possibly her to date.

For Carter, there’s a story behind every bit of costume design. She essentially created the fashions and styles of Wakanda from the ground up, building an entire fictional nation. In an interview with Afropunk, Carter gave a sense of just how much effort she put into the whole project.

“The story of who they are and the story of Africa as we know it is so rich I found that, if I wanted, to you know, but the Zulu hat on Ramonda as a married woman, it was appropriate and it had a story. Or if I wanted to infuse a language or sacred symbols, they had a past. And I felt that that would make them real as well as because we were embracing many cultures from many different places around the continent, Wakanda became the nucleus of the continent as well as well as being fictitious.”

Every Wakandan tribe had its own inimitable style, history and heritage displayed through fashion choices. Carter’s tremendous work is one major reason for BLACK PANTHER‘s tremendous box office success, as she helped Wakanda to feel like a real place.

Why This Is Ideal For Silver & Black

Superhero fans were taken aback when they first learned of Sony’s SILVER & BLACK. Black Cat and Silver Sable have never been associated with one another in the comics; about the only connection between them is that they’re Spidey villains who wear catsuits. So it could be easy for SILVER & BLACK to feel gratuitous. Fortunately, Ruth E. Carter is not a costume designer who does “gratuitous.” That makes her a very smart choice for this film.

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood is known for giving her projects a strong sense of place. While the script of SILVER & BLACK is undergoing rewrites, it’s generally believed the movie will be an international game of cat-and-mouse. Cat-burglar Black Cat will have caused an international incident of some kind with her latest theft; mercenary Silver Sable will be hired to bring her in or take her down. That means the movie will travel the globe, touching upon a number of different locations. Prince-Bythewood will no doubt be working hard to give each country and city a voice of its own.

A costume designer like Ruth E. Carter is an absolute gift for Prince-Bythewood. As Carter proved with Wakanda, she has tremendous skill when it comes to world-building through costume design. With Carter involved, each location will be given a unique and distinctive aesthetic. The quality of world-building promises to be tremendous.

Right now, the simple truth is that the jury is out on Sony’s Spider-villain spinoffs. Audiences are approaching VENOM with a mix of wary curiosity and frank bemusement. SILVER & BLACK‘s rewrites – announced just before production was expected to begin – have raised a few eyebrows. But if this is the caliber of talent Sony are recruiting, the films may well prove to be unmissable.

SILVER & BLACK is planned to open on February 9, 2019.