Spider-Man Spin-Off Nightwatch Targets Director Spike Lee

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Sony's Marvel Universe is about to get a lot bigger with the addition of a possible Spike Lee directed Nightwatch as one of the upcoming Spider-Man spin-offs. The Sony development team is in full swing right now as the Venom movie starring Tom Hardy prepares for production, while talks of a Silver Sable and Black Cat movie continue, with solo adventures for Kraven and Mysterio eyed as well. Nightwatch was rumored to show up in this summer's Spider-Man: Homecoming, but that obviously didn't happen. Now speculation about a standalone movie has begun.

According to Meet the Movie Press host Jeff Sneider, a script for Nightwatch is currently being written by Edward Ricourt (Now You See Me). Sneider went on to say that he is "very confident" in the news and went on to reveal that Sony has their eyes on Spike Lee (Summer of Sam) to direct the upcoming project. Sneider says that the rumor of Lee directing is very much a rumor at this time.

While Sneider says that he is "very confident" in his sources, they are exactly just that: "sources." It's all still just an unconfirmed rumor at this point. Studios have scripts written all of the time that end up never seeing the light of day or end up in development hell. But on the other hand, there were more than a few reports suggesting that Nightwatch would end up in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which lends a tiny bit more credibility to Sneider's claims. Whether the movie ends up happening is anybody's guess at this point. However, it is a movie that Marvel fans have been asking about for years now and it would be a worthy story to tell on the big screen.

Since the report is based on Sony doing research on the Nightwatch character, it could mean that the movie has been in some form of development for quite some time now and that a finished script could be pretty far off. If Sony is really trying to get Spike Lee on board to direct it would all fall on his availability if he even considers the project at all. Since Nightwatch is a relatively unknown character outside of comic fandom, Lee could be enticed to take on the project and take it wherever he wants, which could end up being a very interesting take on the character.

Kevin Trench, aka Nightwatch, is a doctor who witnessed a costumed man die battling some terrorists armed with invisibility-generating cloaking devices, and unmasked the dead man to learn that it was an older version of himself. He first appeared in Web of Spider-Man issue number 97. The rest of Nightwatch's story surrounds him coming to grips with his destiny and investigate the costume's origins. In the meantime, he battled villains like the "Maximum Carnage" gang, who were wreaking havoc across New York and slaughtering dozens of innocent civilians along with other villains like Venom and Cardiac. He had many allies in the fight, including Captain America, Black Cat, Deathlok and Firestar. Graduating into his own book, Nightwatch encountered similar "cloaked" villains, and was shocked when their technology merged with and enhanced his costume. It is quite possible that Nightwatch could end up in Ruben Fleischer's upcoming Venom movie.

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