The final Black Widow trailer dropped today for the movie which premiers May 1st, 2020. The new trailer officially stated the villains name, Taskmaster, a villain who can imitate the moves and fighting style of any opponent. The trailer also revealed some of the awesome fight scenes that Marvel movies are known for.
Scarlett Johansson plays Natasha Romanoff, not the first, but one of the most revered Black Widows to walk out of the Red Room Academy, ex-SHIELD agent, and Avenger. Florence Pugh plays Yelena Belova, one of the most feared and skilled Black Widow assassins following Natasha Romanoff’s exit from the Red Room Academy. Florence Pugh has been on my radar for a long time, so to see her amazing acting skills shine through in an area that I care so much about is thrilling. Rachel Weisz and David Harbour play two characters that are less known, but are going to be very important to the plot line and weaving Natasha Romanoff’s past to her present. Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark will also be making an appearance- thank God because I was missing that man.
If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame yet then stop reading, but get on it because we’re almost a year past the release date so I definitely don’t have to give that warning.
In Avengers: Endgame, Natasha Romanoff doesn’t survive. Her character’s ending felt very incomplete to me as an audience member. She had just spent five years leading the Avengers while her best friend went on a vigilante kick and all her other teammates were scattered. She had reached a moment in her career where she led the organization that saved her life, then she died to further their success. To recall back to the Green Lantern movie, she got fridged. It’s an ending that no character deserves, but sadly one that Natasha Romanoff received. It really pissed me off.
The official announcement of a Black Widow movie was some of the best news that I could recall from 2019. Of course there was getting into college and graduating high school, but this was definitely in the top five! The Black Widow movie has been in demand by the fandom since she first appeared in Iron Man 2 back in 2010. Since she was introduced as a seductive assistant, the fandom has demanded to see the complicated and tragic backstory that Natasha Romanoff is known for. We saw bits and pieces in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Captain America: Civil War (2016),but it all stayed pretty cryptic until now.
Black Widow (2020) jumps back in time to right after Captain America: Civil War (2016). Throughout the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, clues have been dropped about Natasha wanting to seek out her past. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), she dumped her history on the internet for the entire world to see, but not us in the audience. Some of her time at the Red Room was detailed in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) as she explored a romantic tryst with Bruce Banner. Even in Avengers: Endgame (2019) we hear someone call her “Daughter of Ivan”, presumably her real father she never knew.
This is a movie that celebrates female strength and the power that women have. It’s not the first Marvel movie with a female lead, but it is one of the most anticipated. Black Widow is one of the strongest Avengers in the comic books and this movie will just accentuate the strength that she’s had in the films thus far. All the ladies that surround Black Widow in this film, I predict, will elevate the quality and the strength this film already radiates.
This movie will not only satisfy the demands of the fandom for a movie based on the original female MCU avenger, but it will give the character a chance to rest at peace. It will give the character closure for finally exploring the complexity and not just using Natasha as a crutch for her male counterparts. I, for one, am excited to see this action packed movie unfold on screen and, while it will be sad, say goodbye to one of my favorite characters properly.