Disney and Marvel Studios have released the first trailer for Black Widow, the prequel film following Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff before her ultimate sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame. Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) is set to direct from a script by Ned Benson (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) and Jac Schaefer (The Hustle).
In a recent interview, Johansson opened up about how Black Widow will ultimately be about "self-forgiveness" and "family":
“I don’t have a total perspective on it yet. It’s a film about self-forgiveness. It’s a film about family. I think, in life, we come of age many times in your life and you have these moments where you’re kind of in a transitional phase and then you move sort of beyond it. I think in the Black Widow standalone film the character is […] at a moment of real crisis and throughout the film by facing herself in a lot of ways and all the things that make her her, she actually kind of comes through that crisis on the other side and is able to sort of re-set into a space where she’s a more grounded, self-possessed person. So, that’s her journey.”
Joining Johansson in the cast is Florence Pugh (Midsommar), David Harbour (Hellboy), Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), and O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid's Tale). Plot details are still pretty tightly under wraps, but Marvel did confirm Pugh would be playing Yelena Belova, a character who eventually adopts the Black Widow title in the comics, and Harbour is playing Alexei aka The Red Guardian. Meanwhile, we learned at Comic-Con 2019 that Weisz is playing yet another Black Widow, albeit one who has been through the training and active duty cycle quite a few times.
This. Trailer. Does. Not. Disappoint. And honestly? It kinda felt like it had a high bar to clear there after so much time passing even between Comic-Con and now, in early December. But our first real look at Black Widow teases a movie that has traces of The Bourne Identity while retaining some Marvel-fied humor (looks like Red Guardian might be our comedic relief?). Not gonna lie, it's good to see Johansson back in the saddle and leading her own movie; it's been a long time in the making. Watching her, as Natasha, take one last ride in this world for a story that is so focused on her life that we'll get to say goodbye to her properly feels just and good. As a final note, it seems like both the directing and the score are going to be two standout elements in this film that we'll be talking about more in-depth when the movie actually comes out. What's being shown here in the first trailer hints at a very strong, capable vision that looks and sounds unlike anything we've seen elsewhere in the MCU.
Check out the trailer below. Black Widow hits theaters on May 1, 2020. For more on the film, here is a look at the official poster and a breakdown of the footage shown at D23.