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Black Widow

2021, Action/Adventure, 2h 13m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Black Widow 's deeper themes are drowned out in all the action, but it remains a solidly entertaining standalone adventure that's rounded out by a stellar supporting cast. Read critic reviews

Audience Says

Black Widow serves up another savory helping of the blockbuster Marvel formula, with a fun family dynamic adding extra character development in the midst of all the action. Read audience reviews

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In Marvel Studios' action-packed spy thriller "Black Widow," Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

Rating: PG-13 (Some Language|Intense Violence/Action|Thematic Material)

Genre: Action, Adventure

Original Language: English

Director: Cate Shortland

Producer: Kevin Feige

Writer: Eric Pearson

Release Date (Theaters): Jul 9, 2021 wide

Release Date (Streaming): Oct 6, 2021

Box Office (Gross USA): $183.6M

Runtime: 2h 13m

Distributor: Walt Disney

Production Co: Marvel Studios

Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

View the collection: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Cast & Crew

Scarlett Johansson

Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow

Florence Pugh

Yelena Belova

David Harbour

Alexei Shostakov, Red Guardian

Rachel Weisz

Melina Vostokoff

Ray Winstone

O.T. Fagbenle

Ever Anderson

Young Natasha Romanoff

Violet McGraw

Young Yelena Belova

William Hurt

Thaddeus Ross

Olivier Richters

Muscular Gulag Inmate

Cate Shortland

Eric Pearson

Screenwriter

Kevin Feige

Victoria Alonso

Executive Producer

Louis D'Esposito

Nigel Gostelow

Brad Winderbaum

Gabriel Beristain

Cinematographer

Leigh Folsom Boyd

Film Editing

Lorne Balfe

Original Music

Charles Wood

Production Design

Art Director

Set Decoration

Jany Temime

Costume Design

Sarah Halley Finn

News & Interviews for Black Widow

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Critic Reviews for Black Widow

Audience reviews for black widow.

For a movie that came out too late about a character I never really cared about (sorry everyone, ScarJo isn't that interesting), this movie surprised me. First of all, it made me care about the character in the way I needed to before Endgame (again, timing!), but better late than never because it is nice having depth to this character and seeing her f***ed up background. Really though it's David Harbour as a desperate father figure and Florence Pugh as a sassy little sister that steal the whole movie. The action is mostly solid too, feeling more grounded and spy based, at least by Marvel standards until the obligatory cgi-fest at the end. I still don't care about ScarJo as a lead, and the movie comes way too late and is not one of the peak Marvel experiences, but it's fun and does give some depth.

Sadly Black Widow strolls into cinema's too late. The film feels irrelevant at this moment and it's a shame she wasn't provided this film prior to Endgame. This film would have made Endgame all the more heartbreaking for the character as there's a lot of great moments here. The film brings an action packed finale that feels out of place and this has been an ongoing issue with most of the Marvel films. The villain is secondary but that's more of an issue with the story of the film. The threat and family building is the central piece of this film and sadly the villain that should have been the central villain, Taskmaster is relegated to some two-bit villain role. There was a better film here and sadly this feels empty for the character's overall journey.

This. Was. Fun! Welcome back Marvel -- oh how we missed ye. Florence Pugh as Yelena is just fantastic. When I first saw her in Midsommar, her uncontrollable sobbing in the beginning annoyed me. But she grew on me as the movie went on. She looks almost exactly the same but is transformed here and is frankly perfect as Natasha's willful younger sister. "You're a total poser." - Yelena mocking Natasha's hair-flip fight stance. David Harbour is just as good. This is the Hellboy we deserved. The scene where he's fat and disheveled breaking out of the Siberian prison is awesome. He's as gruff as he is in Stranger Things but in a more gleeful "I just don't give a fuck" way. There's are a few scenes where I busted a gut laughing at him. And then there's the tender moment with Pugh where they sing Don Mclean's classic "American Pie:" So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye Singin', "This'll be the day that I die This'll be the day that I die There's a bit of Fast and the Furious unbelievability in the big action sequences but that may just because there's no Norse God's, Iron Men or super soldiers flying through steel girders anymore. This is the first MCU movie where the 2 hour plus time wore on me. But that was likely to do the padded time for "family" building. They could've cut a lot of that out, but leaving it in added some depth to the storyline. And the tonal inconsistencies and odd joke placements were more noticeable than usual, especially some that made me cringe. Overall more backstory and flashbacks on the Red Room would've helped a lot. It wasn't explored enough to bring enough dramatic heft to its evilness. Yes, this was derivative -- major Bourne and Mission Impossible vibes, TaskMaster is basically Snake Eyes from GI Joe, everybody has Captain America shields, and so on. But that didn't bother me a bit. In conclusion, I'm glad the MCU movies are back. It made me realize how much the TV shows pale in comparison to the pure spectacle of a movie juggernaut. Or maybe its just watching an honest-to-God MCU summer blockbuster on my 4K HDR Dolby Atmos home theater system. While its 115 degrees out -- in freaking California. P.S. There's a scene where they are drinking vodka like water. I can confirm having been to Russia a bunch of times that is pretty typical and I have the lost liver cells to prove it. MCU Smackdown (in a booming Michael Buffer announcer voice). MCU #24: You made me wait two freaking years Marvel.

Good film! With all the ingredients of your usual solid Marvel production. Fun characters, glib dialogue, charming family dynamics and spectacular action set pieces. I was hoping for a darker, more Cold War era centric espionage film that focused on her origins and upbringing. It seems arbitrary to tell a side story that takes place just after Civil War but at the same time it works thematically and callback to existing lore will gratify MCU fans. Black Widow doesn't really feel like a fresh, powerful installment to the MCU but it gives stronger emotional context to Romanov's sacrifice and establishes great new characters that we'll see more in the future.

