According to Deadline.com, Sony plans to release a female superhero movie in 2017, a spin-off from its "Amazing Spider-Man" universe. Black Cat, Spider-Woman and Silver Sable are listed among the possibilities to play the film's lead character, though Deadline.com had no confirmation for which character would get the standalone showcase. For what it's worth, Felicity Jones played Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," though her part was mostly relegated to the sidelines. HuffPost Entertainment contacted a representative for Sony. This post will be updated if and when they respond.
The news puts Sony ahead of Warner Bros. (which controls the DC Universe) and Disney (which controls much of the Marvel universe) in the race to get a female superhero movie to the screen during this current climate of comic-book blockbusters. (There have been female superhero movies before, of course, including "Catwoman" and "Elektra.")
"I hope we do it sooner rather than later. But we find ourselves in the very strange position of managing more franchises than most people have -- which is a very, very good thing and we don't take for granted, but is a challenging thing," Marvel boss Kevin Feige told Comic Book Resource when asked about female superhero movies in a recent interview. The studio has been criticized for its failure to capitalize on popular comic-book characters such as Black Widow (played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Scarlett Johansson) and Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel. (For its part, Warner Bros. has not yet announced that Wonder Woman, who will appear in the studio's "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice," will receive her own movie.)
For more on the female superhero movie Sony could release and the "Amazing Spider-Man" franchise as a whole, head to Deadline.com.
This post has been updated to include a line about the existence of previous female superhero movies to avoid some confusion.