WARNING: Mild spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War ahead.
Scarlett Johansson did not feature as prominently as expected in Infinity War, but it’s been long-rumoured that she would get her own film in the near future.
While nothing has been confirmed by Marvel themselves – and Johansson has also remained relatively coy – there has been a new leak today.
According to Variety’s Justin Kroll, bosses are in the process of recruiting a director – and they’re certainly not messing about.
He tweeted: “Fun fact: more than 65 directors have met for the BLACK WIDOW job. Marvel being extremely thorough on this one.”
Asked last week by Ellen DeGeneres about reports of a solo caper, Johansson said: “I think there’s room for it.
“The only way to do it was if it was something we’d never seen before that was groundbreaking and incredibly badass.
“But I think if anything could make that happen, my boss Kevin Feige could. He’s a visionary.”
She added: “It could be something very special. The character has a tortured past to say the least.
“She’s had to make a lot of difficult decisions and she’s got trauma – and she’s got issues!”
Black Widow – aka Natasha Romanoff – is expected to have much more screen-time in next year’s Avengers 4.
Christopher Markus told The Hollywood Reporter: “Some of the people, when you weigh up who you are seeing, seem to take a little bit of a back seat in this one.
“When we did crack them, what we realised was they had far more potential in the movie coming next year, just in terms of how their character would be tested by the story.
“I’m not telling you what the story is. I will say there is less Steve Rogers and Natasha than you might expect in this movie [Infinity War]. Because they are such hard-bitten people, when a threat comes, they stand there and they take the threat. They don’t crack. They don’t whimper. They don’t start talking about all their failed opportunities.
“So, there isn’t that much to explore, especially when you don’t have a lot of time. But there’s a lot later.”
Steven McFeely added: “We cracked them both [Infinity War and Avengers 4] together, so we had to give ourselves permission to say that some people are going to get more in the next movie.”
Avengers: Infinity War is out now.
