In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) talked about the importance of strong female characters in Marvel movies and television shows, specifically calling for a Black Widow solo movie.
“Black Widow has been around from day one of this…and is portrayed with this kind of heavy-hearted ferocity by Scarlett Johansson – who I think is as good as any actor working today.”
To his point, Black Widow has been in Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron and will be in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War. That’s five movies, just as many as Steve Rogers himself has been in. She is certainly an Avenger worthy of her own film.
Go to any comic convention and you’ll quickly realize that women are just as into this superhero frenzy as men are. Every time a female character is slighted in merchandising, internet articles are abound, pointing out the disappointment. Black Widow merchandise was hard to come by when Age of Ultron was released and fans were less than pleased.
Clark Gregg spoke from his own personal experience on the subject of strong female Marvel characters and their influence:
“Y’know, I have a 13-year-old daughter and one of the things I’m proudest about with our show is that there are very strong, very intelligent women who are just as responsible for SHIELD not being exterminated as Phil Coulson – and that’s not lost on my daughter and her friends.”
President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige did say back in 2010 that a Black Widow movie was in the works. However, the current slate of scheduled Marvel movies runs through 2019 and it’s nowhere to be seen. 2019 will be the first female lead film from Marvel Studios, with Captain Marvel and 2018 will see the first female lead in the title with Ant-Man and The Wasp. Marvel did also recently release Jessica Jones on Netflix. So at least female Marvel characters are making some progress.
Gregg says that it would be tragic if Marvel didn’t give Black Widow her own film:
“It seems like it would be tragic, it would be a waste, if that character wasn’t given the spotlight in the way that some of the other characters have been.”
He does have faith that it will get done however. He spoke on the possibility of Marvel not making a Black Widow film:
“If I know Marvel, they won’t let that happen, because she’s too valuable an asset.”
I certainly hope he’s right. At the very least, a Black Widow / Hawkeye movie is long overdue. Fans have been clamoring for “Budapest” or something similar since The Avengers hit theaters in 2012.