(electronic music)
(grunts)
- Avengers: Infinity War marks the 19th entry
in the Marvel cinematic universe.
A record-breaking series that's seen
the rise of Iron Man, Captain America,
Thor, and most recently Black Panther on the big screen.
But of those 19 films, not a single
female hero has been the title character.
Not even one as prominent as Black Widow.
After making her MCU debut in 2010's
Iron Man 2, Scarlett Johansson has since made
six supporting appearances in the franchise
as super spy Natasha Romanoff.
But the internet has long held out hope
for a solo movie for the Widow,
a badass comic book character who's so much more
than the token female Avenger.
Despite the fact that everyone,
from Johansson herself to Age of Ultron
director Joss Whedon, to Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee
has voiced their support for a Black Widow
standalone flick, fans are still waiting.
Marvel Studio's president Kevin Feige
first took the flames of a standalone film
in 2009, when he suggested that
it was up to the people to decide.
This idea that it's up to the fans to decide
Black Widow's future has been a pervasive one.
In 2010, Fiege revealed that the studio
had actually begun putting together concepts
for a Widow solo movie starring Johansson,
but he also followed that up with an important caveat:
The Avengers come first.
A year later, Fiege said that Black Widow was
more than worthy and capable of carrying her own film.
Three years after that, upon the release of
Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
the studio had again referenced the development work
Marvel had done on the potential film.
Then in 2016, he told Deadline that Marvel was
creatively and emotionally committed
to telling Natasha's story.
For the most part, Johansson has
left the ball in Marvel's court.
Back in 2010, she echoed Fiege telling MTV News
that Black Widow's future on the big screen
was up to Marvel and its fans.
- These movies are really fan-driven,
and going into this film I was hoping that
you know that fans, the audience,
would like my interpretation of this
character to carry the story along.
I mean certainly she has a 40 plus year legacy
and quite an origin story, so there's a lot to tell.
I'd be happy to don that cat suit again
if I was called to duty,
but I don't know anything about future projects.
Of course I know Marvel is really dedicated
to this character, so I'm hoping
there'll be some sort of call for it.
- Since then she's more or less
had the same laid-back attitude about the standalone film.
Was recently telling MTV News that she was
taking things one Marvel project at a time.
- I'm still trying to wrap my head around
the Infinity War, which is, like the production
is an infinity, and then I'll let you know afterward.
- But as one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood,
Johansson has proven herself more than capable
of leading her own action franchise.
In films like Atomic Blonde and Red Sparrow,
the proof in the audiences have an appetite
for female-lead spy thrillers.
So why has it taken so long to get a Black Widow movie made?
It's impossible to answer that question
without first acknowledging Marvel's process.
At any given time, the studio has various films
in multiple stages of development in the works,
and it takes awhile to get these films off the ground.
Fiege first talked about Black Panther in 2010,
eight years before it broke box office records in theaters.
- We always talk about things, you know,
in brainstorming sessions, which is where
we spend a majority of our time.
Things come up and we joke, we go
oh that's phase seven, that's phase,
but we used to joke about phase two and phase three.
So who knows.
But right now it is, you know, we set a plan,
we put our heads down, and we try to make it happen.
- But female heroins have never had
an easy road to the big screen.
Lionsgate first turned down a Black Widow script
in 2004, citing other female-lead action movies
that failed to connect with audiences.
(fast-paced whirring)
(grunting)
That lack of representation in the superhero-verse
was so obvious that in 2015, fans started the
#whereisblackwidow campaign to call out Marvel
and toy manufacturers for the glaring
lack of Black Widow merchandise.
There's also the fact that Marvel
now seems more interested in bringing
new characters to the screen.
The MCU's phase three has already introduced Steven Strange,
Peter Parker, and King T'Challa,
and in 2019, it'll welcome its first female
title character Captain Marvel into the fold.
Still, of all the films Fiege has teased over the years,
the only one that remains perennially
in development is Black Widow.
It was even the subject of a Saturday Night Live
spoof that put superhero sexism on blast.
- [Narrator] When it came to life in the big city,
Black Widow had it all figured out.
- Remind me to call whoever invented heels
and leave them a nasty message.
- In this post Wonder Woman world however,
the long overdue project has suddenly
been inching toward something a bit more tangible.
In January, it was reported that
Jac Schaeffer had been tapped by Marvel
to write a screenplay for a potential
Black Widow solo project, something fans
have waited nearly a decade for.
- Rule number one: never take your eye off your opponent.
(cracking)
(thudding)
- Oh! - Oh my god!
- Infinity War isn't just about celebrating Marvel's past,
it's about looking toward its future.
A future in which Marvel will hopefully
one day invest in its female characters
as much as their fans invest in them.
(electronic music)