Australian director Cate Shortland has been chosen to helm Marvel’s long-awaited Black Widow standalone film, after an exhaustive search reportedly sifted through 70 would-be directors.
The Hollywood Reporter states Shortland will oversee Scarlett Johansson for the flick, which is expected to take place before the events of the first Avengers movie.
If that’s the case, Shortland will effectively have control over the character’s earlier years as a highly-skilled Russian spy and assassin, a pretty bloody interesting chunk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that hasn’t been fully explored.
Shortland has an impressive and varied resumé. She was responsible for 2012’s WWII drama Lore, a film which reportedly inspired Johansson to suggest her for the Black Widow role.
Most recently, Shortland handled the psychological thriller Berlin Syndrome.
The Black Widow film, which is still in the very early stages of development, is expected to be Marvel’s second female-led superhero flick after Captain Marvel.
She is the second woman tapped to direct a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after Anna Boden‘s involvement in Captain Marvel. We’re keen to see how this one pans out, tbh.
