The first installment of Phase 4 in the over-a-decade-old Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise of superhero films has made a tough call. Even as the summer premieres of some blockbuster movies like the 25th James Bond film “No Time to Die” have been pushed back out of concerns for the 2019 novel coronavirus, the MCU’s latest adventure is stick by to its May 1 release date. As if to further reinforce the fact that its premiere will not change, Marvel Studios has released its final trailer for “Black Widow” starring Scarlett Johansson. And the details showcased here only serve to intensify the need to see it.
According to Entertainment Weekly, one last trailer for Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow” was released this past Monday, March 9. From this final long preview before the premiere itself on May 1, a hefty amount of info is dumped on the viewer regarding the circumstances that Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanov finds herself after the events of “Captain America: Civil War” (2016). From the details dropped in this trailer, some interesting facts are discovered about the featured Marvel Comics characters, including the alteration in backstory for the most notable antagonist seen in the movie itself thus far.
That would be the backstory of the Taskmaster, the masked opponent that Natasha takes on in several scenes from past trailers. One sequence where he fights Nat in mirrored moves was revealed to be an attempt by him on her life. He also appears to have footage of Romanov from her “Iron Man 2” fight scene, illustrating his ability to learn fighting styles via “photographic reflexes” like in the comics. The difference is while the comic-book Taskmaster is a mercenary, this one is revealed to be the current overseer of the Red Room, the Soviet-era covert training program that “created” Nat as the Black Widow.
Said Red Room, as hinted in prior previews, has a fresh batch of trained Black Widow operatives set to take on Romanov and her peers from the Widow program of her generation. Thus with her “sisters” Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), plus their former minder Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), they are set to shut the Red Room down for good.
Cate Shortland directs this solo MCU movie of the franchise’s first prominent female hero-spy, with Scarlett Johansson costarring with William Hurt and Ray Winstone. Incredibly, the actor playing Taskmaster remains unrevealed. “Black Widow” premieres May 1.
Image courtesy of Slash Gear
Morgan Magazine 