Spider-Man bosses planning female superhero film

Studio bosses at Sony Pictures are working on bringing a female superhero from the Spider-Man comic universe to life on the big screen in a new movie.

It is not yet clear whether the film will focus on Black Cat, Silver Sable, Spider-Woman or another female crime-fighting character from the Marvel franchise, but TV writer and producer Lisa Joy has been hired to pen the script.

Iron Man producer Avi Arad and The Amazing Spider-Man's Matt Tolmach are onboard to help develop the project.

Sony executives are also working on Spider-Man spin-off film The Sinister Six, which will be released in 2016, and another about supervillain Venom, in addition to Andrew Garfield's return as the titular superhero in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4.

The news emerges just weeks after Marvel masterminds revealed Norse god Thor would be reinvented as a woman to encourage more females to read comic books.

The superhero was portrayed onscreen by Australian hunk Chris Hemsworth.