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Black Widow is a confident step into a new era.

'Black Widow' review: It's the best Marvel movie in years — maybe ever

A powerful step into a new era, 'Black Widow' is full of heart and humor that bids a fond farewell to one of the franchise's most unlikely heroes.

Before she got her own movie, Black Widow had to die.

Two years ago, in Avengers: Endgame , we witnessed the demise of Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. It was an emotional, sudden end to a beloved character who, until her debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2 , was largely an unknown beyond the pages of comic books.

Black Widow was overdue before a pandemic delayed it by a year. Its premise as a hybrid spin-off — it’s a sequel to 2016’s Captain America : Civil War and prequel to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War — makes it the ideal re-entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

After Natasha embarked on a time travel heist to an alien planet in Endgame , her standalone film — refreshingly not an origin story — pits her against the machinery that created her. Black Widow is a sobering reminder of Natasha’s roots as a cold-blooded killer.

Black Widow is also impossibly good.

Black Widow is an achievement in the MCU, which relies on proven storytelling formulas to appeal to, well, everybody. Johansson defies the dramatic irony of the film and Florence Pugh succeeds a vacant mantle to the title of Black Widow. Director Cate Shortland even finds a little welcome grit inside the sparkling halls of Disney.

It’s a fresh contender for the best Marvel movie, period. Black Widow is a confident step into a new era as the MCU says goodbye to one of its most popular heroes.

Black Widow opens with a flashback revealing Natasha’s idyllic, fake childhood in the American suburbs with “sister” Yelena (Florence Pugh), “mother” Melina (Rachel Weisz), and “father” Alexei (David Harbour), the inactive Soviet superhero Red Guardian. After their cover is blown, the girls are separated from their parents and become unwilling subjects for a top-secret Russian program, the Red Room.

After that disturbing opening scene, Black Widow picks up between Civil War and Infinity War with Natasha as a fugitive on the run. While laying low, she is dragged into the orbit of Yelena. Natasha reunites her broken “family” to take down the Red Room before more Widows like herself and Yelena can be weaponized around the world.

In her final performance as her Marvel superhero, Scarlett Johansson stars in Black Widow , set prior to the story of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame .

Lofty, somewhat immaterial stakes aren’t enough to bring down Black Widow, because Shortland excels as a storyteller. The interpersonal tensions between Natasha, Yelena, and the perceived authenticity of their so-called family grounds the story where flash-bang spy intrigue cannot. Yelena believed in the family, Natasha wanted to but couldn’t. It’s here the sisters’ rift is pronounced, with both offering their own takes on what they meant to each other.

It’s a touching narrative that allows us to empathize with Natasha, a character who has been stoic or snarky across eight movies.

It’s not all dour stuff, though. The found family motif in Black Widow also provides the movie’s biggest laughs. Pugh, who is unsurprisingly great but shockingly funny as Yelena, is a wonderful foil to Natasha, with one knee-slapping gem in which she mocks Natasha’s trademark pose. If there was any doubt, Pugh is clearly being set up as the next Black Widow, a decision that has me even more excited for Marvel’s next crossover event.

If there was any doubt, Pugh is clearly being set up as the next Black Widow

Harbour also rises to the occasion as Alexei, chewing every scene as an earnest buffoon. (Think Jim Hopper with a Russian accent and you’re halfway there.) Weisz has a thankless job providing a maternal presence that, bizarrely, only serves Alexei. It’s strange for a movie hinging on the premise of strength in womanhood.

Alongside Johansson are David Harbour (center) and Florence Pugh (right), who provide both the heart and humor of Black Widow in equal measure.

Besides laughs, Black Widow delivers some of the strongest Marvel movie fight choreography yet. This is the first time in a long time a superhero looks like they’re actually getting hurt. There are times Black Widow threatens to take the crown from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Cinematographer Gabriel Beristain, in his MCU debut, holds his shots longer than Winter Soldier DP Trent Opalach, which allows Black Widow to feel less dizzying. It’s obvious what’s CGI and what are practical effects, but Black Widow is the most tactile MCU movie in ages

Black Widow is the most tactile MCU movie in ages

There are chinks in Black Widow ’s armor; its CGI-heavy climax feels incongruous to its Soviet spy-fi aesthetics. There’s a paper-thin villain played by Ray Winstone who is another dud Marvel baddie. The hyped-up supervillain Taskmaster is mostly forgettable. And virtually every non-Russian actor’s “accent” will grate native speakers.

Black Widow is also scared of its desire to deepen the evil of the Red Room. Characters never verbally imply the recruits are trafficked girls. But its disturbing opening montage with visuals of scared, shivering girls in shipping containers (reminiscent of The Wire ) seems to want those implications. Of the hits Black Widow throws, this pulled punch is felt the most.

Despite its misses, Black Widow is still in strong contention for best movie of a reopened summer, and one that aspires to more than a farewell tour for Johansson. Black Widow is locked and loaded with heart and humor (two areas where Marvel remains proficient) while featuring surprising dark turns the static Marvel franchise hasn’t pulled off in years.

It may not be the Craig/Brosnan Bond homage I’ve personally thought a Black Widow ought to be, and a reliance on CGI keeps it from being a true Mission: Impossible heir. But the story of MCU’s original superheroine lies in the dirt where her story begins, and for her fans, it’s the perfect ending.

Black Widow opens in theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on July 9.

Superheroes
Marvel Universe

Black Widow review: Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh play sisters in a family-focused backstory for Natasha Romanoff

Scarlett Johansson in a white superhero suit points a gun downwards, over a fence

After a two-year absence, the Marvel Cinematic Oppression – sorry, Universe – returns to the big screen with the long-awaited, long-delayed Black Widow, a semi-standalone instalment that sees Scarlett Johansson's Russian ex-spy cut adrift from her Avengers cohort following the events of Captain America: Civil War .

