If one thing’s clear, it’s that Marvel and Disney are making a concerted effort to focus on female characters within the MCU moving forward.
As you’ve probably heard, the House of Mouse recently pulled back the curtain on what fans can expect from Phase 4, which is set to officially kick off next year. We’ve already heard plenty of news about the upcoming Black Widow film, which is set to release next May, and was confirmed to take place after the events of Captain America: Civil War.
There are also some interesting developments over in New Asgard – not only will Natalie Portman be returning to play a female Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder, but it was revealed that Valkyrie will be playing a much bigger role this time around, too, and is looking for a queen to rule alongside, making her the first LGBTQ hero in the MCU.
When you take into account that a Captain Marvel sequel and WandaVision (which focuses on Scarlet Witch, who will also be appearing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) are on the way, it’s quite clear Marvel is looking to expand and diversify their stable of characters. This was seemingly confirmed by the Black Widow herself, too.
As ComicBook.com reports, Scarlett Johansson was recently interviewed by Entertainment Tonight, where she made a point to note that “the future is female for Marvel.”
“Rachel [Weisz] was going ‘It’s so amazing to be working with all these amazing women,'” the actress said. “And she was like ‘Oh yeah, and there’s a couple of guys too.’ It felt like the future is female for Marvel, that’s what it felt like.”
Despite the defeat of Thanos and the culmination of the Infinity Saga, it looks like the MCU still has a lot of stories left to tell, and we can’t wait to see what the creative team over at Marvel Studios conjures up next. As always, we’ll be sure to keep you updated on news and more information as it comes down the pipeline, so stay tuned.