Spike Lee
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Spike Lee has blown this joint.  The acclaimed director of ‘BlacKkKlansman’ and ‘Malcolm X’ had been rumored to be attached to bring this little-known African American Marvel Superhero ‘Nightwatch’ to the big screen in a Sony motion picture, which would be part of “Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters,” which officially kicked off earlier this month with the box office hit ‘Venom’.

During an interview with Screen Rant, Lee praised Ryan Coogler and ‘Black Panther’, noting the positive impact it will have on black filmmakers and their ability to get bigger-budget projects greenlit in the future.  But when asked if he was still bringing ‘Nightwatch’ to the big screen, he replied:

“Nah.”

‘Luke Cage”s creator and showrunner, Cheo Hodari Coker, penned the script, so it is possible that another director could tackle the project.  But Lee is one of the most well-respected directors in the field and would have brought an added level of prestige.

‘Nightwatch’ was scientist Dr. Kevin Trench who witnessed a version of himself from the future being killed in action.  He then donned his future self’s high tech suit to become a crime fighter.  Visually, the character bears a striking resemblance to Image Comics’ Spawn, who was invented by ex-‘Spider-Man’ artist Todd MacFarlane.

Sony states that it has access to over 900 Marvel characters, which it can utilize in films set outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Even though all of these characters are Spider-Man-related, it doesn’t appear that Spider-Man will appear in any of them.  In addition, Sony reportedly has films based on ‘Black Cat’, ‘Silver Sable’ (which may or may not be two separate movies), ‘Morbius’‘Kraven the Hunter’ and ‘Jackpot’ in the works, as well as possibly ‘Silk’, which may or may not be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Are you hoping that ‘Nightwatch’ will still get made?