Post-Avengers News: Black Widow's Next Appearance "Already Planned," Robert Downey Jr. Not Quitting Tony Stark Yet
Posted 05.02.12 by Ryan
For many team members in the upcoming The Avengers, future installments are already planned. Next year will see Robert Downey Jr. return as Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor 2, while 2014 will see Chris Evans reprise his role as Steve Rogers in Captain America 2. But what about the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes?
While Marvel is reportedly opening its mind to the possibility of another Hulk movie, it turns out the studio already knows when Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) will be back. While Johansson won't be in Iron Man 3, she's said that she would like a "Bourne-like" solo outing for the character. In an interview with Movieline, Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige said that the studio has already "planned her next appearance," and it sounds like she will get her own movie yet.
Well, I think you saw it in Avengers. I think that's one of the many amazing things Joss Whedon can do. I think people are going to be surprised by how powerful Scarlett is in this movie, and how evolved her role is. We have already planned her next appearances and where to take that character because we believe in it and we believe in her in a big, big way. When will there be a standalone? Both is what we're heading toward. A lot of it is that we're only going to make two movies a year, maybe sometimes it'll be one movie a year like this year, maybe someday it'll be three movies a year just depending on what comes together. But really, it's two movies. So there's kind of a backup on the runway right now in terms of when can something go. We do like when some of the characters appear in other people's movies. And that's probably where you'll see Black Widow next.
With Iron Man 3 out, Captain America 2 seems the most likely candidate for another Black Widow outing, particularly since Feige has said that the sequel will see Cap continue his involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Black Widow has been an agent for the organization since her first appearance in Iron Man 2. Still, Feige admits that his "favorite scene" from Avengers brings up a possibility of a story to explore in a possible Black Widow movie.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! But my favorite scene in Avengers is when Loki (Tom HIddleston) and Widow are having their scene together and Loki's in a cell, and he's trying to rile her up by mentioning things like "the hospital fire." Who knows what those things are? We haven't seen any of those things in other movies! What were those things, what do they mean? I love that. I'd love to explore that deeper.
During the promotion of The Avengers, Feige has also spoken about the future of Marvel's movies, answering several questions about Iron Man 3. One interview asked what Marvel would do should Downey Jr. ever want to retire from playing Tony Stark, and Feige responded that he felt the studio would take the James Bond route, hiring a new actor to take Downey's place rather than reboot the entire franchise. The answer seemed harmless enough, but many outlets seemed to take Feige's comments as reason to believe that Marvel was planning to replace Downey Jr. rather than have an idea about how to move forward should Downey ever decide to retire from the role.
Amidst the confusion and speculation about Feige's comments, Downey Jr. was all smiles, joking to MTV about his replacement during at The Avengers premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival: "I wonder who's playing Tony Stark next. Is it you? Is that what you're here to tell me?" Joking aside, Downey didn't sound ready to take off his armor for good.
I know things are looking like that they could go on for a long while. As usual in my book, it's all about quality control and delivering a product that you can have this kind of reaction to. If they keep doing that, maybe I'll keep showing up... I would really hate for someone else to think they could step into my shoes, though.
Downey Jr. is getting ready for his fourth outing as the character in Iron Man 3 and promised that the sequel will be "something special."
Iron Man 3 is really shaping up to be something special. We start in a couple weeks. I'm sure I'll be leaking secrets to you as we move ahead.
Considering how well The Avengers is already performing overseas, we figure that both Downey Jr. and Johansson will be back for The Avengers 2, whenever Marvel decides to make that sequel as well.
Next Showing: The Avengers opens this Friday,
Iron Man 3 on May 3, 2013