It looks like Sony is enlisting filmmaker Spike Lee to help with their extended Spider-Man Universe.
With Spider-Man fighting Thanos over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony is utilizing their Marvel rights as much as possible, with films based on Spider-Man side characters. One such character is the little-known hero called Nightwatch. And The Hollywood Reporter is saying that veteran filmmaker Spike Lee is the man assigned to adapting “Nightwatch” for the big screen.
If you hear the name Nightwatch and think, “who?” then don’t worry. Created in 1993 (some say as a direct response to the character of Spawn over at Image Comics), Nightwatch is far from an A-list Marvel hero. In fact, you can probably find Nightwatch over on the D-list, right below 3-D Man and Doctor Bong. His origin story is very complicated, involving a magical suit that African-American scientist Dr. Kevin Trench found on the corpse of his future self. Hey, it’s comic books, so anything goes! That being said, it’s these lesser known characters that are ripe for reimagining, and that’s probably what attracted Lee.
Joining Lee on “Nightwatch” is a Marvel veteran Cheo Hodari Coker, perhaps best known for his recent role as showrunner on the popular Netflix series “Luke Cage,” who is tasked with writing the script. With the recent success of both “Luke Cage” and, most notably, “Black Panther,” there is a clear demand for diverse superhero films, and who better to bring that to life than Spike Lee? As a director who has never been shy talking about comic books in the past, he is the perfect choice for “Nightwatch.”
“Nightwatch” is far from the only Marvel hero that Sony has their eyes on. With “Venom” coming out later this year, with Tom Hardy starring, the studio is also deep into development of “Silver & Black,” featuring Marvel heroes Silver Sable and Black Cat, and a “Morbius the Living Vampire” film.
While Spider-Man is off with the Avengers, Sony is hard at work building a universe without him.
