Things are (at last!) heating up for Marvel’s famed assassin turned superhero. The highly anticipated Black Widow standalone film is moving forward in its development and has enlisted Jac Schaeffer to pen the script. According to Variety the film is still in the very early stages of its development. Marvel President Kevin Feige met with several candidates before selecting Schaeffer to pen the script who then met with Johansson to talk about what it would take to bring the beloved character to the big screen at last.
Fans have been pushing for Johansson’s Black Widow to appear in a film since her first appearance in Iron Man 2. With multiple campaigns including #WheresWidow focusing on the difficulty in finding Black Widow merchandise and a fan film titled Black Widow: Origins chronicling the assassin’s early tenure in the red room, Natasha has a massive fanbase who would clearly love to see the film move forward. The film doesn’t yet have a green light from the studios but the resurgent Black Widow love on twitter makes it appear as if there’d be a ready and willing market for the picture.
Schaeffer’s previous credits include the blacklist script The Shower about an alien invasion that takes place during a baby shower. Anne Hathaway was so impressed with the script that she attached herself to the project right away. Other projects include Nasty Women, an all-female remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the recent Olaf’s Frozen Adventure short that aired before Pixar’s Coco and on Freeform Television just in time for Christmas. With a growing resume of credits, Schaeffer looks like the right candidate to pen the master assassin’s story. Blessed with the trust of Kevin Feige she’s clearly ready to bring something special to the long-awaited Black Widow story.
This news comes hot on the heels of the announcement of a Kitty Pryde solo film being developed by Tim Miller, the director of Deadpool. With the Disney Fox merger looming on the horizon, it would appear as if Marvel is throwing its hat into the ring with more female-led superhero films at long last. With Captain Marvel arriving in 2019, could an A-Force film involving characters like Valkyrie, Gamora, and the Dora Milaje as well as Widow and Carol Danvers be in the works? Let the speculation begin!
Are you excited for a Black Widow film? Do you have any particular stories you’d like to see adapted? Sound off and share your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned to The Marvel Report for all things master assassin related!