When Marvel Studios’ Black Widow hits theaters on November 6 – after being delayed from its May 1 release due to COVID-19 – fans will see it lead to another female-led superhero movie.
Black Widow director Cate Shortland – the first solo female director in the MCU (Captain Marvel was directed by the team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck) – spoke to Empire, where she revealed Scarlett Johansson‘s title character ‘handing the baton’ to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.
She added that Black Widow is ‘going to propel another female storyline,’ hinting that fans can expect to see Yelena Belova in more MCU movies.
Handing the baton: Black Widow director Cate Shortland – the first solo female director in the MCU (Captain Marvel was directed by the team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck) – spoke to Empire , where she revealed Scarlett Johansson’s title character ‘handing the baton’ to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova
The film is set after the events of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and before 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, with Black Widow a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, forced to confront a conspiracy with ties to her past.
It has been revealed in previous movies that Natasha was trained in the infamous ‘Red Room’ before becoming a KGB agent, with the previous trailers teasing Belova and Red Guardian (David Harbour) also had the same or similar training.
Shortland teased that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, ‘realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction.
Conspiracy: The film is set after the events of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and before 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, with Black Widow a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, forced to confront a conspiracy with ties to her past
‘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 is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline,’ the director added.
Shortland added that this movie will give fans a chance to process her tragic fate in last year’s Avengers: Endgame, where she sacrificed herself on Vormir to Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) could obtain the Soul Stone.
‘In Endgame, the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral,’ the director explained.
Great Florence: ‘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 is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline,’ the director added
‘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,’ Shortland added.
Black Widow will be the first movie in Marvel’s Phase Four lineup, followed by The Eternals on February 12, 2021 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on May 7, 2021.
Fans have been clamoring for a Black Widow stand-alone movie for a decade, since she made her MCU debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2.
Phase Four: Black Widow will be the first movie in Marvel’s Phase Four lineup, followed by The Eternals on February 12, 2021 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on May 7, 2021
Johansson also starred in 2012’s The Avengers, 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel has yet to confirm a new movie surrounding Yelena Belova, or any other characters from Black Widow at this time.
Black Widow also stars Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff, O-T Fagbenie as Mason and William Hurt returning to the MCU as Thaddeus Ross.
Black Widow: Johansson also starred in 2012’s The Avengers, 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame