Natasha Romanoff may have met her demise on Vormir during Avengers: Endgame, but if you know anything about comic book movies then you’ll know that being dead hasn’t stopped anyone before. Next year’s Black Widow marks the long-awaited debut solo movie for Scarlett Johansson’s fan-favorite character, and while it was public knowledge that it would be a prequel set in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, the recently-released first trailer shed much more light on the story.
David Harbour’s Red Guardian may have stolen the show in the promo footage as an out of shape super-soldier, but the real heart of the narrative looks to be the relationship between Natasha and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. The 23 year-old English actress is one of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars, giving memorable performances in the likes of Fighting with My Family, Midsommar and Little Women, with a high-profile role in a Marvel Studios blockbuster only set to increase her fame.
In a recent interview, Pugh offered up some new details on Black Widow, admitting that the level of secrecy Marvel maintains on their projects makes it difficult to reveal too much, but had nothing but high praise for what director Cate Shortland had put together.
“I’m not bad at keeping secrets, it’s just that you don’t know what you can and can’t say. I can say it was epic on all levels. It is very unique to and special to be in this era of superhero films with Scarlett and all these women who have been desperate to make a story about this character for so long, I got to see the Black Widow in action!”
Pugh also went on to say that she was game to take on her fair share of the stunt-work, which must have been a huge departure for someone with very little experience in the big budget realm to jump straight in to the hands-on nature of the MCU and start throwing down against some of the world’s biggest movie stars.
“I really enjoy stuns. I wanted to do as many stunts as possible, so straight away I learn kickboxing and knife training! I’d only known Scarlett for a week when we started beating each other up.”
Hopefully Pugh’s enthusiasm will translate to the big screen, especially given the rumors that Yelena will go on to become a recurring character within the MCU, and may possibly take up the mantle of Black Widow now that Natasha is out of the picture. A section of fans made it known that they weren’t happy with Taskmaster, but on the whole, the first trailer for the movie was generally well-received. Which is certainly a good thing, because as the first entry in Phase Four, Black Widow needs to come out of the gate strong and set the tone for the studio’s first wave of post-Endgame output.
