David Harbour Hilariously Channels Drax In New Black Widow Promo Clip
The release of "Black Widow" is imminent. Naturally, Disney and Marvel are doing everything they can to get people to see Scarlett Johansson's final film portraying Natasha Romanoff (at least as far as we know). And while the movie will be available on the premium end of the Disney+ streaming service, naturally there's a desire from those who hold the purse strings to see people spend more money by seeing "Black Widow" in theaters.
As such, a short ad appeared on Twitter during the final build-up for the release of "Black Widow," and it was all about getting tickets before they sell out. The ad includes three of the film's stars: Florence Pugh, Scarlett Johansson, and David Harbour. In the call to action, Johansson reveals that tickets are on sale — pretty standard stuff.
However, it is at that moment that Harbour adds to the statement by saying, "Grab your tickets today or else." And if you think threatening the lives of your potential audience is a weird flex for a Marvel/Disney movie, here's the good news. Harbour is actually making a reference to another film in the MCU: "Guardians of the Galaxy."
Is David Harbour a big Guardians of the Galaxy fan?
After Harbour declares that Marvel fans should "Grab your tickets today or else" for "Black Widow," his co-star Florence Pugh asks the natural question, "Or else what?"
Harbour's response is, "Or else, you know ..." before putting his hand across his neck in what is generally referred to as the "slicing your throat with a knife" gesture. Scarlett Johansson immediately responds by saying, "David, what? No, we're not doing that." Harbour explains that he made a gesture that says "or else you won't get tickets." As Pugh tries to explain to Harbour that his gesture has a drastically different meaning than what he's suggesting, Johansson quickly says "Get your tickets now" before the ad ends.
Is this a sign that David Harbour is either extremely violent or out of touch with the world? No, of course not — it's actually a reference to a conversation from "Guardians of the Galaxy" between Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). In the scene, Star-Lord explains to Drax that he shouldn't kill Gamora (Zoe Saldana) when she could be used to get to her boss Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).
Throughout the scene, Drax does not understand what Star-Lord is getting at — either because he doesn't understand gestures or because he doesn't want to slice Ronan's throat when he could cut the villain's head clean off entirely. That scene sets up Drax's literalism and his inability to comprehend metaphor — a character trait that goes on to play a large part in the comedy of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies.
Perhaps Harbour wants people to see parallels between Drax and his character Alexei — or maybe he just wanted to reference a movie he likes! Regardless, "Black Widow" will be in theaters and on Disney+ premium streaming beginning July 9.