Though Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man Marvel Cinematic Universe, other characters that are known for being part of the Spider-Man comics for Marvel belong to Sony for the big and small screens. Those characters have been seen in live-action movies like Venom and in animated movies like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. One of the Spider-characters that Sony has access to is the character Silk, real name Cindy Moon.
Sony has been developing a project centering around Cindy Moon for several years. She was rumored to appear in the live-action Spider-Woman movie in development and in the animated Spider-Women movie in development, but what’s confirmed to be on the slate for the character is a television series called Silk: Spider Society for Amazon. Though pre-production on the series has stalled as a result of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, the series is in active development. Exactly what the series will entail beyond Cindy Moon as the main character is unknown.
Who Is Silk: Spider Society's Cindy Moon?
Created by prolific Spider-Man team Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, Cindy Moon made her first Marvel comic book appearance in 2014 in The Amazing Spider-Man #1. While she wasn’t a hugely popular character during her initial debut, Cindy Moon has contributed to the multiversal Spider-Man saga in a big way since her debut.
Over the course of her debut, it was revealed that Cindy Moon and Peter Parker were high school classmates. Cindy was even bitten by the same spider that bit Peter and developed her own set of powers. She shares the same kind of speed, reflexes, agility, and strength that Peter has as Spider-Man. Cindy also, however, produces her own organic webbing, and her first costume was even made from it.
After her powers manifested, Cindy couldn’t control them. Ezekiel Sims, a wealthy businessman who also had Spider-powers learned about Cindy and offered his help to the Moon family. He trained her and isolated her. When she and her family were in danger, he set her up with a bunker to hide her. In reality, Ezekiel manipulated a lot of events to his advantage, actually trying to get Peter Parker to be a target instead of himself.
That’s because Ezekiel’s dealings with both Cindy and Peter opened up a storyline about supernatural “totems” in Marvel Comics. Totems were supernatural beings associated with animal powers that were targeted by a vampire-like creature named Morlun who consumed them to power himself. Since that storyline, Cindy has had many adventures with and without other Spider-characters in the comics.
She’s worked undercover for SHIELD, searched for her missing family members, worked with Spider-characters from other realities (like the Spider-Verse movies), worked as a journalist, and joined a team of other Asian superheroes in the comics. Despite her only appearing in comics for about a decade, there are a lot of stories involving Silk that could easily be adapted for the screen.
Does Cindy Moon Exist In The MCU?
Cindy Moon does, technically, exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe already. Tiffany Espensen played the classmate of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and again in Avengers: Infinity War. She appears as a member of the academic decathlon team that Peter belongs to.
Cindy, however, has no hints of having the same abilities as Peter in the MCU. Instead, she appears in the movie as an Easter egg. In fact, Cindy Moon hasn’t appeared in a live-action Spider-Man project outside the MCU yet. The character was previously considered to appear in the animated movie Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, but ultimately wasn’t used, but could still appear in a future Sony or MCU Spider project as the movies develop.
When Cindy Moon appears in the future, it does seem unlikely that it will be Tiffany Epsensen who plays the character again. Espensen hasn’t played the character outside those two movies, and in fact, hasn’t appeared in an on-screen project since 2020. She married Gospel singer Lawson Bates in 2022, and she doesn’t have any acting projects in the pipeline.
Will Silk: Spider Society Tie In To The Sony Spider-Verse?
When a movie centered around the Spider-hero Silk was in development at Sony, there was speculation that it would tie into Sony’s Spider-Verse of villain movies. Movies like Venom, Morbius, and Kraven are all speculated to be set in the same world. Though all the characters are traditionally Spider-Man villains in the comics, their characters haven’t crossed paths with the Spider-Man that Marvel and Sony movies share.
However, movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse have demonstrated that Sony and Marvel have paths that cross in the multiverse. Beyond the Spider-Verse featured MCU character the Prowler (Donald Glove) and Multiverse of Madness featured numerous versions of Spider-Man villains and Spider-Men (Andrew Garfield, Toby Maguire) from previous Spider-Man movies. With so much Marvel character crossover, it’s not clear which universe Silk: Spider Society will fit into.
Rumor has it the show will spin out of Sony’s Spider-Villain movies, but Sony has yet to confirm that. Spider-fans won’t know more until production on Silk: Spider Society is able to get off the ground.