Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige revealed a ton of MCU news during Friday’s Disney+ presentation, and he came back for more at Saturday’s Walt Disney Studios presentation as well. Feige’s main topic of discussion this time around? The long-overdue Black Widow picture starring Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, which will help launch Phase 4 with a new “unexpected” vibe as Disney pushes forward with their superhero cache (including Kit Harington joining The Eternals, which was unveiled in a flash during Feige’s time onstage). As previously revealed at San Diego Comic-Con by Rachel Weisz (who plays Melina Vostokoff), the movie revolves around multiple Black Widows including herself as well as Johansson and Florence Pugh (as Yelena Belova). Did we receive any good glimpses of the film at D23? Oh yes.
Black Widow did a footage rollout. The resulting action-stuffed minutes kick off with a “Budapest” title card, and that (as any MCU obsessive knows) means that whatever happens there is central to Natasha Romanoff’s background. After all, she and Hawkeye briefly discussed some sort of operation there (with Natasha ambiguously stating, “You and I remember Budapest very differently”) while battling the Chitauri in The Avengers. Nick Fury also mentions Budapest during Captain Marvel. Well, this film takes places after the events of Captain America: Civil War when Natasha strikes off on her own, so what happens there during the D23 footage? A lot of fighting after Natasha returns home.
A main attraction in this footage happens to be a spectacular round of hand-to-hand combat between Johansson and Pugh as they throw down in … a kitchen. They whirl around each other in a gorgeously choreographed confrontation, each getting some good slams in, before they take a breather, and it becomes evident that this is the way these “sisters” greet each other upon coming home. That leads to a scene where Natasha, Yelena, and Melina all sit around a table with David Harbour’s character (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian) talking about how great it is to have the family back together again. Also within the footage, Yelena fires a shot at Natasha’s “pose.” You know the move she’s talking about — the crouch that hails back to Iron Man 2.
Yes, Yelena calls Natasha out as “a poser” while asking why she always has to add that flourish. We also got to see Natasha in an all-white suit while doing her pose, and Melina appears in a red, latex suit. Overall, the footage suggest that these three leading ladies leap straight into action (with an obligatory bridge scene and colliding vehicles), and all of it feels like an even more intense Atomic Blonde. Finally, we saw Natasha taking on the Taskmaster, an opponent whose photographic reflexes lead to mimicking maneuvers during fights. He (or she) won’t be an easy one to conquer.
Black Widow will arrive on May 1, 2020.