The Black Widow movie is *so close* to happening, and honestly, it’s about time

Just this week, Twitter was joking about Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow being the Black Widow movie we’ve always wanted and needed, and while we’re so stoked to see J. Law in all her femme fatale glory, here’s something else to get Black Widow fans ecstatic: Marvel is FINALLY moving forward with a Black Widow standalone movie, and honestly, it’s about time.

Black Widow — aka Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson — first appeared in Iron Man 2, and fans have basically been demanding a movie centered on her since. (Rightfully so, she’s a total badass. And not to mention, it’s about time we get a female-centered MCU standalone, right? Right!) Six movies later later — including Avengers: Infinity War — it’s looking promising that we, at long last, will.

That’s because the Black Widow standalone movie just landed a screenwriter in Jac Schaeffer.

While the film hasn’t received the ~official~ go ahead, enlisting Schaeffer, as Variety reports, puts the project one step closer to becoming a reality. And in Schaeffer, the project seems to be in hella talented hands.

First and foremost, Marvel execs apparently met with Johansson to talk over what they’re looking for in a screenwriter, so it seems likely that Black Widow herself signed off on Schaeffer. We sure hope so, because who wouldn’t trust the word of this heroine extraordinaire, you know?

Not only that, but Schaeffer seems to have Catwoman’s, er, Anne Hathaway’s seal of approval. Schaeffer is behind the scripts for The Shower and Nasty Women, both of which star the Dark Knight Rises actress. ALSO, Schaeffer wrote Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, so she has a history with Disney.

Like we said, hella talented hands.

Again, this Black Widow standalone film is in very early stages, BUT we’re hopeful that it’ll come together because this is such a promising step! Now, if we could just get that all-female MCU movie to happen too…