Scarlett Johansson

“[The] chapter is over.”

Although Marvel sure did drag their feet on the way to committing to the Black Widow movie, we gotta give credit where credit’s due: The studio was very thorough in finding the right director to take on Scarlett Johansson’s highly-anticipated solo film. Over the course of several months, Marvel met with 70-ish female directors before making their final selection. And the director of Black Widow is… (make up your own drumroll, please)

We already know Avengers: Infinity War is going to be huge, with the current MCU arcs building toward a crossover event that promises to be the studio’s biggest yet — even bigger than Captain America: Civil War. According to previous comments made by directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Infinity War will feature dozens of characters from the Marvel universe, including Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. As for the rest of the lineup, we can only make educated guesses, but a new casting call may have spilled the beans.

How do you become a fan favorite as an actor? Easy. Just love the character as much as the fans do. For as much as we enjoy pitting the various comic book franchises against each other, the secret weapon of the films released by Marvel Studios has always been that we honestly and truly believe that the people involved are having as much fun making the movies as we are watching them. And near the top of that list has to be Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.

Earlier this week, a new poll revealed that the MCU character fans most want to see in a standalone film is — unsurprisingly, still — Black Widow. Phase 3 is set to conclude in 2019 with Avengers: Infinity War (which will soon undergo a title change), and the only film Kevin Feige has confirmed for Phase 4 so far is Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (which may or may not be directed by James Gunn). And although he doesn’t 100-percent-confirm it here, Feige presents a Black Widow solo movie as a very real possibility for Phase 4.

Marvel dropped an extended 'Captain America 2' trailer, giving us one major look at the next installment and exciting fans to the point of mass hysteria. Well, perhaps it's not as dramatic as that, but this is the most extensive look yet at the sequel, officially titled 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier.'

There are a few commercials out already that will be played this coming Sunday. I hope most of them will be good this year. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like they aren't as good as they used to be when I was a kid. Maybe it's because they won't allow commercials like this Scarlett Johansson one because it takes a crack at Coke and Pepsi...