As the Marvel Cinematic Universe gears up for its next leap forward, it’s first going to take a look back with Black Widow, a solo movie all about everyone’s favorite morally flexible superspy, Natasha Romanoff. As should be obvious to anyone who watched Avengers: Endgame, this movie is a prequel, set after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Natasha is alone and on the run, forced to contend with her dark past as she returns home.
Although there were plans for a Black Widow movies as early as 2004, years before Johansson was even cast in the role, it look a very long time for it to finally materialize. Other than Hawkeye, who’s getting his own Disney+ series, she’s the last of the original Avengers to get her own movie (yes, I’m counting that Hulk movie starring Edward Norton as his solo pic). That’s a shame, since she’s always been a fascinating character. But based on the trailer for Black Widow, it looks like Johansson, director Cate Shortland, and the rest of the team at Marvel are doing their best to make up for lost time:
I think that looks pretty badass. I like the scary music, the tense fight scenes, that cool white outfit and the focus on Romanoff’s character. And seeing Stranger Things star David Harbour try to squeeze himself back into his old superhero suit — he plays a character named Red Guardian — is pretty fun, too.
As a character without actual superpowers, Black Widow presents Marvel with an opportunity to make a different kind of movie, something a little grittier and streamlined than, say, Infinity War. To this day, Captain American: The Winter Soldier is one of my favorite movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That movie kept things pretty grounded…relatively speaking. If Black Widow takes after that, we could have a winner on our hands.
Black Window, the twenty-fourth MCU film, is due out in May of 2020.
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