Better late than never, though still incredibly tardy to the party, Marvel has finally come to their senses: Black Widow is getting her very own movie. After years of promising to give everyone’s favorite Avenger a proper outing (and after just about everyone involved in the MCU urged them to do so), the studio has tapped a screenwriter for Scarlett Johansson’s long-overdue solo film — and she’s a promising one, too.

Per The Wrap, Marvel has hired Blacklist favorite Jac Schaeffer to script Black Widow, which will presumably follow Scarlett Johansson’s deadly Russian spy-turned-superhero on her own mission. Johansson is expected to reprise the fan-favorite role of Natalie Rushman, aka Natalia Romanova, aka Black Widow in the project, though it’s unclear exactly where it might fall on Marvel’s upcoming release schedule.

Schaeffer, who previously scripted the 2009 indie TiMER, landed on the Blacklist with her screenplay for The Shower — a sci-fi action comedy that will star Anne Hathaway. The actress is also appearing in another Schaeffer project: Nasty Women, a gender-swapped remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, set to co-star Rebel Wilson.

In the years since Johansson’s Black Widow debuted in Iron Man 2, she’s become a huge favorite — with fans clamoring for more of the mysterious human hero (and more merchandise featuring the character, who hasn’t always been included in toy sets). Everyone from Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans to Marvel filmmaking duo Joe and Anthony Russo have voiced their support for a Black Widow movie, and despite expressing the studio’s interest in delivering one, Marvel head Kevin Feige has yet to do so.

Until now. It’s unclear what exactly changed behind the scenes, though the exit of Ike Perlmutter from his post at Marvel may have helped; the executive was heavily rumored to be opposed to female-centric projects. Maybe it’s that the upcoming film Red Sparrow may have beaten them to the punch; the film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian spy, features a storyline very similar to Black Widow’s own origins. It may have also been a timing issue; over the last few years, the MCU has slowly grown more ambitious and diverse, and has finally started breaking from its formula — though it’s been an incredibly slow process.

Whatever the case may be, we are totally thrilled for a Black Widow movie. It’s about damn time.

More From ScreenCrush