Joss Whedon Said He’d Direct a Black Widow Movie If Asked. But … Are We Asking?

Discussion of a Black Widow solo movie has always remained in the “rumor” category, in spite of the fact that other seemingly unlikely projects like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel have gotten the green light this past year. It doesn’t seem to matter how many directors and producers say they’d love to see a Black Widow movie happen. It keeps … not … happening.

Joss Whedon is the latest director to throw his hypothetical hat in for consideration when it comes to directing a Black Widow venture. After his frustrations over the course of making the second Avengers movie, though, Whedon was done with the MCU, by all reports, including his own. He said last January that he wanted to make a “clean break” and that he was “just going to stop” post-Ultron. However, it seems he’d be willing to make an exception for Black Widow, or at least that’s what he said to IGN when asked:

If somebody pointed to me and said, ‘You want to make a Black Widow movie?’ the answer would be ‘Duh.’

I think that character really is very interesting and very earthbound and so it’s the kind of action that I got to do less of with somebody like Thor or The Vision. When you get into your Superman territory it’s harder to maintain that sort of gritty action that the Russo brothers do so beautifully. I’d really do a spy thriller, really do a good, paranoid sort of John LeCarré on crack sort of thing. Also, Scarlett Johansson is just delightful. She works really hard, but she just spends most of her time cracking me up, so it would be a fun shoot.

The Russo brothers have also expressed their own interest in helming a Black Widow feature, so Whedon might not ever get asked to do a movie like this. But let’s just say, hypothetically, that Whedon did get asked to do the movie. Would we want that to happen?

I think it’s obvious from my own hesitant phrasing that I’m not sure I want to see that happen. I don’t think I share the same vision of Black Widow that Whedon does, if Ultron is any indication, so I think I’d have some trouble mustering up excitement about his take on the character’s journey.

As for the idea of a Black Widow feature film in general, well, I’m not opposed to it happening, obviously … but in terms of characters who deserve their own franchise, there are a whole lot of others that I’d love to see. I’m still sad about The Wasp getting sidelined in Ant-Man, for example. I wish we’d gotten a Black Widow solo film years ago, especially after seeing her rock so hard Winter Soldier. Ideally, the solo movie would’ve happened before Ultron (I really didn’t like Ultron, okay? Okay). At this point, it’s really hard for me to imagine where the character could go next, since I don’t really like the trajectory that she’s been set upon within the movies’ canon.

Anyway, if the movie still happens, I definitely think there’s got to be better fit than Joss Whedon when it comes to directing a Black Widow project. Would it be unimaginable, at this point, to see that hypothetical movie get directed by a woman? Perhaps even written by one? Or several? Is that an achievable goal?

(via Uproxx)

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