Marvel fans have cried out for a standalone Black Widow film for many years. And now, they are finally getting it. Natasha Romanoff, despite her apparent permanent goodbye in Avengers: Endgame will be returning to the big-screen to launch Marvel’s eagerly-anticipated Phase 4
Marvel Studios has been very secretive about Black Widow, and only revealed a few details via television advertisements and trailers. The following is what we currently know about Black Widow, scheduled for release on July 9, 2019.
It’s the home stretch
Marvel Phase 4 officially begins on July 9, Black Widow. After nearly an entire year of delays, the release is finally approaching. Disney has been promoting the movie on social media.
Winter Guard
David Harbour revealed in an Instagram post that Ursa minor, Crimson Dynamo and Sputnik will all appear in Black Widow.
The New Trailer
Disney has finally decided to release Black Widow on the 9th of July after nearly a whole year’s delay. They have released a brand new trailer that focuses on Black Widow’s Avengers origins. Disney is looking back to her Avengers teammates and the original The Avengers score to create Black Widow’s future.
Release Date
Disney had to postpone several films, including Black Widow, in March due to a coronavirus outbreak. In November, the studio released a new date for release. However, in September there was rumor that Disney may delay another Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. Disney confirmed the delay, pushing back the premiere date of Marvel Cinematic Universe to May 7, 2020.
Disney reportedly reconsidered the release of Tenet after the box office response was reportedly weak.
After several delays, Black Widow has finally been given an official release date. Disney announced on Twitter the release date of Black Widow, which will take place on July 9 in both theaters and Disney+.
Black Widow is in cinemas on July 9, and available via #DisneyPlus Premier Access. There are additional fees. pic.twitter.com/nXBjsHoXtY
Disney+ (@disneyplus), March 23, 2021
The whole family
David Harbour, in an interview with the Black Widow coffee-table book that accompanied the film’s release, revealed more details about the main protagonists.
Harbour explained that the two characters were set up in America as a family of spies in the 1990s. Rachel Weisz’s character Melina was their mom. Alexei, the father, had Natasha, Yelena as little children. In the beginning, we see them as a sort of family. Black Widow is based on Soviet-appointed spy families.
Alexei Harbour is now trying to bring the unit together again and to help Natasha discover a piece of her lost identity. It’s been 20 years since they split. Alexei knew Natasha better than anyone else when she was young. He brought her out of the Red Room, and then put her right back in the Red Room.
Imax Extras:
A casual report was made in an Imax earnings conference that Black Widow Imax screens will feature 30 minutes of 1.90:1 expanded footage. This film was always intended to be a theatrical release rather than a video-on demand one, even with the pandemic. The news of additional footage confirms this.
missed news from yesterday’s IMAX earnings call – 30 minutes of #BlackWidow will be presented in expanded 1.90:1 in IMAX pic.twitter.com/p2Uh1atS6r
— Anton Volkov (@antovolk) July 29, 2020
Hand the baton
Cate Shortland, the director of Empire’s Black Widow film, confirmed in an interview that Florence Pugh as Yelena will be “handing over” Black Widow to Florence Pugh. It would appear that Yelena Belova will become the MCU Black Widow in future.
“[Kevin Feige] recognized that the audience expected an origin story, so we, of course went the opposite way,” She said. We didn’t realize how amazing Florence Pugh was. “We knew Florence Pugh would be great but didn’t realize how great. Scarlett’s graciousness is amazing. She’s like “Oh, here’s the baton.
Don’t plan the future of MCU in your mind just yet. Pugh told Total Film, via Games Radar that she wanted to see if the public liked Yelena before considering more Marvel films. If you are asked to appear in a Marvel movie and the experience was thrilling, fun, and exhilarating, it is natural to think: “Oh my god.” What’s next? If it goes well, and people like my character then that is an exciting journey to follow,” said she. It would be foolish of me not to be thrilled by this. It is an honor to be a part of Marvel. We’ll see how people react to Yelena.
Images
Black Widow continues to receive new images despite the delay in its release. Total Film has released new promotional images for Black Widow.
Natasha Yelena Taskmaster ??? #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/JUBQP2V1zz
The Total Film Company (@totalfilm), September 16, 2020
Two new movies were acquired by the movie website, /Film in April.
Empire released exclusive photos in March.
Twitter released a couple more on the 20th and 21st of March 2020.
New Promo Image #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/bly2PQB7ZA
Black Widow Movie @BlackWidow_Film March 20, 2020
New Stills from #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/VGXONiDIWj
Black Widow Movie — March 20, 2020 (@BlackWidow_Film).
Taskmaster parece amenazante en esta nueva imagen promocional de #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/sZsjYLe7FZ
— MarvelFlix (@MarvelFlix) March 21, 2020
Watch trailers and get a sneak preview
Black Widow’s latest trailer gives a deeper insight into the film. This trailer is full of new action sequences and the primary objective of Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. In the film’s logline, it is stated that Black Widow must confront “the darkest parts of her ledger” when a deadly conspiracy with links to her past emerges. Natasha is being pursued by an enemy that won’t stop until she falls. She must also deal with the past as a spy, and her broken relationships from before her time as an Avenger.
Black Widow’s presence was made known in February during the Super Bowl with an ad that featured some new footage of the film. The 30-second trailer introduced the audience to her team, which she referred to as “her family” before The Avengers.
