Women of the hour
Solo Black Widow project may catch wave of female-led superhero films
It’s been more than a decade since Hollywood tried to find success with two especially high-profile, female-led superhero movies: Halle Berry ’s Catwoman and Jennifer Garner’s Elektra. Both films were panned, and it took years for female characters from Marvel and DC Comics to get another prominent leading shot.
After last year’s Wonder Woman became a cultural phenomenon, though, the larger wheels of Hollywood production are finally catching up to audience appetite.
The Marvel sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp opened atop the box office this month, with Evangeline Lilly suiting up to fight alongside Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man. Director Peyton Reed embraced the Wasp’s having a prominent part in the sequel.
Next up from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Captain Marvel. Deadline has reported that star Brie Larson has just wrapped production on the movie, which — once it’s released as scheduled next March — will become the MCU’s first female-led movie.
And The Hollywood Reporter says a Black Widow stand-alone movie — long clamoured for but never realized 20 films into the MCU — finally has a director: Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland (Lore).
Scarlett Johansson has already played Black Widow/Natasha in six of those 20 films. (Johansson’s schedule has at least one open spot on it, after controversy prompted her to withdraw from a role that had cast her as a transgender character.)
Meanwhile, DC fans have at least two fronts to watch: They wait for Margot Robbie’s multiple Harley Quinn projects to move forward. And as Wonder Woman 1984 continues to shoot around Washington, D.C., this month, fans can look forward to that sequel’s release next November.