Black Widow: Florence Pugh in talks to play rival spy in Scarlett Johannson-fronted standalone film

Los Angeles: Florence Pugh is in negotiations to board Scarlett Johansson-fronted Black Widow film.

Florence Pugh (left) may star alongside Scarlett Johansson in Black Widow standalone movie. Twitter

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Rising actor is likely to play a spy on the same level as Natasha Romanoff, likely her moral opposite.

The highly anticipated Marvel stand-alone movie will star Johansson as Romanoff aka Black Widow, an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D and a member of the superhero team, the Avengers.

Johansson's character first appeared in Iron Man 2 (2010) and since then has been a part of The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers : Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and also the upcoming Avengers Endgame.

Black Widow will reportedly be set 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, with Romanoff having now made America her home. This would place the film's events somewhere in mid-2000s.

After Captain Marvel, the film is the second female fronted project in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The shooting is scheduled to begin in London this June.

Australian filmmaker Cate Shorthand of Lore fame is attached to direct. Shortland will become the studio's first female director to helm a standalone film. Jac Schaeffer wrote the most recent draft for the film.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)