Black Widow: What I Want from Marvel Marketing
A few things come to mind after Feige’s low-key Black Widow movie announcement
In an interview with Deadline, Kevin Feige confirmed what Marvel fans have been clamoring for these past six years: A solo movie for Black Widow, the Russian super spy introduced in 2010’s Iron Man 2.
“We’ve announced the next nine movies, 10 counting Civil War, through the end of 2019. Where we go beyond that are ongoing discussions that we’ll focus on in the next few years because we have a lot to do before then. Of the characters that you’ve just mentioned I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow.”
It’s obviously far too early to speculate on what sort of movie they will make for Natasha outside of what you could likely describe as a “spy thriller.” Considering where Widow left off at the end of Captain America: Civil War and how she might appear again in Infinity War there’s no telling what Natasha’s Avenging life might be like. However, there’s a few things I want to see from how they market this movie that wouldn’t have much to do with the plot itself.
Merchandise
In any superhero movie, the merchandise can make or break the bottom line, and ultimately have dire consequences for franchises. In a recent example, Green Lantern the Animated Series was canceled partially due to slow toy sales, which were the result of stores saturated from merch from the failed Green Lantern film. Marvel hasn’t had a great history of handling Black Widow, but has been doing better with the recent merch for Captain America: Civil War, not just in the toy isle but in shops like Hot Topic and with female-centric licencors like Her Universe. Female lead films are also regularly the victims of weaker marketing budgets than their male counterparts, which results in a shabby lineup of merchandise, so Disney better let loose the full force of their marketing machine so that we won’t have to come up with another #wheresblackwidow hashtag campaign to remind them that we want to give them our money.
Supporting Media
There are a number of Black Widow projects in the MCU, chiefly the fantastic novel written by Margaret Stohl: Black Widow Forever Red. This YA novel is an interesting addition to the MCU, telling a uniquely Black Widow story that reveals more about her past and her complicated relationship with SHIELD. The comic books themselves are an excellent source of supporting media, and having a concurrently running solo title and available “best of” collection is a must-have.
Dial Down the Sex
Scarlett Johansson is one of the sexiest women on the planet. Those lips, those eyes, that smokey voice, there’s nothing they could do to make anyone forget that she oozes sensuality. I don’t think they have any business putting her in a burlap sack, but they don’t need to zip her suit all the way down or stick her in Hawkeye-Initiative style butt-poses all over their key art. I want to see a Black Widow that is ready for action, posed with strength and aggression and owning everyone with her steely gaze. She will be sexy no matter what, we don’t need to see her forced into back breaking poses to remind us that she’s there to be the movie’s sex-appeal. She’s there to be a hero and get to work. The sex will just be a natural side-effect of the impeccable casting.
Leave the Romantic Sub-Plots in Russia
Perhaps if they hadn’t paired Natasha with Banner in Avengers: Age of Ultron I wouldn’t be so entirely against Natasha having a romantic sub-plot in her own movie. Her romantic entanglement with The Winter Soldier is stuff of legend, and it would be nice to see Sebastian Stan’s character get some more screen time in the MCU. However, after Age of Ultron the idea that the longest running female Avenger getting constantly “paired off” is irksome, and Natasha’s story should be one that doesn’t have her pulled into a male character’s orbit. If they feel a dire need to include romance for Natasha, perhaps it could remain in flashbacks from her time in Russia. Otherwise they would be wise to leave it out and don’t force Natasha to share the spotlight. Romantic sub-plots in female lead films tend to dominate a film’s marketing materials, and if we see a Mr. & Mrs. Smith-type romantic comedy parody it will only serve to annoy fans excited to see a serious spy thriller with a female lead. I’m sure it could be “fun,” but that’s not what a Black Widow movie would be for.
Perhaps if the Fantastic Four or X-Men are returned to Marvel’s capable hands, Feige will quickly backtrack from his commitment to a Black Widow movie and her solo film will be pushed back to make room for franchises (as Captain Marvel was for Spider-Man) and this is all pointless speculation, but I think it’s still valuable to consider what we want to see from a character with such a rich history as Natasha Romanoff. I know I’ve been waiting for this movie since I first saw her destroy the guards in the infamous “white hallway” fight, and I hope when she does get her solo film she will get a chance to really shine.
