A Black Widow solo movie is coming. And, at Comic-Con 2019, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was joined by star Scarlett Johansson, director Cate Shortland, and several other cast members to debut the first footage.
The footage is not yet online but, here’s what happened.
The footage began with a montage of Widow in all the other Marvel movies with the following voice-over. “I used to have nothing. Then I got this job. This family. I was better because of it. I’ve made mistakes. I can’t go back.”
Then the Marvel Studio logo.
A massive establishing shot and BAM, the word “Budapest” on the screen. A mission that, of course, has been referenced in almost every movie Black Widow has appeared in. And now we get to see it. This is a prequel, y’all.
Widow is walking into an old apartment building with her gun drawn. She’s cautious.
“I know you’re out there,” a voice comes from inside.
“I know you know,” Widow retorts. She goes inside. “So do you want to talk like grown ups?” Widow asks. She turns a corner, gun still drawn, still very cautious, and there’s Yelena Belova played by Florence Pugh with her gun drawn.
“Is that what we are?” she asks.
They tell each other to put the guns down. Neither does. There’s a tense beat and, at the exact same time, using the exact same move, each woman takes the gun of the other out of their hand. Now they each have each other’s guns. Then another time they do the same thing. And then the fight begins.
Punches, kicks, intensity. Widow grabs a towel and uses it to smash Yelena into a sink. She wraps it into her mouth and tries to choke her. Yelena counters by grabbing a plate and smashing it into Widow. From there it’s just madness. It feels like a fight from a Jason Bourne movie or Captain America: The Winter Soldier. At one point Yelena grabs a huge kitchen knife and comes at Widow. The fight continues. It ends with both of them, on the floor, each choking the other with what looks like a curtain. I think they both pass out.
Cut to Widow pouring out some drinks. “Good to see you too, sis,” she says. “You just had to come to Budapest, didn’t you?”
From there the trailer cuts into a montage. Widow is running on a beautiful mountain range. There are other agents like her pointing guns off the roof of a building. A motorcycle chase a la Mission Impossible. Just lots of very grounded action stuff. Finally, Widow is in a car that gets smashed into on a bridge in the night. She’s hurt, the car is burning but she looks out and something is coming for her. She shoots but this shape pulls out a shield to stop the bullets. A fight begins and, again, they have a similar fight style. After a few moves, they both kneel and look up at each other in the same position, as if they are mirrored.
This character had a mask on and a shield with a symbol that looked almost like two bowls attached at the bottom. Yes, it very much looked like The Taskmaster.
Black Widow opens May 1, 2020.
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