Black Widow Was Harder To Write Than WandaVision

Black Widow was harder to write than WandaVision, according to Jac Schaeffer, who serves as creator and head writer of Marvel's first Disney+ series. WandaVision premiered in January to critical acclaim and it served as the starting point for the MCU's Phase 4. The series follows its titular characters as they are trapped in a mysterious suburb called Westview, acting out parodies of sitcoms from years past. WandaVision episode four, "We Interrupt This Program," broke from the sitcom format, but there's still a few decades to cover.

Schaeffer also helped write the story for Black Widow, which will be the first Phase 4 film. Scarlet Johansson's Natasha Romanoff will finally be getting her own solo feature that explores the character's past. Unfortunately, the film's release has been marred by delays and while it is currently sitting at a May 2021 release date, it is unclear if Black Widow will be staying there. Disney has made it clear, though, that the film will not be heading to Disney+ to hangout with WandaVision just yet.

Schaeffer told SYFY Wire that, contrary to what many may think, Black Widow was more of challenge to write than WandaVision. Schaeffer says she fits in more with the ideas behind WandaVision, including the sitcom aspect for which she pulled from her experience with the various shows as a kid. She says that Black Widow, as a straight forward superhero movie, was harder to delve into than the mind-bending puzzle that is WandaVision.

I like the sort of crazy pond of being 'it's a sitcom and it's the MCU. That is incredibly challenging but it's something I enjoy and it makes sense to me, the puzzle of it. I worked on [the upcoming Black Widow movie], and I found it harder to do more of a straight-ahead superhero story. It was just a little harder to hold on to, whereas the experiment that was WandaVision used every single piece of my brain and that of my writers.

Schaeffer has opened up about how WandaVision's sitcom influences came from her and other creatives' own experience with classic television shows, so it's no surprise that Schaeffer found herself at home in that world. In fact, it seems that one of the reasons WandaVision is such a hit is because of the familiarity its sitcom influences evoke. Many have praised the Elizabeth Olsen led series as something that confidently breaks the MCU mold and while there's no telling just yet, Black Widow seems to very much within that mold.

Set to explore Black Widow's origins, the film looks to be, like Schaeffer says, quite a straight forward superhero movie. Marvel always throws in surprises, but for the most part, it seems Black Widow is a celebration of Johansson's character after her tragic death in Avengers: Endgame. How it will connect to the larger MCU remains to be seen, but we do know that Florence Pugh's Black Widow character, Yelena Belova, will be appearing in more Marvel projects. As Marvel gets ready to release more content than ever before, it seems that it will need to strike a balance between the genre-bending shows like WandaVision and the traditional superhero format fans have come to know and love from the studio.

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Source: SYFY Wire