Packed with lively set pieces, amusing performances and the occasional heavier theme, it's an action thriller that also manages to be an ode to sisterhood and the chaos of atypical families, with much of the usual business of franchise-building mercifully pushed into the background.

Making her blockbuster debut, Australian director Cate Shortland (Somersault; Lore) establishes a personal feel in the film's 1995-set prologue, in which a young Natasha Romanoff (Ever Anderson) and her little sister Yelena Belova (Violet McGraw) frolic in the dappled sunlight of suburban Ohio, where kids swing from trees and fireflies circle the sky in a digital reverie.

But the idyll is shattered when the girls' adoptive, ex-KGB parents – Alexei (David Harbour) and Melina (Rachel Weisz) – have their cover blown, and Natasha and Yelena are shipped back to Russia under the auspices of mum and dad's shady boss, Dreykov (Ray Winstone).

Close-up of Scarlett Johansson looking contemplative while standing on a boat in a sweatshirt, Norwegian fjords in background

As we soon discover, via a Watchmen-like title sequence, Dreykov is masterminding a global network of assassins called Black Widows – young women kidnapped as children and put into training as super-soldier killers.

With its harrowing images of child trafficking spliced into geopolitics' greatest hits, all set to one of those gloomy, slowed-down covers of Smells Like Teen Spirit that seems designed for every YA movie trailer circa 2012, Black Widow throws down a bold opening gambit, at least for a Marvel film – a Red Sparrow for the Epstein era, or Lilya 4-ever by way of James Bond.

It's Dreykov's 'Red Room' program that produced Johansson's adult Natasha, who we pick up with 21 years later, taking a break from the Avengers and on the run in Norway with a mysterious, merciless machine soldier on her tail. Fleeing to Budapest, she collides with her estranged sister, Yelena (now played by Florence Pugh), who remained in the employ of her Russian masters when Natasha defected to the West.

Close-up of Scarlett Johansson looking concerned, wearing a black superhero suit, with a weapon strapped to her back

"We're both still trained killers," Yelena reminds big sis, "I'm just not the killer that little girls call their hero."

There's no love lost here – a ferocious hand-to-hand duel takes sibling rivalry to near-fatal ends – but the sisters quickly realise they have a bigger problem: namely, to shut down Dreykov's operation before he enslaves more young women with his nefarious mind control scheme.

Pugh is the kind of presence you're immediately thankful for in a film like this: she's quick to deflate the material around her, roasting Johansson's comic-book action posing and excitedly yammering about the number of pockets in her army surplus vest, like some Russian runaway who watched a bootleg VHS of Terminator 2 one too many times.

Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh stand in front of a pile of rubble, with determined expressions

James Cameron's classic, a remnant of a time when blockbusters still bore the markings of unruly personality, seems to be something of a touchstone here: this is the sort of film where the simple image of the sisters sliding down an escalator to escape in a Budapest subway is as thrilling to watch as the de rigueur motorcycle-and-tank chases, both shot through with the spirit of Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor at her most resourceful.

Natasha and Yelena eventually find their way to busting their long-vanished father out of a remote Russian prison, where a now-bearded and tattooed David Harbour is busy arm-wrestling fellow inmates and reminiscing over his days as the Red Guardian – a Cold War superhero who fancied himself Captain America's fearsome nemesis.

Harbour, best known for his role on Stranger Things, is obviously having a blast, chewing on a ridiculous Russian accent and sparring with his daughters, both of whom come bearing a whole lot of understandable resentment.

He and Pugh, in particular, have a charming, antagonistic rapport – not since the off-the-cuff banter that lit up Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok have actors been this organically funny in a Marvel film.

David Harbour firmly holds the arms of Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh, who are standing on either side of him

By the time Rachel Weisz returns as a farm-dwelling, military-pig-training den mother in black PVC, this misfit bunch might be the best company the MCU has offered in years – a fake family tearing at each other's throats but weirdly bound by their shared history of manipulation at the hands of the state.

If the rest of Black Widow is more or less a Bond film – explicitly quoting Moonraker at one point, ahead of a showdown in a villain's extravagant hideout – then it's one that seems to have something on its mind.

Rife with deadbeat dads, maniacal male figures and young girls' collective history of trauma (one stark aside, delivered deadpan by Pugh, gives a grisly account of state-sanctioned hysterectomies), Shortland's film is positioned aggressively – if not always elegantly – as a post-Me Too superhero movie; a revenge tale for women against their oppressors.

The screenplay, credited to Eric Pearson (Godzilla vs Kong), doesn't always land in that department, delivering some clunky vengeance lines that recall the similarly themed, and mostly unsuccessful, reboot of Charlie's Angels . (It doesn't help that Winstone, as the film's villain, seems curiously enervated.)

It's perhaps the most overtly feminist of the Marvel films to date – even if that feminism feels, unsurprisingly, a little white. (A late film concession to the existence of Black Widows from 'diverse' backgrounds is an awkward moment that veers close to white saviourism.)

It's this thread that gives Black Widow what passes for socio-political ballast – something not seen in the franchise this side of Black Panther – although some of its thornier issues remain uninterrogated.

The film has fun lampooning a cartoonish, Cold War version of Russian villainy, for example, but fails to address the globe-straddling militarism of the Avengers and their superhero police force.

But it's a credit to Shortland that she otherwise succeeds in holding these things together, even wrangling the film into something that feels of a piece with her career concerns.

A close shot of Scarlett Johansson looking determined with her head to the side, standing in front of a pile of smoking rubble

In its own way, Black Widow tends similar terrain to the tangled relationships and dark secrets that have wound their way through Shortland's work, from Somersault to her woman-in-captivity thriller, Berlin Syndrome .

