Jac Schaeffer (TiMER) is writing a Black Widow movie to star Scarlett Johansson (Ghost in the Shell), according to sources from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap.
Producer Kevin Feige met with multiple writers before settling on Schaeffer. High-ups at Marvel have even talked to Johansson about what she would potentially want from the movie, according to Variety. The movie is yet to be greenlit, but this is the first step after Feige said to Deadline in 2016 that Johansson’s character was the one that Marvel was “most committing to doing.”
Johansson has played the character in five movies, but has never had her own. She was a supporting player in the two Avengers movies, the last two Captain America movies and Iron Man 2. The Marvel franchise may be the biggest movie franchise of all-time, but it took 11 years for a woman to lead. Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson (Room) opens Mar. 8, 2019.
Schaeffer recently wrote the Frozen short Olaf’s Frozen Adventure for Disney, which played in front of Coco for a brief time.
Johansson will next be heard in Wes Anderson’s animated movie Isle of Dogs, which opens Mar. 23. Then, she appears for her sixth time as Black Widow in Avengers: Infinity War on May 4.