Scarlett Johansson, the most bankable actress in the world, has played fan-favorite Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow in five Marvel movies so far with at least two more on the horizon. But for reasons that elude pretty much everyone, Marvel has refused to give the Russian super-spy her own movie.
In a recent interview with Elle, Captain America actor Chris Evans was asked for his thoughts on a Black Widow solo film.
Why hasn’t there been a stand-alone Black Widow movie yet?
Chris Evans: That’s a good question. It would really just clean up, wouldn’t it? Scarlett [Johansson] is so good at everything she does. She’s played such a crucial part in the other films. She always makes her presence so felt—even when there are 50 different superheroes running around onscreen. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens at some point in the future. I’m sure Scarlett would be open to it.
The idea that Johansson would be down for a Widow solo movie is established fact at this point. She told Collider in 2015:
I think that there’s room for a standalone movie. The character has a really rich origin story and I’ve been really fortunate to kind of place all these layers on top of one another and kind of build up this character to this point where I think I can now start to peel them away and reveal different sides of her.
After years of cryptic non-answers President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige finally seemed to confirm that a Black Widow movie franchise was in the works in 2016, telling Deadline
Of the characters that you’ve just mentioned I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow…We think she’s an amazing character. We think Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of her is amazing. She’s a lead Avenger and has amazing stories in her own right to tell that we think would be fun to turn into a stand-alone franchise.
Listen, Marvel.We are as excited as anyone about your first female-led superhero movie, Captain Marvel. (We are less excited that it took 20 male-led movies before you were willing to try one with a female hero — but I digress.) But please give us the Black Widow movie that we have been asking for ever since she first appeared in Iron Man 2.
If you won’t do it for us, do it for Captain America.