In the words of my sainted, late grandmother: What in the damn-hell took you so long? During a conversation with Deadline about this weekend’s domestic release of Captain America: Civil War, Kevin Feige said that Marvel Studios is “creatively and emotionally” committed to a solo movie featuring Black Widow, AKA Natascha Romanoff. The character, portrayed in some half-dozen MCU titles by Scarlett Johanssen, has been at the center of great controversy over the last few years, as the only reason that the character hasn’t garnered a solo movie has been that she’s a she. Here’s what Feige said to Deadline about the chances for Black Widow:

DEADLINE: You’ve got a bunch of characters in this movie from Falcon and War Machine and Black Widow and Hawkeye, who have so far guest starred in movies with another characters title above the fold. Is there one destined to get a solo movie down the line? FEIGE: We’ve announced the next nine movies, 10 counting Civil War, through the end of 2019. Where we go beyond that are ongoing discussions that we’ll focus on in the next few years because we have a lot to do before then. Of the characters that you’ve just mentioned I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow.

This move, from the head of Marvel Studios, seemingly begins to apply balm to this ugly situation, not helped by Marvel’s longtime refusal to market the character as strongly as the male core figures of The Avengers. One does have to wonder why, in the wake of the political-paranoia tint of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a fine movie, a project centered on the most politically influenced character in the whole damn series hasn’t been given the go-ahead. This isn’t even bringing up the fact that it would be a non-whitewashing film anchored by Scarlett “I Run This Shit” Johanssen, one of the most bankable performers currently on Hollywood’s main stage.

Even Joe and Anthony Russo, the fraternal team behind Captain America: Civil War, recently discussed the prospect of a Black Widow movie with Collider as being, and I quote, “a no-brainer.” With Feige’s comments, hopefully we can see some real movement on the project soon, and here’s hoping that they can go the Wonder Woman route and get a female director to lead the project. I’d cast my vote for Amy Seimetz, who just did a bang-up job with Starz’s The Girlfriend Experience, alongside collaborator Lodge Kerrigan, but there’s plenty of other choices that would raise eyebrows. Imagine, if you would, a world where Kathryn Bigelow could make a Black Widow movie under the Marvel Studios banner without sacrificing her sterling integrity. It’s a dream, I know, but it’s an awfully nice one.