At this point in the attempts of Marvel Studios to dominate every blockbuster we ever see for the rest of our lives, any character in their stable of superheroes has the potential to star in their own movie-- they've got no reason not to try with a formula that hasn't failed yet, and seems to have another hit with this weekend's Thor. So it's not a huge surprise that when talking to Marvel Films co-chair Kevin Feige over the weekend, The Playlist got him to admit that they are having active conversations about stand-alone films for Black Widow and Hawkeye, two characters who will appear in The Avengers but have yet to shoulder projects of their own. Here's what he had to say about both of them:
"There’s no definitive plans, but we have started talking and talking with Scarlett about what a Widow movie could be. Internally we’ve also started thinking what a Hawkeye movie could be, how we could continue to explore the organization S.H.I.E.L.D, which has a pretty big part in Thor, smaller parts in the two Iron Man films and has a giant part in The Avengers."
It makes sense for them to be having active conversations about movies for Hawkeye and Black Widow given the roles both will play in The Avengers, and that Renner and Johansson would probably like to figure out if they've got a stand-alone superhero project to keep them busy in the near future (though given Renner's already ridiculous schedule, who knows how he'll even make the time). Feige also mentioned that they'll be making announcements about upcoming Marvel projects, the ones that will join Iron Man 3 as 2013 releases and beyond, later this summer, presumably once they know if a Captain America 2 is in the cards. Will they be announcing any new stand-alone characters to get movies, and if so, which ones? The Playlist speculates that Ant-Man, Black Panther and Doctor Strange could all be on deck, but at this point anything is possible.
It seems unlikely that standalone Hawkeye movie would announced until after The Avengers-- unless his cameo in Thor is a really, really big success-- but maybe Feige thinks Johansson and Black Widow are popular enough to get going sooner. In the meantime you'll have to wait patiently until the end of the summer to know exactly where Marvel is headed, though speculation in the comments, as always, is very much encouraged.
