There are plenty of Marvel character’s ripe for a unique solo film, but with the THOR series, Taika Waititi saw something that he could turn into an especially ridiculous, crazy, fluorescent adventure in the spirit of FLASH GORDON. Reviews and reactions have praised this approach to a MCU movie, and Waititi is confident he could bring a unique style to any Marvel movie, including the very last character you would expect to have a zany solo movie: Black Widow.
While speaking with io9, Waititi talked about how the key to doing movies like THOR is to stay true to the character while also making it fun for the audience, and on that note, he feels there’s plenty of room to do a funny, exciting movie with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). However, her backstory would make it a challenge:
In all honesty, I reckon I could probably bring something pretty unique to any of the franchises,” Waititi told me. So I’d love to see Black Widow. [I’d like to see] Black Widow as something crazy and a bit funnier than we expect it to be. Because we know her story and it’s very sullen and very dark and her history is very dark. But! What’s the funny version of that? What’s the more entertaining version of that?
We saw glimpses of Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow training to be a special assassin at the assassin school in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, and there was plenty there to get across her dark past that the comics go even deeper to. Waititi could bring his style to virtually ANY Marvel movie he wants, but a Widow movie would no doubt be at the bottom of the list. Naturally, this is why he wants to do it:
I really go for the underdog. [And] I think there’s a way in with any of the characters. You just have to find it and find what honors what’s already there with the source material but also brings it into a more entertaining form for the audience.
A Black Widow movie has been in the discussion for some time, with Johansson saying she’s been fighting for it and AVENGERS director Joss Whedon saying he would be down to make one, but so far there’s been no room for one in the MCU slate. Marvel has yet to do a female-led solo movie, with the first, CAPTAIN MARVEL, set for 2019. Right there is another example of a movie that Waititi would have an easier time adapting.
I love Waititi as a filmmaker and he has yet to do a film I have not adored or am not painstakingly excited for. Marvel will no doubt want to keep ahold of him for future projects, but lord knows if they would actually ask him to do a movie about Black Widow. Johansson is funny enough and would do a great job, and Waititi is talented enough to where I would have faith in him to do a solid movie, but he’s right: how do you make such a dark past that includes sterilization funny?
THOR: RAGNAROK arrives this Friday.