Black Widow, as portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, has been a cineplex staple for six years, appearing in four films that have combined to make over $4.2 billion at the box office. She’ll add to that total in a big way once Captain America: Civil War receipts start rolling in. Despite the character’s omnipresent visibility and popularity, Marvel has been hesitant about greenlighting a Black Widow solo movie, and even excluded her from a good chunk of Avengers merchandise. Since 2010, Marvel has hemmed and hawed about the prospect of a Black Widow movie, but suddenly they’re singing a new tune.
Today Deadline asked Marvel boss Kevin Feige which Captain America: Civil War deserves to break out into a solo film, and the noncommittal stance was gone.
“We’ve announced the next nine movies through the end of 2019. Where we go beyond that is a discussion 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 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.”
In another recent interview Avengers masterminds Joe and Anthony Russo were all about the idea of a Black Widow solo adventure.
“It’s a no-brainer, right? I don’t think it’ll take much. I think it’s just a function of where on the slate it goes. She’s a bad-ass.”
Honestly, it’s just a tad galling that Marvel is now taking this “It’s a no-brainer! We’ve always loved Black Widow!” stance, because obviously it hasn’t always been a no-brainer. If it was, we’d have a couple Black Widow movies by now. Sure, Marvel has their heads screwed on properly now, which is great, but having to wait until at least 2020 for some Black Widow solo spy action is still a bit of a tough pill.
What do you think? Excited for a solo Black Widow movie?
