When you consider how far Scarlett Johansson’s star has risen in recent years, and that she has gone on to front a few action movie of her own, the fact that Marvel Studios have yet to green light a solo Black Widow adventure thirteen movies into the MCU is kinda mind boggling. Watch Captain America: Civil War and you’ll see that she she as is important to the universe as Captain America and Iron Man, and if it’s a question of a female led movie not being a big box office draw, Lucy grossed $463 million off a budget of $40, so that answers that. Fans have being crying out for a stand alone Black Widow for years now, and speaking to Deadline, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seems to be listening, outlining the studio’s plan to finally give Natascha Romanoff her own big screen adventure:
While it should have happened a hell of a lot sooner, this quote seems a lot more concrete than previous promises we’ve been given, but when will we actually see it? Captain Marvel, another female superhero, is set to get her own solo movie in 2019 (after being introduced in the soon to be retitled Avengers: Infinity War Part 1), so rejigging Phase Three, as they done twice so far, to insert Black Widow into proceedings will steal that character’s thunder somewhat. But can we really wait till Phase Four kicks off in 2020? Whatever happens, Black Widow finally feels it could happen, and after years of the character being marginalised when it comes to the MCU’s marketing, while playing a huge part in the movies as a whole, that is a huge check in the win column.
“We’ve announced the next nine movies, ten counting Civil War, through the end of 2019. Where we go beyond that are ongoing discussions that we’ll focus on in the next few years because we have a lot to do before then. Of the characters that you’ve just mentioned I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow…We think she’s an amazing character. We think Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of her is amazing. She’s a lead Avenger and has amazing stories in her own right to tell that we think would be fun to turn into a standalone franchise.”
