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SYFY WIRE Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy eyeing Netflix superhero romp Thunder Force

By Christian Long
Octavia Spencer Melissa McCarthy

It looks like Netflix is getting into superhero movies. The streaming service, which was home to a half-dozen recently canceled Marvel shows, is striking out with an original project, Thunder Force.

Both Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy are in talks to star in the film, which will be written and directed by McCarthy's husband, Ben Falcone, per a report from Deadline. There's no word on the plot, but it allegedly involves two stars who are suddenly granted superpowers.

Spencer has a long history with genre pics, from Spider-Man to Snowpiercer to Ma. She also won an Oscar last year for her supporting role as Zelda Fuller in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (and was a producer on this year's Best Picture Green Book). Next year she'll be co-starring in both The Witches, based on the works of Roald Dahl, and The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle.

McCarthy, meanwhile, is best known for comedy, and held her own against a cast of puppets in last year's The Happytime Murders. She also toplined Paul Feig's 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, and is slated to star in the sci-fi comedy Superintelligence, which will also be directed by Falcone.

Mostly known as an actor/comedian, Falcone has a history of showing up in films that McCarthy stars in, including Tammy and the Oscar-nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me? He'll also produce Thunder Force alongside McCarthy and Aladdin producer Marc Platt.

There's no release date, but it would make sense for Netflix to start supplementing its superhero content in its post-Marvel era. It's not like that kind of content is getting less popular as time goes on.