At its best, it's a film about the liberation of women – from past trauma, from hyper-sexualisation , from a world run on the whims of madmen.

That these films might gesture toward political import is, of course, also a testament to their well-oiled PR machine, where easily regurgitated press quotes grease a brand that may or may not be destroying cinema as we know it .

Still, your little sister just might be inspired to steal a helicopter and blow up a prison – and maybe that's not a bad thing.

Black Widow is in cinemas from July 8 and on Disney+ with 'Premier Access' from July 9.

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‘Black Widow’ Review: Johansson and Pugh Share Banter and Badass Fights in Solid Bourne-Meets-Marvel Romp

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Bad accents abound and no amount of fun can salvage the third-act cliché of a giant burning object falling from the sky, but overall, “ Black Widow ” amounts to a satisfying addition to “The Bourne Identity” franchise. Of course, it’s actually a solid beginning to the latest cycle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the appeal of the MCU has always stemmed from the way it plays off existing formulas with dollops of spruced-up action strewn throughout, and the 24th entry hits all of those beats with style to spare.

Director Cate Shortland’s standalone adventure finds Natasha, aka Scarlett Johansson ’s eponymous KGB killer-turned-Avenger hero, kicking ass and trading banter with her combustible sort-of sister Yelena ( Florence Pugh ) alongside gonzo adopted dad Red Guardian (David Harbour) and his wife Melina (Rachel Weisz). Their playful dynamic, based on a premise credited to “Wandavision” creator Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson and written by Eric Pearson, injects “Black Widow” with a spiky attitude that keeps this polished product engrossing throughout, at least until it comes crashing down to the usual busy mashup of mayhem that often mars the Marvel routine.

Like Jason Bourne, Natasha and Yelena were trained killers who defected, and the movie follows a similar kind of rapid-fire approach to the espionage genre as they pick up the pieces of their broken past and squabble through awkward family dynamics. The first MCU superhero movie to return to the blockbuster arena since the pandemic put the whole endeavor in jeopardy gets the job done; it’s also, by MCU standards, downright quaint. Set somewhere in the vicinity of five years ago, before the infamous Thanos blip and sitting around since pre-COVID 2020, “Black Widow” is a lighthearted bubble of a movie from simpler times.

Given that the cosmic events of “Avengers: Endgame” seemed to leave Black Widow dead as a doornail — have the statute of spoiler limitations lifted on that one yet? — this particular one-shot actioner takes place about five years earlier in the timeline, in between the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” as a rift between the superheroes found them splintering into factions. Natasha, perhaps to get a break from all those overheated masculine egos in suits, heads for the hills just in time to get word from her estranged sister that she’s needed in Budapest.

To make a wandering setup short: Though Natasha escaped the scheming KGB program that trained her long ago, her sister has only recently broken free thanks to sudden exposure to a gas that brings her back to reality and eager to liberate the army of brainwashed women forced into murderous servitude by the menacing Red Room program, overseen by bland Russian bad guy Dreykov (Ray Winstone).

Yelena (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios' BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Kevin Baker. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Their mission: Infiltrate the Red Room, ideally with the help of ex-Russian mega-hero Red Guardian, aka Alexei Shostakov, played with great relish by Harbour as a portly beardo who looks like he’s lost at sea and loving it. He’s actually locked up in a high-stakes prison facility, but that’s no match for two former Black Widow killers armed with a helicopter and one-liners to spare. Some zany fast and furious feats later, and the trio reunite with Melina for a combustible reunion just in time for the movie to careen into that busy third act.

By that time, however, “Black Widow” has settled into an appealing rhythm in which its lead women run circles around the self-serious formula with feisty back-and-forths that often verge on screwball comedy. Pugh has carried the same anxious-tough balance through everything from “Lady Macbeth” to “Midsommar,” and here serves a perfect young foil to Johansson’s soaring overconfidence. Few stories of sibling rivalry include quite as many punches as they do zingers, but this one juggles both with aplomb. Yelena’s especially adroit at calling Natasya on her recurring tendency to exaggerate her fight moves. “It’s a fighting pose,” Yelena growls, mocking the way her sister does a dramatic half split and peers up to dramatic effect. “You’re a poseur!”

Needless to say, the movie does a far better job than the rah-rah inclusivity gesture at the end of “Endgame” to play up its feminist leanings. “Black Widow” not only passes the Bechdel Test; it forces men to squirm as it puts them in their place. (One standout bit finds the women neutralizing their annoying adopted dad with period talk.) The team-up between the quartet involves a few moments of misdirection to keep the exposition engaging enough, but as always with the MCU, the moments that have next to nothing to do with plot or action make those other ingredients worthwhile.

Like the welcoming breeziness of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” the saga of Natasha and Yelena doesn’t try to rope in the fate of the known universe to make its operation worthwhile. The relatively low stakes help to foreground their moody dynamic, at least whenever the hand-to-hand combat doesn’t get there first. Fortunately, the movie delivers on that front, most notably during a brawl between Black Widow and the robotic killer known as Taskmaster who mirrors her every move. If this is the last time we get to see Johansson mete out justice to her assailants with gymnastic velocity, it’s an apt send-off. The motion is fluid and tense, with closeups and sound effects that hurt. (Cue Yelena, who reminds her sister that she’s not exactly a superhero in the traditional sense: “I doubt the god from space has to take an ibuprofen after a fight.”)

Aussie director Shortland has worked with personal dramas against a sprawling set of events before, most notably with the taut WWII survival story “Lore,” and she does the best job since the initial “Captain America” movies of reducing the vast moving parts of the MCU to background noise. Black Widow was always the calmest figure at the center of the Avengers’ rancorous type-A personalities, and the movie gives her demeanor some context: It’s got oodles of attitude but never veers into quirk, and though some “Thor: Ragnarok” levity is always welcome, there’s a certain gratification that comes from the way “Black Widow” doesn’t try to stretch its material beyond the cool-as-ice demeanor of its protagonists.

