The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been drawing flak for lacking female-driven movies and downplaying some of its female characters. It also doesn't help that there are little to no merchandise of female heroes as opposed to the overabundance of products featuring male heroes. Being the longest-serving female hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Scarlett Johansson still has hope for a Black Widow standalone film.
In Variety's Power of Women issue, Johansson speaks about the possibility of having Black Widow star in her own movie. She states that she would want for it to happen "under the right circumstance." Given that Black Widow has a "rich origins story," the "Avengers" actress believes there is more than enough material for writers to work on.
"There's a lot of places you can go - you can bring it back to Russia. You could explore the Widow program," Johansson suggests. If she could have it her way, she would want Black Widow's solo film to have its "own specific thing" and its "own specific vibe," even though it may still relate to the Avengers storyline as a whole.
For now, MCU still does not have a film with a female superhero at the center of it. Most of the women are in supporting roles, such as Gamora in "Guardians of the Galaxy," Pepper Potts in "Iron Man" and Hope van Dyke in "Ant-Man." Although these roles are vital to the entire MCU and the respective franchises they belong to, they only rank a high second to the male leads.
Captain Marvel is expected to break that streak, being the first female Marvel superhero to star in her own movie. The movie already has Oscar-winner Brie Larson playing the titular role. According to IGN, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is still looking for a female director to helm the movie.
"I do think it will be not a requirement to make a great version of Captain Marvel, but it's something we think is important," Feige said about hiring a female director. "With all of our movies, we want them to be different, we want them to find the new voices."
Will a Black Widow movie make it to the big screen? Stay tuned.
