So, after 23 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and nine years after the character’s debut in Iron Man 2, we are FINALLY getting a Black Widow movie.
Honestly, if this was coming out three years ago, just after Captain America: Civil War, I would have been very excited for Black Widow. As it stands right now, when I saw the trailer dropped, I can say that I was kind of disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed in the trailer. The trailer actually looks really cool. I was disappointed that it’s taken NINE YEARS to give Black Widow her own standalone movie because now it’s too late. The MCU’s Black Widow is dead after the events of Avengers: Endgame. There is no reason to give her a movie when there’s no risk to the character because we have already seen how the MCU’s Black Widow’s story ended. With all that being said, the trailer was cool, I just wish I was more excited for it.
The trailer opens with the narration of Black Widow’s speech from Endgame about how she had been lost but when she became an Avenger and got people who she could call family, she had a purpose. This is the first indication that there is actually no point in this movie for the narrative of the overarching plot of the MCU. We, the audience, know she’s dead, she died getting the Soul Stone. The movie is clearly placed after the events of Civil War, when Black Widow had to go on the run after helping the Avengers who didn’t sign the Sokovia Accords. We see General Ross, de-aged, asking Natasha what she was going to do now that she was a fugitive.
Naturally, Natasha decides to go back to Russia, back to the Red Room. The best part of the trailer is Natasha sneaking around the house and running into one of the other Black Widows – Natasha’s sorta sister Yelena Belova. Their fight scene’s very reminiscent of Natasha’s first big fight scene, the hallway scene in Iron Man 2. The interactions between Natasha, Yelena and later Rachel Weisz‘s character Melina, another Black Widow with their “father figure” Soviet knock-off Captain America, Red Guardian are hilarious in that awkward family reunion kind of way. Red Guardian will steal the show, mark my words, I can feel the hoards of Stranger Things fans flocking to the theaters to see him. Nat, Yelena, Melina and Red Guardian do have some cool looks.
The first looks at Taskmaster are… not good. Taskmaster is supposed to be one of the most dangerous mercenaries-for-hire, with the ability to copy anyone’s fighting style after only seeing it once. His costume looks lame.
The feel for the entire trailer is very much steeped in the genre of spy-action thriller. It is what I expected that the Black Widow movie would be when we are wishing for it. I see a lot of people comparing it to the Bourne franchise and other similar movies, including Hollywood tries at making their own Black Widow-esque movies. This is not a bad thing. Marvel does have the trend of their solo movies feeling less like a comic book superhero movie and more like 3/4’s of it being of a different genre altogether and remembering in the last 1/4th that it’s a superhero movie. The clips of the fights and explosions all look awesome.
I really wish this movie came out earlier, because I think as a standalone movie, it’s going to be really very good. Not to compare Black Widow to Captain Marvel (but I am anyway, because the first MCU female-led superhero movie was a disappointment because it didn’t know what it wanted to be and tried too hard) just based on this first trailer, but I think Marvel Studios’ dropped the ball big time because THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST MCU FEMALE-LED MOVIE!!! Black Widow does not seem to be trying to be a girl power or Hollywood feminist thing like whatever Captain Marvel was trying to do. It’s a movie about Black Widow, who just so happens to be a female. How annoying is it to have this movie come so late to the game when this character’s time has passed?
Nonetheless, while the trailer looked very promising, it’s definitely out of place and I think, a little too late.
Are you looking forward to Black Widow? Or has the superhero movie fatigue set in after so long? Let us know in the comments or send us your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter! Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter!
