Ever since Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut ten years ago in Iron Man 2, fans have been calling out for the character to get her own solo movie. Despite her status as a core member of the Avengers and one of the franchise’s major players since Phase One though, there never seemed to be much real interest on the studio’s part in making it happen.
Ironically, we had to wait for Natasha to be killed off in Avengers: Endgame before her own spinoff was given the green light, with director Cate Shortland’s Black Widow set to finally arrive in November. As highly-anticipated as the movie is though, it will also be a bittersweet experience for audiences knowing that this is the last time they’ll see the hero play a major role in the MCU, and the creative team will be hoping to give her a fitting sendoff.
Of course, Black Widow has spent a long time in development at Marvel Studios. So long, in fact, that a recent interview from as far back as September 2010 has recently resurfaced where Kevin Feige admitted that the project was being discussed behind the scenes.
“We’ve already started discussions with Scarlett about the idea of a solo movie and have begun putting together concepts, but The Avengers comes first.”
The Avengers definitely did come first, but there’s also been a further seventeen installments in the long-running superhero series since Earth’s Mightiest Heroes first assembled, and only now is Black Widow finally set to headline her own movie. It might have taken a whole lot longer than anyone could have anticipated, but as both the launchpad for Phase Four and the end of the longest wait between new MCU films in a decade, Black Widow will be looking to live up to the expectations and send Natasha Romanoff out in a blaze of cinematic glory.