Eventually, “Black Widow” sags into the same kind of run-fight-repeat routine we’ve seen countless times before, and even the obligatory post-credits cliffhanger feels like little more than the shrug of promise that that every story in this IP juggernaut is really just a feature-length teaser for the next. At its best, however, “Black Widow” is a welcome break from the overwrought transmedia machine that dictates Disney’s biggest franchise bets, and almost invites you to forget what’s at stake. And while one person eventually moans, “Where’s an Avenger when you need one?”, the movie answers that cry by suggesting that hey, maybe one at a time works best.

“Black Widow” will hit theaters and streaming on Disney+ via its Premier Access banner on Friday, July 9.

Black Widow review – Scarlett Johansson, the Russian super spy with an electra complex

Great fun is had in giving us the backstory to the assassin’s place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

T he sensuous cough-syrup purr of Scarlett Johansson’s voice is something I’ve missed in lockdown; now it’s back with a throaty vengeance in the highly enjoyable standalone episode for which her character Black Widow was well overdue. It is co-written by WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer and directed with gusto by Cate Shortland, with touches of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible but undoubtedly keeping the tonal consistency of a typical MCU melodrama.

This movie gives us the backstory to Black Widow’s presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, involving an origin-myth tale of family trauma, identity crisis and sibling rivalry with a pugnacious kid sister, Yelena, entertainingly played by Florence Pugh . Yelena can’t help mocking – but also maybe envying – Black Widow’s balletic fight stance which involves absurd posing and resembles the mane-tossing antics of a woman in a shampoo advert.

Black Widow, or Natasha, is now cut off from her Avenger family and this seems like the right time to acquaint us with her unhappy upbringing as part of a Russian sleeper cell, posing as a regular American family in Ohio in the far-off 1990s. (Cue: a doomy cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit on the soundtrack.) The girls turn out to be orphans whose parents have perhaps been made away with; now their fake mom is Melinda (Rachel Weisz) and their fake dad is beefy and conceited Alexei, a rumbustious and scene-stealer of a comic turn from David Harbour, both possessed of utterly convincing American accents and fond of crooning along to American Pie to the car tape-deck as they sentimentally glimpse a baseball game.

Alexei is proud of being the first Soviet-sponsored super soldier, named “Red Guardian” with a knockoff superhero outfit, and rather tragically obsessed with someone he thinks of as his opposite number, Captain America, in what he quaintly describes as the “geopolitical stage of international conflict”. Now his masters have suppressed the truth about his superheroism and abandoned him in a mouldering prison where he passes the time challenging fellow cons to arm-wrestling contests.

The family’s life in the American heartland is to end in catastrophe and in the present they must come to a reckoning with the evil puppetmaster Dreykov (Ray Winstone) who has been training an emotional zomboid army of “widows” of which the two girls were originally a part. He controls their minds but also keeps a stash of glowing-red antidote phials, which could restore these young women’s independence, and these of course assume a MacGuffiny importance – so much so that we have to wonder at the wisdom in creating the phials in the first place. Incidentally, Dreykov seems to have a very particular political connection in that decade: there’s a picture of him with Bill Clinton, which seems a bit rough on that president; surely a villain as canny as Dreykov would have cultivated links with the Bush family as well?

Well, Natasha and Yelena must take on Dreykov, who has good reason to hate Natasha with particular passion – an aspect to Black Widow’s personality which is not in fact fleshed out as convincingly as it might be – but first they have to sort out their own differences, and there are impressive bone-crunching close-quarter martial-arts fight scenes between the pair of them.

Somehow, the most teasingly potent relationship revealed here is that electra complex, the bond between Black Widow and her preposterous old dad, who is very large, very given to fits of temper and likes smashing things. Does this, perhaps, give us a Freudian clue to Black Widow’s tendresse for Dr Bruce Banner, the alter ego of Hulk? This glimpse into her troubled psyche is worth the price of admission on its own.

For fans of Black Widow and everyone else, this episode is great fun and Harbour could well ascend to spinoff greatness of his own.

Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson
Superhero movies
Florence Pugh
Ray Winstone
Rachel Weisz

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Black Widow mostly feels like an apology. It arrives as the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, two years (one of them a pandemic mulligan) after the 22nd film, Avengers: Endgame , featured an emotional scene that in no uncertain terms killed off Black Widow ’s main character, Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow had been a consistent presence in the MCU since 2010’s Iron Man 2 , and she was one of the key connective figures that helped all of these movies actually feel like a universe. She also seemed to be one of the only women of consequence in the entire franchise. And after coming and going, she’s only getting her own stand-alone movie now , which makes Black Widow feel like an afterthought. It’s only the second MCU film to star a female character, and that character isn’t even alive to take us somewhere new.

Instead, Black Widow takes us back to 2016, where director Cate Shortland and writers Eric Pearson, Jac Schaeffer, and Ned Benson spin a tale about what Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) was up to in the considerable gap between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War . There’s no real reason given for why this period is significant. Natasha’s present-day fate isn’t acknowledged until a post-credits scene. The film’s prologue is a flashback to 1995 Ohio, introducing new characters the audience will spend the movie getting to know. Mostly, it’s a period in the character’s history where she’s isolated and on the run because she sided with Cap in Civil War , but she’s also famous as an Avenger. It’s a moment in time where none of Natasha’s many lives seem to be working out for her, so she has to be the person she’s least comfortable with: herself.

