The awaited Black Widow film has been confirmed. Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, is a powerful hero and skillful spy in Marvel Comics. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), talented actor Scarlett Johansson took on the role starting from the film “Iron Man 2” in 2010. With each MCU film, the character Black Widow seemed to have grown in popularity with fans demanding the creation of a Black Widow film from Hollywood. Most of her story remains a mystery, which only adds to fan interest. Marvel realizes this, and Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studio once alluded to a Black Widow film in 2016. Eight years after making her first appearance in “Iron Man 2”, fans have yet to see a Black Widow film in theaters. The film remains at the planning stage. With “Avengers: Infinity War” being released soon, MCU proceeds to phase three, but there is still no Black Widow film.
Scarlett Johansson once said, “I would like for it (Black Widow standalone film) to happen under the right circumstances. I think there's a lot of opportunity to mine that story line” in an interview with Variety. She continued with “She's (Black Widow) got a really rich origins story” and pitched ideas for a storyline. In one such scenario, the movie could start with a Russian setting and the Widow program that creates master assassins and spies. Another storyline could be having a start that followed “Avengers 4” when they are underground and her move. If there is no huge change, a Black Widow film would see Marvel’s second female super hero movie after “Captain Marvel” to be released in 2019. "Black Panther(2018)" is the first black superhero movie and "Captain Marvel" will be the first female superhero movie in the Marvel Universe. Unlike Caucasian male super heroes, ethnicity and women superheroes are rare. All male superheroes fight against evil, sacrifice themselves, and, in the end, save the day. While they fulfill an important role, the film industry needs more ethnic and gender diversity films. In many cases, ethnicities and females do not play major roles and are often portrayed as the love interest. In case of Black Widow, she is consistently the romantic interests of various male characters in the films. The Sookmyung Times looked at similar subject matter in the article ‘I Alone Fight for Myself’.
While some may argue, ‘It’s just a movie. Why be so sensitive? However, in today’s era of media access, movies represent more than leisure. They inspire the younger generation. The characters they see on the big screen inspire them to dream bigger. Portraying female characters as less heroic than males only stirs up prejudice. Society needs more leading female characters like those in films such as “Mad Max: Fury Road”, “Atomic Blonde”, and “Wonder Woman”. To end, this SMT reporter wishes to quote a line ‘SpiderMan: Homecoming’: “The world’s changed boys, time we change too!”
Cho Yeon-gyeong, "[HollywoodIS]Scarlett Johansson:'Black Widow Movie', There's a Lot of Opportunity to Mine Her Storyline", JTBC News, January 19, 2018
