First announced in March of this year, Sony Pictures is developing a “Spider-Man” spinoff film starring Silver Sable and Black Cat. Also announced at the time, “Thor: Ragnarok” scribe Chris Yost was attached to pen a script based on an earlier version by Lisa Joy. A director wasn’t named, but now one has, and her name is Gina Prince-Bythewood.

The film will draw from the overall franchise and will be based on Marvel’s Spider-Man universe, so this Black Cat and Silver Sable project is not connected to the upcoming Spider-Man reboot which will be out later this year.

Prince-Bythewood will rewrite the script for “Silver and Black” which she will also direct.

She most recently directed the pilot for Marvel’s upcoming “Cloak & Dagger” series for Freeform, so this won’t be her first attempt at a superhero-themed project. The timing is perfect, as her Fox TV event series “Shots Fired” aired its finale last night.

Sony is eyeing a fall start date for production with Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal producing. Columbia Pictures’ Palak Patel and Eric Fineman are overseeing the project for the studio.

Debuting in “Amazing Spider-Man” #194 in 1979, Black Cat is a staple of Spider-Man’s Marvel Universe. Despite her being a thief, she’s maintained a flirty relationship with Spider-Man, and the two even dated periodically. Although she would eventually turn against him and formed her own crime ring.

Silver Sable has also existed in Spider-Man’s universe for a long time. She first appeared in “Amazing Spider-Man” #265 in 1985 and has worked with the web-slinger on multiple occasions. Since she is a mercenary who has faced off against Spidey but has also helped him. In addition to being an accomplished martial artist, Sable runs a company that targets war criminals.

Sony’s “Silver & Black” has an October 2018 release date set.

This is huge for Prince-Bythewood! It’s rare for a woman filmmaker to be handed the helm of a superhero-themed feature film at a major studio; and for a woman filmmaker who happens to be black, it just doesn’t happen. So, again, huge! Congrats to her! Now the work really begins…