Thus the film’s prologue, which introduces a brief period of bliss in young Natasha’s life. After her traumatic childhood being trained in the KGB’s Red Room program (as divulged in Avengers: Age of Ultron ), Natasha got the chance to role-play a nice American family life with her spy “parents” Alexei (David Harbour) and Melina (Rachel Weisz) and little “sister” Yelena (played in adulthood by Florence Pugh). Natasha will reluctantly seek out this fake family when she discovers that the seemingly defunct Red Room program that turned her into a Black Widow is not only still around and still turning abducted young women into ruthless killers, it’s more horrifying than before — now it’s using chemical mind control on its subjects. Natasha, with Yelena’s help, makes it her mission to find this new Red Room and shut it down.

The stakes couldn’t be clearer, and for the first two-thirds, Black Widow has a focus that’s refreshing in the MCU, allowing it a sense of style and fun that’s genuinely enjoyable once you get over the strangeness of the film’s place in MCU continuity. Almost immediately, Natasha is hunted by the mysterious Taskmaster , a cyborg-looking super-soldier who can mimic every Avenger’s fighting style. Effectively, she’s the Terminator. Taskmaster brings a certain level of oh-shit urgency to fights, which are ambitious but a little messy, either ending too quickly or edited too frenetically for the complex choreography to have maximum impact.

Black Widow faces off with the Taskmaster on a dark bridge in Marvel Studios’ Black WIdow

On the character side of things, the Black Widow family reunion is a genuinely surprising source of comedy, as a maladjusted quartet of trained killers come together simply because the sham family they played decades ago was also the only real human connection any of them had. Black Widow is extremely close to Bourne movie-style action , but it’s just as close to being a moving story about the burden of family you don’t choose but nonetheless feel bound to.

Unfortunately, the reason neither of these twin aspects fully lands comes down to the third act, which feels like it’s from a different film altogether. Marvel movies often get subsumed by their third acts, where they ditch all the fun and flavor that make them intriguing in lieu of a series of big, loud CG explosions. Black Widow ’s take on this is serviceable — it’s bright and legible, with a few moments that look pretty cool — but it’s such a departure from the first two-thirds of the film that it’s hard not to resent it. The makers of MCU movies clearly want the films to be worthy of attention on their own merits, and not just in comparison to other MCU movies — Black Widow wouldn’t work so hard to be a Bourne-esque thriller if that weren’t the case — but they can’t seem to shake or even rethink the big, required Marvel finale.

In some small ways, Black Widow is the most bizarre film in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s the latest installment in an interconnected 14-year opus designed to reward audiences’ attention, so it’s beyond strange that this latest MCU venture plays so glibly with the events of the previous one, and acts as if fans didn’t just see Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, die.

Natasha Romanoff with her surrogate mother, Melina, and sister, Yelena, at the dinner table in Marvel Studios’ Black Widow.

While Black Widow ’s director and writers try valiantly to make the film a fitting swan song for Natasha and an impressive action vehicle for Johansson, tying up the Avenger’s disparate character beats across seven other movies in an action film that out-fights her male peers, it’s impossible to shake the feeling that it’s circling around a cul-de-sac. There’s no future for this character, and what’s presented here isn’t strong enough to give viewers confidence that other possible Black Widow flashback movies would be worth the trouble. Black Widow joins the major wave of current superhero stories about legacy heroes passing their mantles to the younger generation : The post-credits sequence openly sets up Yelena’s next appearance as Black Widow’s successor. But with that hollow apology for disposing of Natasha’s character still ringing throughout the movie, that setup sounds more self-serving than promising.

This is the downside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe experiment: Films under its banner can bask in the glow-up of its many successes, but dance too close to its failures, and the residual shame can sink what could’ve been an easy win. If only Marvel had gotten it together enough to make and release Black Widow in the year where it’s set.

Black Widow opens in theaters and on Disney Plus’ Premier Access on July 9.

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow looks cool posing in front of some smoke in a field, in a teaser trailer for Marvel Studios’ Black Widow.

Black Widow on Disney Plus

Prices taken at time of publishing.

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‘Black Widow’ Review: Spies, Lies and Family Ties

Scarlett Johansson plays the latest Avenger to get her own movie, but she’s overshadowed by Florence Pugh in this Cate Shortland-directed entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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By Maya Phillips

If I were Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widow , a.k.a. the first original female Avenger and yet years overdue for her own film, I’d be hella miffed.

After wearing myself out doing flips and kicks and spy work, I finally get my own movie, but the result, Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow,” opening Friday, uncomfortably mashes up a heartwarming family reunion flick with a spy thriller — and then lets its star, Scarlett Johansson, get overshadowed.

“Black Widow” begins in Ohio in the ’90s: Natasha is a brave but serious young girl who already has a hardened look in her eyes. She looks after her younger sister, Yelena, and suspiciously follows the lead of her parents, Melina (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei (David Harbour), who are actually spies posing as a married couple. Natasha, who has already started training at the Red Room, a secret Soviet boot camp turning young women into deadly agents, is split from Yelena, and the girls are taught to kill.

The main action of the film skips ahead to the time immediately following “ Captain America: Civil War ” (2016), when Natasha (now played by Johansson) is a fugitive separated from the rest of the Avengers. If jumping back a few films in the franchise sounds confusing, “Black Widow,” along with the current Disney+ series “ Loki ,” serves as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most recent attempt at retroactively building character narratives and back stories by doubling back on its own colossal, ever-expanding timeline. And so Natasha finds out that not only is the Red Room still in business and its leader, Dreykov (Ray Winstone), still alive, the other “widow” operatives are chemically manipulated so they become mindless assassins without free will. To bring down Dreykov and his Red Room, Natasha reluctantly joins forces with her fake family, including an older Yelena ( Florence Pugh ), who has found an antidote to the mind control.

Despite the intriguing opening sequence, which involves shootings, a jet and a family escape, “Black Widow,” directed by Cate Shortland, lags, unsure of how to proceed with the story. There’s Natasha puttering around while in hiding, some muddled exposition and the introduction of a helmeted assassin who looks like a Mandalorian cosplayer .

