Introduced in Iron Man 2 as an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, revealed as a spy with a shady past in The Avengers, and returning for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers: Age of Ultron has a key team member for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Black Widow has become the leading female superhero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Scarlett Johansson is a scene-stealer in her latest outings as Natasha Romanoff and ever since her intro, there's been talk from Marvel's high-ups that Black Widow could be a character that spins off into her own headlining role. In a time where are four or more superhero films per year hitting theater, none of them with female heroes as the lead - and no current plans for a female-led Marvel movie - the timing might be right.

Don Kaye had the chance to chat with Johansson on behalf of Screen Rant about her role in Captain America 2, returning as a supporting character in another hero's film and the potential of Black Widow becoming a solo feature.

 

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Going into this film, what did you want to see happen with Black Widow and how did that line up with what Marvel and the writers and directors had in mind?

Well, you know, more than anything, I didn't know how the Widow fit in with Captain America. I mean, you know, we've seen a little bit of their relationship kind of blossoming in “Avengers,” but you know, in mind these characters didn't really have much in common. You know, I didn't want to just be kind of thrown into this movie because, “Oh, it was a part of this franchise and we need to fill this in.” It needed to make sense obviously. And, you know, I think what we worked really hard on and what we found was actually this kind of commonality between the two characters. I mean, they come funnily enough from kind of opposite ends of the moral spectrum in some ways. But there’s a certain kind of, I think a – I think that they are both characters that have no tolerance, you know, for kind of “the lie.” I mean, they both – even though the Widow is certainly part of the lie in many ways and maybe Cap doesn't totally buy into that for himself, neither one of these characters want to feel like they’re being lied to. And, you know, they very much want to get to, like, the core of the truth. You know, they also both have this kind of wall that they sort of put up, you know, to keep themselves from really letting anybody else in, and you know, these are different themes in the relationship that I really wanted to kind of explore or use or uncover, you know, so that it made sense for the Widow to be in this installment, and I think it works really well.

Was it nice to get her out of the suit and into street clothes and have some different looks?

I think it’s nice in this film to see the Natasha of Black Widow. I mean, you know, you see her and you go, “Wow, this is a person who gets ready in the morning. This is a person who has a personal life outside of work” – you know, who knows how much of a personal life that is, but she’s got an identity outside of this job which I think makes her much easier to relate to, much more sort of interesting and enigmatic is that there’s this whole other life that exists for her. And you know, I hope that, you know, the audience wants to scratch away at that as much as I enjoy doing it because we’ll see even more of that in “Avengers 2” and, you know, part of that of course is even getting her out of the suit, you know, and see that she’s got her own thing going on.

Captain America 2 Official Photo - Chris Evans and Scarlet Johansson in Costumes

There’s been a lot of buzz and talk about a possible Black Widow film. Would you like to see that happen at some point down the line – maybe before “Avengers 3”?

You know, there’s always the possibility in this kind of Marvel madness that, you know, anything could happen, and a lot of these spin-offs are really like fan-driven, you know, kind of audience-driven, which is great because if the audience wants it, then you know that it’s built in in a way and people are excited to see it. Not feeding them they’re not into. So if the audience wants something like that and we could really, you know, carve out a great story for her that’s a continuation of what we already know, then I’d be totally for it. I mean, she’s definitely got –the material is there, you know, and I’m, you know, I’m always willing to slip the suit back on and power through it, you know, if people want to see it.

Hoping to see Black Widow return for Captain America 3 after seeing her team with Steve Rogers? Does a S.H.I.E.L.D. team-up with Black Widow and Hawkeye interest you? Should Black Widow be the first female hero to get a solo film? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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More: Chris Evans Talks Evolution of Captain America

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier is produced by Kevin Feige, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp and Hayley Atwell, with Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters April 4, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1, 2014The Avengers: Age of Ultron on May 1, 2015, Ant-Man on July 17, 2015, and unannounced films for May 6 2016, July 8 2016 and May 5 2017.

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes for your Marvel movie and TV news!