Scarlett Johansson Teases Black Widow As A Franchise

Black Widow is finally getting her own solo film, and it’s been a long time coming. That said, with the character dying in Avengers: Endgame, there’s limits to what stories they can tell, which is why the upcoming film takes place during the time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Many assumed that this was a one and done sort of thing, due to the timeframe restraints, but according to new comments by Black Widow herself Scarlett Johansson, that is indeed not the case. Johansson was one of the speakers at Elle’s Women in Hollywood event, and during the event she referred to Black Widow not as a singular movie, but as a franchise.

“ScarJo notes that the upcoming BLACK WIDOW is the first Marvel movie produced by one of its actors,” Kyle Buchanan wrote on Twitter at the event. “She also referred to it as a “standalone franchise” which is interesting if you expected it to be a one-off based on… you know.”

The gap between Civil War and Infinity War is around 2 years, so depending on how this Black Widow film approaches time, we could see several more films during this period.

That said, there is also another time frame that would work. That would be the span of 5 years between Infinity War and Endgame, where Widow was one of the surviving Avengers. That time did indeed pass for the heroes not blipped, so you could set things during this time. You can only do that for so long of course, so it remains to be seen how Marvel will approach it.

More Black Widow is always a good thing though, so no one would complain. Johansson also executive produced the film, saying it was “liberating in a way“. “I feel like I’m in control of the destiny of this film, which gives me a lot more peace of mind,” Johansson said. “I know her better than anybody. What was her childhood like? What is her relationship to figures of authority? This character is gritty and multi-dimensional but has a lot of trauma and has led an unexamined life. In order to operate at this elite level, she has probably had to push away a lot of stuff.”

Black Widow is directed by Cate Shortland and stars Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz.

Black Widow hits the big screen on May 1st, 2020.