Black Widow Features More Fighting Than Any Other Marvel Movie
Let's get ready to rumble.
Scarlett Johansson, Marvel Cinematic Universe mainstay and star of the upcoming prequel flick Black Widow, has revealed that the movie — as is only fitting for her character — will contain more fight sequences than any MCU offering to date. (via ScreenRant)
Johansson should know; she's portrayed Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow since 2010's Iron Man 2, starring in no fewer than seven films (and popping up in the post-credits scene of Captain Marvel) as the insanely badass Russian superspy. Indeed, it coule be effectively argued that her introductory scene in The Avengers — in which she kicks the crap out of a whole squad of thugs while Phil Coulson waits patiently on the phone — is the most awesome fight scene involving only a single hero in the entire MCU, and Romanoff doesn't even have any superpowers.
In fact, Johansson teased during her conversation with ScreenRant that it's that lack of powers among many of Black Widow's principal characters that will make its scenes of combat so visceral. "There's a lot of fighting in this movie. Like, so much fighting," the actress stated bluntly. "Much more fighting than I think has ever... I think other producers that come onto the set, they're like, 'There's more fighting in this than any other Marvel movie we've ever made.' It's just brutal. I think because it's based in reality, all the action is based in reality and it's a lot of hand-to-hand combat. It's painful."
As was recently teased at Marvel's San Diego Comic-Con panel, Romanoff will have her hands full with potential adversaries in the picture. Rachel Weisz (Disobedience) will portray an operative thus far only referred to as "Melina," who has been through the same Red Room training that molded Romanoff into such a formidable fighting machine. While this is not yet confirmed, rumor has it that Weisz will be playing Melina Vostokoff, known to comics fans as Iron Maiden (excellent!); that character is a Russian government agent and formidable supervillain, so if accurate, this would spell trouble for Romanoff (bogus!).
Also, Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family) will star as a character named Yelena, another operative with a similar skill set to that of Romanoff. This character is heavily rumored to be Yelena Belova, another Red Room graduate who in the comics has taken up the mantle of Black Widow at times. Although she has at various points acted as a straight-up villain and rival of Romanoff, she has also filled more of an antihero role, so — assuming that the rumors are true — it'll be interesting to see where her loyalties lie in the Black Widow movie.
Romanoff will also have to tangle with Alexi Shostakov, the Red Guardian, who is essentially Russia's answer to Captain America (and who will be portrayed in the film by Stranger Things' David Harbour). Shostakov has a long and complicated comics history; he was actually married to Black Widow for a short time, and has also taken on the guise of Ronin, which was famously used by Clint Barton in Avengers: Endgame. Shostakov is a bit morally ambiguous; he's been a KGB agent and a member of the villainous Dark Ocean Society, but he refuses to fight any way other than fairly, and he actually saved the life of Captain America once, so there's that.
Finally, the iconic Marvel villain known as the Taskmaster will be in the mix — which is really all Johansson needed to say, because there are few more prolific brawlers in the Marvel universe. The villain, whose real name is Tony Masters, has "photographic reflexes," which is actually even cooler than it sounds; from a young age, he was able to perfectly mimic the actions of other after only a single observation. This means that he's able to flawlessly replicate the fighting style of any opponent he might face... well, almost any opponent. He has been shown to have a great deal of trouble copying Deadpool, due to the fact that the Merc with a Mouth is simply too unpredictable.
All of these characters thrown into the mix with Natasha Romanoff can only equal a hard-hitting, bone-crunching, butt-kicking Marvel brawl for the ages, and Johansson's remarks to that effect only have us more excited for the picture. It remains to be seen how the events of Black Widow (which takes place circa 2005) will figure into the ongoing narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-Endgame, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they will — and along the way, the flick is sure to give us a profound insight or two into the character of Romanoff, the Avenger whose heart of gold is only matched — outmatched, perhaps — by her fists and feet of fury.
Black Widow hits the big screen with pulverizing force on May 1, 2020.