For a story about a woman named after a deadly spider, “Black Widow” is surprisingly precious with its hero. An Avenger who has been afflicted with something of a savior complex, Natasha hopes to redeem the red in her ledger with good deeds but ends up sounding like the dull Dudley Do-Right of the superhero film.

In a lot of ways “Black Widow” feels different from the usual M.C.U. film. The coercion and manipulation of young women, the kidnapping and murder missions with civilian casualties — the film seems more like a Bond or Bourne movie, with a tacked-on moral about the importance of family, and it sits awkwardly with heavier themes. (In one scene, an exchange about the forced sterilization of the widows is played for comedy but just sounds absurdly dark.)

Though Johansson gets some great action shots, she is outshined by the other strong actors (strong despite their inconsistent, and often odd, Russian accents). Harbour’s Alexei is an obnoxious though endearing Russian teddy bear of a retired super soldier. Weisz’s Melina is the tough but cowardly scientist who is used to being complicit in a system of which she’s also a victim. But most often Pugh steals the show. Her Yelena is steely and sarcastic yet still reeling from what she’s done while under mind control. Pugh brings cleverness and vulnerability to the character, and she and Johansson have the chemistry to pull off the comic taunting and teasing that comes with a sibling relationship.

Why does Natasha always pose in the middle of fights, landing close to the ground, flipping her hair up and back? Yelena asks mockingly. And she challenges Natasha’s self-righteous idea of heroism: “I’m not the killer that little girls call their hero,” Yelena tells her. There’s a whole movie in that exchange alone.

The script, by Eric Pearson, grants Yelena more personality, emotional depth and intrigue. It not only mines the more immediate trauma she has faced but also, through her, critiques the wishful optimism that Natasha holds for the Avengers, whom she considers her real family.

The film also struggles to figure out its deeper politics. Natasha and Yelena’s rough beginnings as immigrant children who are pushed into the extraordinary world of superheroes and villains recall the early years of the Maximoffs, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. There’s some statement here about young immigrants who are left behind, but the movie never figures it out. And the villain with a love for controlling little girls? Well, I’m sure I don’t need to go into the sinister implications of that.

Women assassins, women mad scientists: There seems to be a thematic undercurrent of girl power and the strength of women, which is often systematically subdued or controlled by men, but it feels superficial. We aren’t introduced to the other widows, and, for a film about expert fighters, the fight choreography and cinematography don’t do our female warriors justice; the rapidly shifting camera angles obscure rather than reveal the martial arts.

By the end of the story, which leads into “ Avengers: Infinity War ” (and a post-credits scene jumps forward to the future, in case the hops around the M.C.U. timeline haven’t been confusing enough), it seems as though “Black Widow” is self-satisfied with its protagonist. She’s got the freshly dyed-blond ’do, and her journey with her spy family inspires her to get back to her other family, the Avengers. But “Black Widow” never feels more than just a footnote in the story, a detour that holds no weight in the larger M.C.U. narrative, except to set up Yelena for a larger role in the future.

With many of these new Marvel productions, however, it seems that’s the best we could hope for: stories that finally feature the underrepresented heroes we want to see, but that often still serve as placeholders, slotting in another piece of the puzzle of the larger M.C.U. as it continues to grow.

I’d hoped “Black Widow” could be deadly and fierce, but it ultimately slides just under the radar.

Black Widow Rated PG-13 for spy vs. spy stabbings, fisticuffs and some naughty Russian words. Running time: 2 hours 13 minutes. In theaters and on Disney+ .

Maya Phillips is a New York Times critic at large. She is the author of the poetry collection “Erou” (Four Way Books, 2019) and "NERD: On Navigating Heroes, Magic, and Fandom in the 21st Century,” forthcoming in summer 2022 from Atria Books. More about Maya Phillips

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'Black Widow' Review: Not too little, but a little too late

Black widow's back. for now..

Scarlett Johansson and the cast of 'Black Widow.'

What to Watch Verdict

An action-packed and emotional look at Black Widow's past delivers on its premise, but struggles with being so late in Natasha Romanoff's story.

⏳ Brimming with strong action scenes.

⏳ Johansson and Pugh have exceptional chemistry as sisters.

⏳ Black Widow is finally given the opportunity to reconcile both with her past and her future.

⏳ Would have had a lot more impact 5 years ago.

⏳ Fans of the comics may be disappointed by the Disney-fied Black Widow program.

⏳ Some of the humor feels misplaced.

This post contains mild spoilers for Black Widow .

Since her introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2010's Iron Man 2 , Natasha Romanoff has been cleaning up after the boys. Tony Stark gets uppity? In comes Nat. Warring factions of Avengers? She's the lynchpin that saves the right side. World gone to hell? Black Widow's the one making the sacrifice play. So of course she's the last one to get her own film.

That may seem like beating a dead horse — gods know how long we've been harping on the fact — but it's actually pertinent to the enjoyment of Black Widow . It's a strong enough film that gives Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) a solid backstory and complicated emotional beats. It also loses some of its impact because we're watching it after her death. While Black Widow does manage to avoid being strictly a set up for Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova to take over the Avenger's mantle, there's little joy in the ending's emotional growth because we know the character will never be given a chance to benefit from it. Natasha Romanoff will go straight into Avengers: Infinity War followed quickly by her untimely end in Avengers: Endgame . But with that in mind, no one directly involved in the creation of this film had any control over how long it took Disney and Marvel to greenlight a flick on the first female Avenger. So, let's take a look at the rest of the film!

