Gina Prince-Bythewood Will Be The First Black Woman To Direct A Super Hero Film

It’s only May, but 2017 has already been a major year for director Gina Prince-Bythewood. The Shots Fired creator is now confirmed to direct the Spider-Man spinoff, Silver & Black, according to Deadline. The feature film is based on the characters Silver Sable and Black Cat (a.k.a. Felicia Hardy).

Not many women have been granted the opportunity to be the front woman of a major superhero film, let alone a woman of color. Prince-Bythewood will be the first Black woman to do so, as noted by The Root.

According to Deadline, the first order for the 47-year-old will be to rewrite the Silver & Black script which was originally written by Christopher Yost, the man behind 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. As for what we can expect from Prince-Bythewood is anyone’s guess.

In addition to her recent series, Shots Fired (which just ended with a banger of a season finale last week), she also directed the pilot for Marvel’s forthcoming Cloak & Dagger series which will soon air on Freeform in 2018. Prince-Bythewood is the woman responsible for such heartstring-tugging features like Love & Basketball and Beyond the Lights. It’ll be interesting to see her approach to tackling romance in the testosterone-filled world of the superhero genre.

Marvel’s Silver & Black tells the story of a mercenary (Silver Sable) who heads a company that hunts war criminals. Felicia Hardy a.k.a. Black Cat is a burglar with acrobatic prowess who also happens to be entangled in a love story of her own. The film will also follow next year’s Venom starring Tom Hardy.

The news comes on the heels of another special moment in film. On Friday, the much-anticipated Wonder Woman feature film will make its debut in theaters around the country. While preliminary reviews have been fairly good, the iconic remake got the approval of one woman, the original Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter herself.

Not to mention, last year director Ava DuVernay also made headlines when it was announced that she was the first African-American woman to direct a film with a $100 million budget.

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