At long last, it appears that Scarlett Johansson‘s standalone ‘Black Widow’ movie is moving forward with Jac Schaeffer tapped to pen the script. Schaeffer is known for a Black List spec script called ‘The Shower’ a comedy about an alien invasion that occurs during a baby shower. Anne Hatheway fell in love with the script and quickly signed on to star in the film and also hired her to write ‘Nasty Women’ a female updating of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, in which Hatheway is also set to star. That film will be out this August and also stars Rebel Wilson. Beyond that, perhaps Schaeffer’s most visible project has been the script for ‘Olaf’s Frozen Adventure’, the animated short that played before screenings of Pixar’s ‘Coco’.
Johansson’s Black Widow is probably the most high-profile female hero in the Marvel Studios roster. She first premiered in 2010’s ‘Iron Man 2’ and returned in ‘The Avengers’, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and she will appear in both of the upcoming ‘Avengers’ movies, this spring’s ‘Infinity War’ and next year’s untitled installment.
Talk of a solo movie has swirled for years, with many assuming she’d be the first female Marvel hero to headline a solo movie. Of course, now we know that that honor goes to Brie Larson’s ‘Captain Marvel’ whose movie comes out in 2019. Even so, there have been many hints at Black Widow’s dark past, having been trained in “The Red Room,” a process that appears to have traumatized her. Even so, her training was enough for her to stand– without superpowers– should-to-shoulder with the likes of Cap, Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk. She has worked most closely with Captain America, but also used to be partnered with Hawkeye for an undisclosed number of years, and enjoyed a brief flirtation with The Hulk’s alter ego, Bruce Banner.
And as popular as Johansson has been in the Marvel movies, she’s had trouble landing a hit outside of them. Her sci-fi thriller ‘Lucy’ under-performed and her recent comedy ‘Rough Night’ was an outright flop. Of course, her controversial ‘Ghost in the Shell’ was meant to kick off a franchise, but controversies about “whitewashing” sank it before it even had a chance. A ‘Black Widow’ movie would be a sure bet and could potentially kick off a string of solo films.
Should this film materialize, it’s likely a number of years away, since a screenwriter has just been selected. But with the present Marvel Cinematic Universe ending, in a sense, with the next two ‘Avengers’ films, it would be wise to hang on to as many proven fan favorites as possible.
Are you excited at the thought of ‘Black Widow’ starring in a solo movie?
Source: Variety