Marvel unveiled a brand new Black Widow trailer (see below), during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in January. The preview featured a lot more Taskmaster footage, the Marvel Comics character who makes his first live-action appearance in Black Widow.
Marvel released the first Black Widow footage via a teaser for the movie (see below). The trailer showed the character returning to the area where her deadly career began as a superspy.
The trailer not only gave us a glimpse at Scarlett Johansson as the title superhero but also revealed Florence Pugh, who played superspy Yelena Belova, Stranger Things’ David Harbour, as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz, as Melina Voistokoff aka Iron Maiden. This preview gave us our first glimpse at Taskmaster.
New look, new poster, new characters
Black Widow featured in several Marvel updates at Disney’s D23 Expo, which took place in August 2019. This included a sneak peek of Natasha in her new suit, which is not black.
The #BlackWidow concept art revealed today shows Natasha Romanoff in her brand new white suit. pic.twitter.com/9ILTRmlJNX
MCU The Direct August 25, 2019.
The superspy suit, which was on display at the event to give attendees a close-up look of the new threads for the spy’s outfits.
Andy Park, the artist who painted the Black Widow movie poster has also released the teaser.
BLACK WIDOW!!!! D23 official poster that I was honored to paint. It’s my gazillionth concept design/painting of her, so she’s dear to me. It’s a great cast and crew. #BlackWidow @MarvelStudios #ScarlettJohansson @Florence_Pugh @DavidKHarbour #RachelWeisz @DisneyD23 pic.twitter.com/fxMOI4fJ5R
Andy Park (@andyparkart), August 25, 2019.
It features Johansson in her role as titular agent, with Taskmaster as the antagonist. The background also shows the actor David Harbour as Red Guardian.
Cast
Scarlett Johansson is the star of Black Widow, and she will wear the stealth suit that Black Widow uses for the 8th time. Johansson is the Black Widow she has been since 2010 when Iron Man 2 was her debut. Johansson has played Black Widow in four Avengers films, Captain America The Winter Soldier and Captain America Civil War.
Florence Pugh will join her in Black Widow, playing Natasha and Yelena, Natasha’s Red Room classmate. Pugh is one of Hollywood’s most promising rising stars. She made her debut in The Falling (2014).
She has received rave reviews from her role in Lady Macbeth. Recently, she appeared in Fighting with My Family, Ari Aster’s chilling sequel to Hereditary, as well as Midsommar.
David Harbour will also appear as The Red Guardian in Black Widow, which is the Russian version of Captain America, and in Marvel comics Natasha’s former husband.
Rachel Weisz joined the cast in the role of Melina Vostokoff aka Iron Maiden. O-T Fagbenle also played a part that was not specified.
Plot and timeline
Marvel revealed at Comic-Con International 2019 that Black Widow will be a prequel movie that takes place between Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War.
If you need to be reminded, Civil War concluded with Black Widow running from Iron Man and his pro-oversight forces after she helped Captain America escape the prosecution. Infinity War forced Black Widow to come out of hiding.
Walt Disney Studios
Marvel has also revealed that Taskmaster will be one of Black Widow’s villains. Taskmaster, a mercenary in the comics who is capable of mimicking the style and fighting technique of his opponents. In the comics, Taskmaster is a mercenary who can mimic any opponent’s fighting style.
Florence Pugh can be used to make some predictions. Pugh’s character Yelena is the product of the Red Room in the comics, the mysterious Soviet brainwashing and training facility which creates Black Widows. (Yes, there are several). In 1999, Yelena was an evil villain with all the abilities of Natasha. They were both trained at the Red Room, and they had the same training.
It’s already an MCU canon, as it was mentioned in Agent Carter and Avengers: Age of Ultron. It will also play an important role in Black Widow. If Natasha Romanoff is really done with the MCU after Black Widow then it would not be shocking to see Yelena taking on the Black Widow role. Captain America, Hawkeye and Thor will also be replaced in the MCU. One more is nothing.
The camera behind the lens
Cate Shortland is directing Black Widow. She’s most famous for her Nazi drama Lore. Shortland directed Berlin Syndrome in 2017, a psychological thriller that follows a young woman photographer who is held hostage by her one night stand. Shortland was chosen over 70 directors to play the part, according to Johansson.
Jac Schaeffer wrote the script for Black Widow. Her credits include Timer, her first film, and The Shower. The Shower was a popular script in Hollywood, earning a place on Hollywood’s Black List. Schaeffer wrote also the script for Nasty Women, an upcoming female-led remake Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which stars Anne Hathaway Rebel Wilson and Alex Sharp.
Super spy gets a big paycheck
Marvel has decided that Johansson will be paid accordingly for her solo film. The Marvel veteran is set to earn $15 million for Black Widow. This amount equals what Chris Evans earned as Captain America in Infinity War, and Chris Hemsworth’s earnings from Thor and Captain America, respectively.
Comparatively, Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman reportedly earned $2 million for his first solo film, while Brie Larson is reported to have made $5 million in Captain Marvel, which required that she sign a 7-movie Marvel deal.
Johansson did not make Black Widow for money alone. This is a project that’s also personal. The actress said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that at first she worried she would not “be able make a film that I wanted within Marvel” and that only after Marvel agreed that they could combine some of her original ideas with the ones proposed by Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, did she sign on for Black Widow.