The Next ‘Men In Black’ Movie Will Feature A Woman In Black
The final moments of the firstMen in Blackteased a new partnership betweenWill Smith’s Agent Jay andLinda Fiorentino’s newly recruited Laurel Weaver, with the former rookie and the former mortician stepping up to protect the Earth from the scum of the universe. This was not-so-elegantly sidestepped in the sequel, where Fiorentino was nowhere to be found while the movie bent over backwards to bringTommy Lee Jones' Agent Kay back into the mix.
So a female MiB agent is not unprecedented – we got all of 30 seconds of a Woman in Black back in 1997. Now, the series producers are promising thatMen in Black 4will feature a female lead character. So go ahead and add this franchise to the growing list of movies that are ready to step into the 21st century.
Speaking with theBBC, producerLaurie McDonaldsaid that the next movie, which has yet to take any kind of real shape, won’t be so literal with the “men” part ofMen in Black:
“There will be a prominent woman in black in the fourth [film].”
Unless she’s actually talking about including aDaniel Radcliffe-stalking ghostin the next movie (and that would be one helluva crossover), that means the next movie will finally deliver what the first movie promised: a woman in a black suit, armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry, and ready to police Earth’s alien population.
Literally the only thing wrong with this concept is that all of those sexist nerds who are still whining and moaning about the female reboot ofGhostbusterswill probably decide they’re hugeMen in Blackfans just so they can moan about this, too. Sorry, guys: you’re living in the age of Furiosa now. Your beloved geek properties will no longer ignore the 51% of the world’s population. Move on.
But who would partner up with this lady MiB agent? Could Will Smith make a return to the franchisetwo years after saying he was finished with the series? After all, anew trilogy of movies is in the worksand the current plans do not involve Smith. However, McDonald’s fellow producer,Walter Parkes, told the BBC to “Never count Will out,” so let’s see how Smith feels afterConcussionis released next month. After turning down theIndependence Daysequel, he may find himself itching to dive back into a reliable franchise.
And we’re sureMen in Black 4would take him. The fact that Sony briefly toyed with the thought ofmaking the next movie a crossover with the21 Jump Streetseriesis proof that no one really knows what they’re doing yet. An aging Agent Jay train a new female recruit is a pretty solid pitch and would allow Smith to pass the torch to a new cast.
