Gina Prince-Bythewood is First Female Filmmaker of Color to Direct Superhero Flick

By Sameer Rao May 26, 2017

Filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood, best known for Black protagonist-driven dramas like "Love & Basketball" and "Beyond the Lights," will make history as the first woman of color to direct a superhero film. 

Deadline reported yesterday (May 25) that Sony Pictures greenlighted the "Shots Fired" creator to direct and rewrite "Silver & Black." The film centers on mercenary Silver Sable and burgular Black Cat, two women antiheroes from Marvel‘s "Spider-Man" comic world who fight and partner with the webslinger at different times. The Verge says the film will debut in 2018, following "Venom" that same year. Neither publication named potential stars for the film, although the comics rendered both headlining characters as White women.

Prince-Bythewood recently directed the pilot for "Cloak & Dagger," a Marvel teen series airing on Freeform next year and starring Aubrey Joseph ("The Night Of") and Olivia Holt ("I Didn’t Do It") as vigilantes Cloak and Dagger, respectively.