In a COVID-19-less world, we would be two months removed from Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow.” Unfortunately, we don’t live in this paradise and the global pandemic has kept movie theaters shut down for months, pushing the superhero film to November. But with the light at the end of the tunnel coming soon for cinemas (hopefully, at least), we can start looking ahead to “Black Widow” and what seems to be less of a prequel/filler film and more of a new beginning.
Speaking to Empire, “Black Widow” filmmaker Cate Shortland talked about how Marvel Studios didn’t want to do a typical origin story prequel for the new feature. And instead, the filmmaker talked about how the superhero film serves as a launching point for one character and closure for another.
“[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction,” the director said. “And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett [Johansson] is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
For those unfamiliar with the “Black Widow” comic books, the character, Yelena, that Pugh plays in the film is a hero that ends up taking over the Black Widow title for a short time. So, when it was announced that Pugh was in the film, many fans assumed this meant she would take over for Johansson, whose Natasha character died at the end of “Avengers: Endgame.” And it appears that folks might have guessed right. By the end of “Black Widow,” we could be looking at a very different version of the character.
As for the controversy surrounding Natasha’s death in “Endgame” and the fact that her character (a founding Avenger) wasn’t given a proper funeral, Shortland thinks the story ended in a perfect way for the character.
“In ‘Endgame,’ the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral,” said Shortland. “Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral. She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”
The final chapter for Scarlett Johansson in the MCU and maybe the introduction of a new Black Widow arrives in theaters on November 5.