The upcoming “Black Widow” movie won’t only focus on Scarlett Johansson’s character. It will reportedly introduce a new Black Widow character, giving the Marvel Cinematic Universe a new female lead.
What’s happening:
- “Black Widow” director Cate Shortland told Empire magazine that “Black Widow” will celebrate Johansson’s work as the character, giving her the solo film she has deserved.
- But Shortland told Empire magazine it will introduce Florence Pugh (who plays Yelena) into the universe, paving the way for her to become the Black Widow superheroine in the future.
- Shortland said: “(Kevin Feige) realised that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction,” Shortland tells Empire. “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.”
- Shortland told Empire magazine this will give fans a chance to grieve for Johansson, whose character Natasha died in “Avengers: Endgame.”
- Shortland said: “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,” explains Shortland. “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.”
When does ‘Black Widow’ come out?
- OK so we have to wait for “Black Widow” to hit theaters before we can see how this will all play out in the film.
- “Black Widow” was originally slated to be released on May 1. But the coronavirus pandemic led to movie theater shutting their doors, as I reported for the Deseret News.
- The Marvel film is slated to be released Nov. 6.