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Pada Februari 2014, Kevin menyatakan setelah mengeksplorasi masa lalu Black Widow di ''Avengers: Age of Ultron'', ia ingin melihat Black Widow dieksplorasi lebih lanjut di sebuah film yang berdiri sendiri, yang sudah dikembangkan,<ref name="BlackWidowSolo" /> termasuk pendalaman watak mendalam oleh [[Nicole Perlman]], yang menulis naskah bagi ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' (2014).<ref name="PerlmanWidow" /> Pada April 2014, Scarlett menyatakan minatnya membintangi film berkaitan Black Widow oleh sebab dorongan penonton.<ref name="JohanssonApr2014" /> Pada Juli 2014, David menyatakan minat menghidupkan kembali film ini bagi Marvel dan pada bulan berikutnya, [[Neil Marshall]] menyatakan ia akan senang terlibat dalam ''Black Widow'' karena merasa tokohnya benar=benar menarik mengingat tidak memiliki kekuatau super apapun, melainkan hanya memiliki keterampilan luar biasa.<ref name="HayterRevive" /><ref name="Marshall" /> Pada April 2015, Scarlett berbicara lebih lanjut mengenai kemungkinan film solo Black Widow dan melihat potensi bagi mengeksplorasi lapisan berbeda dari dirinya yang digambarkan dalam film berbeda sejauh ini, tetapi juga menyatakan bahwa menurutnya Black Widow berperan dengan baik di bagian alam semesta.<ref name="JohanssonApril2015" /> Ketika mempromosikan ''Captain America: Civil War'' pada April 2016, Kevin menyebutkan karena jadwal film di Fase 3 yang sudah diumumkan, film ''Black Widow'' baru bisa dijadwalkan ditayangkan empat atau lima tahun ke depan.<ref name="FeigeApril2016" /> Ia menambahkan bahwa Marvel akhirnya berkomitmen dengan kreatif dan emosional untuk membuat film ''Black Widow''.<ref name="FeigeMay2016" />
InPada JulyJuli 2016, [[Joss Whedon]], the director ofsutradara ''The Avengers'' anddan ''Avengers: Age of Ultron'', statedmenyatakan thatia hebisa wasdiajak open to directing a ''Black Widow''menyutradarai film, feeling he could make "a spy thrillerini. Like really do a good, paranoid, '[[John le Carré]] on crack' sort of thing."<ref name="WhedonJuly2016" /> InPada Octoberbulan Oktober, JohanssonScarlett discussed the potentialmenyebut film being a prequel, saying, "you can bring it back to Russia. You could explore the Widow program. There's all kinds of stuff that you could do with it." She did caution she may not want to "wear a skin-tight catsuit"ini forberpotensi muchmenjadi longerprekuel.<ref name="JohanssonOct2016" /> ThePada nextFebruari February2017, JohanssonScarlett saidmeyebut thatia sheakan wouldmengabdikan dedicatedirinya herselfuntuk to making any potential Black Widowmembuat film "amazing.ini Ityang wouldpotensial haveterasa toluar be the best version that movie could possibly bebiasa. Otherwise, I would never do it ... [it would] have to be its own standalone and its own style and its own story."<ref name="JohanssonFeb2017" /> DueKarena topengembangan thefilm developmentsudah workselesai alreadyberikut done,sokongan anddi thekalangan publicpenonton supportbagi forfilm a Black Widow filmini, Marvel ultimatelyakhirnya decidedmenyebut thatbahwa thefilm "bestini timeakan tomenjadi movepermulaan forward with the project" would be at the beginning of the "latest phase" offase theterakhir MCU inpada 2020.<ref name="PughVariety" />
InPada OctoberOktober 2017, Feige met with Johansson to discuss the direction of a potential solo film, before Marvel began meeting with writers for the project, including [[Jac Schaeffer]].<ref name="KrollThanksgiving" /> Schaeffer met with Feige again in December, and was hired to write a script for the film before the end of 2017.<ref name="SchaefferJan2018" /><ref name="KrollSchaeffer" /> Schaeffer and Johansson were set to discuss the direction of the film at the beginning of February 2018.<ref name="KrollUpdate" /> Marvel began meeting with female directors to potentially take on the project, part of a priority push by major film studios to hire female directors for franchises.<ref name="Apr2018Directors" /> By the end of April, the studio had met with over 65 directors for the project in an "extremely thorough" search,<ref name="May2018Directors" /> including [[Deniz Gamze Ergüven]], [[Chloé Zhao]]—who was eventually chosen to direct Marvel's ''[[The Eternals (film)|The Eternals]]''—<ref name="Zhao" /> [[Amma Asante]],<ref name="Apr2018Directors" /> and [[Lynn Shelton]].<ref name="SheltonConsidered" /> In the following months, this was reduced to a shortlist of 49 directors before the top choices of [[Cate Shortland]], Asante, and [[Maggie Betts]] met with Feige and Johansson in June.<ref name="Jun2018Directors" /> [[Mélanie Laurent]] and [[Kimberly Peirce]] were also in the "next-to-final mix".<ref name="Jul2018Directors" /><ref name="ShortlandDirect" /> Shortland had the backing of Johansson, a fan of the director's previous female-starring film ''[[Lore (film)|Lore]]'' (2012), and was hired the next month.<ref name="ShortlandDirect" />
''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' reported in October 2018 that Johansson would earn $15 million to appear in the film, an increase from the "low-seven figure salary" she earned for starring in ''The Avengers''. The $15 million was equal to what [[Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans]] and [[Chris Hemsworth]] each earned in ''Captain America: Civil War'', ''[[Thor: Ragnarok]]'', ''Avengers: Infinity War'', and ''Avengers: Endgame''. Despite ''The Hollywood Reporter'' confirming the amount from "multiple knowledgeable sources", Marvel Studios disputed the accuracy of the numbers while stating that they "never publicly disclose salaries or deal terms."<ref name="JohannsonPayOct2018" />
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