Daily Mail – Marvel Studios is moving forward with their stand alone Black Widow movie, which will be one of the studio’s Phase 4 movies, and could also be its first R-rated movie.

While unconfirmed at this time, That Hashtag Show’s Charles Murphy tweeted over the weekend that he’s heard Marvel has been discussing whether or not to make this an R-rated adventure.

‘When I first heard they were developing the Black Widow film, I also heard they were discussing whether or not to make it Marvel Studios first R-rated film,’ he said. He added nothing is set in stone, adding there is, ‘no way to know what they will settle on at this point.’

The blogger added that Disney has, ‘recently said that R-rated MCU films are a possibility,’ adding, ‘So if BW ends up R-rated, don’t be shocked.’

Murphy was referencing a statement from Disney CEO Bob Iger on an investor’s conference call in December, where he said, ‘There may be an opportunity for an R-rated Marvel brand as long as we let audiences know what’s coming.’

Scarlet Johansson will return as the title character, which she has played in 6 movies since making her MCU debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2. She also starred in 2012’s The Avengers, 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. There has been talk of a stand-alone Black Widow movie for several years, but now the studio is finally moving forward.

Last year, before Marvel confirmed the Black Widow stand-alone movie was actually happening, Johansson hinted in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres that she thinks there is ‘room’ for the movie.

‘I think there’s room for it, she said, ‘The only way to do it would be if it were something that we’ve never sen before that was really groundbreaking and incredibly bad-a**.’ ‘I think it could be something really special, Johansson continued. ‘There’s a lot of room there. The character has a tortured past. She’s made a lot of difficult decisions. She has a lot of trauma. She’s got issues. There’s room to work them all out.’

Marvel has already brought on Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) to direct, from a script by Jac Schaeffer (The Hustle). The studio is reportedly eyeing a 2020 release date, with Johansson slated to rake in a big payday for the movie. The actress is slated to earn a whopping $15 million for the movie, the same salary Chris Evans earned for Captain America: Civil War and Chris Hemsworth earned for Thor: Ragnarok.

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