Welcome to the Marvel family Cate Shortland.
After meeting with over 70 potential directors to oversee the upcoming Black Widow standalone film, Marvel has made their choice: Cate Shortland.
Cate Shortland is an Australian director who’s done a small number of films that most people in the United States have likely never heard of — such as Somersault (2004), Lore (2012) and Berlin Syndrome (2017).
According to Deadline, Shortland had been the favorite for the Black Widow movie for the past month, after she had a meeting with Kevin Feige.
Among the other female directors that Marvel considered were Maggie Betts (Novitiate), Kimberly Peirce (Boy’s Don’t Cry) and Amma Asante (Belle).
Scarlet Johansson will star in the Black Widow film, which is now coming a good ten years after secret agent Natasha Romanoff first appeared in the MCU in 2010’s Iron Man 2.
This will also be the second Marvel vehicle with a single female protagonist (third if you count Ant-Man and the Wasp, which I wouldn’t), as it’ll follow Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson, which is being released next March.
I, like most of you, am not all that familiar with Shortland as a director so I can’t really comment on whether or not she’ll be a good fit. I do think, however, that it’s great Marvel gives these smaller indie directors a big shot and I’ll definitely be going back to check out her previous films before Black Widow comes out.
As for the idea of a Black Widow standalone movie itself, I’m still on board. I know that Scarlet Johansson hasn’t exactly received all that good of press lately after her latest casting stunt, but she still knows the role of Romanoff well and it’s about time we actually see her story told.
What I’m curious about now is what, exactly, will that story be. Will it be a prequel that goes more in-depth into some of the things hinted at in Avengers: Age of Ultron and that Suspiria/Red Sparrow like ballet school, or will it take place in the present Marvel timeline?
There’s no release date for the Black Widow movie as of yet, so it looks like we’re just going to have to wait and see.
What do you think of this news? Have you heard of Cate Shortland before this announcement? What do you hope for in a Black Widow movie? Let us know in the comments below!
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