By Nancy Sanchez-Diaz
Staff Writer
The future is female, and she’s ready to kick some butt.
In 2020, women will not only headline the biggest DC and Marvel superhero films of the year, they will all be directed by women as well.
For the first time ever, all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe movies coming to the big screen in 2020 are female-led. Despite being a male-dominated genre, comic book movies have embraced leading ladies over the last few years.
Cathy Yan’s female entourage film, “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” will kick-start the year Feb. 7 with the return of the beloved supervillainess Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie.
After her breakup with the Joker, she quickly finds herself aligning with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez).
Harley’s posse is here to take down Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) and Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), who have started targeting Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco).
Next up: Marvel Studios will give fans the long-running leading lady they have waited 10 years to see. “Black Widow” will hit theaters on May 1. After being introduced in 2010’s “Iron Man 2” and dying in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” Black Widow is finally getting a solo movie in 2020 and will be directed by Cate Shortland.
Set between “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” the film follows Black Widow/ Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as she reunites with figures from her past, including Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), as they work to fight her latest foe, Taskmaster.
Vague assertions about her history as an assassin will finally be addressed. Knowing her fate, this one is bound to be a tear-jerker.
Finally, just a month after Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) star lady gets her solo movie, Warner Bros. will bring its leading lady, DC Comics’ Amazon princess, back to the big screen. Following the acclaimed 2017 “Wonder Woman” — the highest grossing superhero origin film — fans are at the edge of their seats for the upcoming sequel.
“Wonder Woman 1984,” due in theaters June 5, will follow Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) as she faces off against Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Cheetah (Kristen Wiig), and somehow reunites with the long-dead past love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine).
Patty Jenkins, who helmed 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” directs a screenplay she wrote with Geoff Johns and David Callaham.
The future is female.
Via Flickr
Actresses Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) at Comic-Con.
