Black Widow is probably on many comic book fans’ list of most anticipated movies of the year. This prequel which is set in between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War will most likely be Scarlett Johansson’s last outing in the MCU, at least for the foreseeable future. After all, Natasha Romanoff dies in 2019’s epic Avengers: Endgame.
From the trailers, we know that Black Widow will not only revolve around Natasha but also her family members. The family includes David Harbour as Red Guardian, Rachel Weiss’ Melina Vostokoff, a seasoned spy who was trained in the Red Room before Natasha and preceded her as a Black Widow, and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Natasha’s sister.
Since it was announced that Florence Pugh was going to be playing Natasha’s sister, many began speculating that she will go on to take on the mantle of Black Widow. Well, now Black Widow director Cate Shortland has confirmed this speculation, in an interview with Empire. She said:
“[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction. 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 also said that Black Widow will serve as a proper sendoff for Natasha Romanoff.
“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. 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.”
