Marvel’s return to Hall H on Saturday of SDCC came with many shocks bigger than the announcement of the Black Widow film, however, there are a few new things we learned about Natasha Romanoff’s first solo outing that make it rather newsworthy indeed.
First off, we now know the location of the film, as heavily suspected, will indeed be Budapest. It is set to be directed by Cate Shortland and will be released on 1st May 2020, making it the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film of phase four, and the first post-Infinity Saga film we’ll see. However, it actually takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, and not before Iron Man, as some fans expected to see a full-blown origin story for Natasha. It does, in fact, seem like a strange way to finally bring about the Black Widow solo outing, though Johansson herself thinks it is the perfect time for this movie. We also have a small amount of information about the actors and characters we’ll see in the film, which, due to the magical 70 years of Marvel Comics history surrounding the characters, we can turn into rather a large amount of conjecture quickly.
The Next Black Widow?
The first actor announced to be joining the film by Marvel was Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family, Midsommer) who is on the rise as a star and therefore, as we all must, in the end, is joining the MCU. She’s set to play a character called Yelena Belova, who is described as being like a sister to Natasha, although in footage that was shown after the announcement at SDCC, apparently Yelena was seen fighting Natasha rather viciously. Now, this is interesting because, in Marvel Comics, Yelena Belova was the second character, after Natasha Romanoff, to take on the mantle of the Black Widow. We’ve been assuming that, due to Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame, there was nothing in her solo film to further the future of the MCU. However, what if Yelena is a former Soviet agent (or current agent?) and comes after Natasha, but becomes an ally by the end of the film, and then in the post-credits, we see a tease towards her taking on the mantle of the Black Widow post-Endgame? We’d get a chance to see the full evolution of a Black Widow from villain to hero over the course of this and future films that way, and Florence Pugh would be signed on for a number of films, as an amazingly talented rising star such as this should be!
Natasha’s Husband?
That’s (potentially) right! David Harbour (Stranger Things, Hellboy) is coming to the MCU and is playing a character called Alexi, which is likely to mean Alexi Shostakov, who in Marvel Comics was a Russian test pilot that was, at one time, married to Natasha Romanoff and later became the Red Guardian, a Soviet answer to Captain America. He’s also held the title of Ronin at one stage, which was the role Clint Barton seemed to take on in Avengers: Endgame. This could be an intriguing character, even if he is a different take that isn’t Natasha’s former flame, he’s sure to be from her soviet past and that’ll make for some interesting exploration through the film.
A New Flame?
Say what you want about the romantic undertones (and occasional overtones) that Natasha has had with many fellow Avengers (how is Chris Hemsworth the one she never had sexual tension with?) but it looks like she’s moving on to somebody new in this film, as O.T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) will be starring in the film as Mason, and he described his character as a “fixer and former SHIELD contact” while also potentially being a love interest for Natasha in this film, although it seems that the interest may be more on his side of things than hers.
The Iron Maiden?
Marvel, aside from announcing this as only their second female-led superhero film, and adding the incredible likes of Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and a female Thor to their universe, also added Rachel Weisz as a character called Melina, who has apparently been through the red room’s Black Widow program several times. This likely refers to Melina Vostokoff, known in the comics as the Iron Maiden, a spy forced to live in the shadow of Natasha, who grew resentful and left to become a freelance mercenary. It’s likely that she won’t be on Natasha’s side of things in the film.
The Taskmaster!
While this is already a wealth of characters with a rich history in the comics and likely with Natasha in the MCU, we also know who the main villain of the piece is to be, even if we don’t know who is playing him (if it is, indeed, him). It was revealed at the panel that Taskmaster, a character known in Marvel Comics for being able to mimic any physical movement he sees, an ability (if not quite a superpower) which allowed him to instantly learn and copy the fighting style of anyone he came across, making him an almost undefeatable foe when he went up against the likes of Captain America, Iron Fist and Daredevil. The same would go for Black Widow, and I imagine it will in this film, but while we saw the masked villain face-off against Natasha at the end of the footage shown at the panel, we don’t know who is playing Taskmaster. We never find out in the comics the true identity of this villain, but in the MCU it feels likely that we will discover the man (or woman?) behind the mask, whether it is one of the actors already revealed and hiding the fact that they’re actually Taskmaster, or another actor yet to be revealed, it’ll be an interesting discovery to make.
What Happens In Budapest…
We may finally find out some of what happens in Budapest in this film, even if Hawkeye isn’t going to be involved, or their original mission so famously mentioned in multiple films up to this point. With all of these intriguing characters with such previously unknown deep history with Natasha, we’re likely to discover fascinating new facets behind her character we could never have guessed at before now.
Until it goes down though, there’s not much more to say, except that I’m suddenly very hyped to see Natasha get her opportunity to lead a film on her own!
