Natalia “Natasha” Alianovna Romanova is flying solo. And not a moment too soon.
While Scarlett Johansson’s secret agent is still expected to feature in Avengers 4, the standalone Black Widow movie is beginning to make serious headway over at Marvel Studios, after appointing scribe Jac Schaeffer on script duties.
Exactly what her screenplay involves remains to be seen, but previous reports have claimed that the Black Widow solo film plans to harken back to the character’s murky past, long before her tenure at the now-defunct S.H.I.E.L.D. All of this has led many to believe that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes is a shoo-in for the spinoff, given his Winter Soldier once had ties to HYRDA before Letitia Wright’s Shuri worked her magic.
File that one in the rumor cabinet for now, of course, as mum’s the word for Marvel’s Phase 4 plans. Still, if a new report from Omega Underground is to be believed, Black Widow will begin shooting next year across parts of Europe.
That would surely place Natasha Romanoff’s solo adventure on course for a 2020 release, where it will likely join Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Further details on the production schedule are scare, though Omega Underground did confirm that Marvel has hired production designer Maria Djurkovic, whose previous credits include four espionage thrillers in Red Sparrow (itself compared to a Black Widow clone), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Intimation Game, and The Snowman.
That’s exciting in and of itself, as it gives us some clue as to the tone and general aesthetic that the studio is aiming for when it comes to Black Widow. Now all that’s left is for the Powers That Be to settle on a director…