Marvel’s Long-Overdue Black Widow Movie Is Finally Taking Shape
Scarlett Johansson’s reign as Black Widow began back in 2010. She made her debut in Iron Man 2, stea..
Scarlett Johansson’s reign as Black Widow began back in 2010. She made her debut in Iron Man 2, stealthily fighting her way into the Avengers franchise that would soon come to dominate Hollywood. For years, core members of the team got spin-off movies—including Thor and Captain America. Then fringe characters got spin-off movies—Ant-Man, Doctor Strange. All the while, fans waited and wondered when Natasha Romanoff would get her own stand-alone film.
Back in 2014, Marvel promised “development work” on a Black Widow story was being done. Two years passed, nothing happened, and Marvel chief Kevin Feigepromised yet again that the studio was “creatively and emotionally” committed to bringing it to the big screen. And then . . . two more years passed with nothing coming down the pike. But now, at long last, it seems like a Black Widow movie is finally—really! Seriously!—going to come to life, or at least it has taken a bigger step toward becoming a reality.
Variety reports that screenwriter Jac Schaeffer has been tasked with writing the script for the upcoming film. Schaeffer is an up-and-coming screenwriter whose two upcoming projects were recently scooped up by Anne Hathaway. The first was a Black List-cited script titled The Shower, about an alien invasion taking place during a baby shower. The second, which Hathaway commissioned, is a female-centric take on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, titled Nasty Women.
Schaeffer, like The Post screenwriter Liz Hannah, seems poised to make a big Hollywood breakthrough with all these projects in the can. The Black Widow project, however, has still not received the green light, according to Variety. Feige reportedly met with “several candidates,” Variety notes, before eventually going with Schaeffer. Marvel also reportedly had a meeting with Johansson to discuss what she wanted from a potential Black Widow screenwriter.
All in all, this is still not quite the full-steam-ahead that fans had been hoping for. But it is a sign that Marvel is, however trepidatiously, putting some power behind this project so it can get on the right track. Maybe two more years from now we’ll even have a still! Or a trailer! Or better yet: a release date.
Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Behind the Scenes of Vanity Fair’s Exclusive Marvel Cover ShootYohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