While it may feel like you've seen most of Black Widow already due to the sheer number of trailers, there's a lot you don't know just yet. I'm going to do my best to keep it that way in this review. The gist is pretty simple: Natasha's on the run for violating the Sokovia Accords, and her sister, Yelena, stumbles across something that changes her life for good. This all results in Nat being thrown head-first back into a family dynamic that was never real, and a complicated chapter of her life that she had thought closed after Budapest all those years ago.

MORE: How to watch all the Marvel movies in order ALSO: Check out Disney Plus on Apple TV

The emotional moments of the film are juxtaposed against a lot of humor — not all of which lands. The sisterly snark between Yelena and Natasha plays like gangbusters in every scene. Describing the horrors of the Red Room and the Black Widow program in a scene that's meant to be solely comedic because Disney's too afraid to get real with its media? That's maybe something we could have done without. The delivery is on point, and using humor to deflect is normal among both trauma victims and these women's characters. It's just frustrating to see the MCU shy away from the terrors that these women are shoved into in favor of hysterectomy humor in the face of a character who is never really forced to reconcile with his crimes. That is to say that David Harbour is exceptional as Red Guardian and Red Guardian is a slime who is never held accountable for his actions outside of a swift punch in the mouth.

With that in mind, enough cannot be said about Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson's sisterly chemistry. They bicker their way through the film like many of the MCU's greatest pairings (Thor and Loki, Sam and Bucky, etc.), but they hit the emotional beats just as hard. It's nice to see all the ways Yelena differs from Natasha while still being as strong and capable as her big sister. She's more reckless, but it also makes her a little bit more fun! If you watched Batwoman move from Kate Kane to Ryan Wilder, the two's dynamics will make a lot of sense to you.

You've already seen a lot of the kitchen fight if you've watched any of the clips, but the action extends much further than that. Black Widow may take more time than other MCU films to focus on emotional impact, but it still kicks the same amount of ass. The Taskmaster fights are an appropriate standout, with the aforementioned full kitchen scene ranking pretty high as well.

There are moments in the third act that may feel subdued, but they hit much harder that way. While Natasha is forced to stare down the problems of her past she had thought she already solved, she remains every bit the spy she's always been. Sleazy men who believe they're three steps ahead of her are no match for Black Widow, Yelena Belova and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). (Weisz is a dream in everything she does, there's just not a lot of ways to talk about her without spoiling the story!)

Black Widow' s ending will leave fans satisfied, though there is a moment that the writers seem to have decided they didn't have an answer to so they just skipped past it and onto the resolution. I'm not here to call out plot holes, but you'll definitely know it when you see it.

All told, Black Widow is a strong entry into the MCU's cannon. It should have come earlier, and it would have been improved if the creative team didn't have mouse-ear muzzles keeping them from the true horrors of the Black Widow program, but there's a lot to love otherwise. The character deserved her moment in the sun, and she got it. As for Yelena? Well, we'll be seeing a lot more of her in Hawkeye .

Amelia is an entertainment Streaming Editor at IGN, which means she spends a lot of time analyzing and editing stories on things like Loki, Peacemaker, and The Witcher. In addition to her features and editorial work, she’s also a member of both the Television Critics Association and Critics Choice. A deep love of film and television has kept her happily in the entertainment industry for 7 years.

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Screen Rant

Black widow's 12 biggest spoilers.

Here are the biggest Black Widow movie spoilers, including answers to long-standing questions about Natasha Romanoff's character in the MCU.

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Black Widow .

Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest is in theaters, here are the biggest Black Widow movie spoilers. The first film of Phase 4 acts as a launchpad for what's to come while finally giving Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff her own solo vehicle. It's set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War , following Nat as she's forced to reunite with people from her past in order to move forward.

Those people include Nat's Russian "family," consisting of her adoptive younger sister Yelena (Florence Pugh), mother Melina (Rachel Weisz) and father Alexei aka Red Guardian (David Harbour). Together, they'll team up to take on General Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the leader of the Red Room, which trains up young girls to be Black Widows. Since Black Widow died in Avengers: Endgame , the solo movie also operates as the character's swan song, giving her a final outing to wrap up any remaining unanswered questions.

Related: Black Widow’s Complete MCU Timeline Explained

Now that Black Widow is hitting theaters and Disney+ Premier Access around the world, we're breaking down the 12 biggest spoilers, plot twists and surprises in the latest MCU movie. So one last time: There are SPOILERS ahead for Black Widow .

Natasha & Her Russian Family Were Hiding In Ohio In The 1990s

Black Widow opens on a sequence set in Ohio in 1995, where young Natasha and Yelena are posing as the daughters of Melina and Alexei, who are pretending to be a normal American family while on a secret spy mission for the Russians. They've been posing as a family for three years by the time the movie kicks off, which is the same night that they have to flee. Alexei is able to get whatever information he was tasked with retrieving (more on that later), so he, Melina and the girls leave their Ohio identities behind.

After a police chase that ends with Melina shot and badly injured, the "family" escapes on a small airplane and fly to Cuba, where they rendezvous with Dreykov. Their family is broken up, with Melina taken to be treated and Alexei more focused on Dreykov, which Natasha and Yelena don't take very well. Alexei helps to subdue the girls. Then, in the opening credits sequence, both Nat and Yelena are trafficked to Russia, where Dreykov separates them and puts Natasha into the Black Widow training program.

Black Widow Explains What Happened In Budapest

In 2012's The Avengers , Natasha comments to her friend Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) that the battle agains the Chitauri is "just like Budapest all over again," and he responds, "You and I remember Budapest very differently." Now, Black Widow finally reveals what happened in Budapest - sort of. The story is told through a series of comments made by Natasha to Yelena. When Natasha finds Yelena at the safe house, Yelena asks her sister what makes certain holes in the wall, to which Natasha answers " arrows ," indicating Hawkeye had at some point been fighting there. Later, Nat and Yelena hide from Taskmaster in an air duct in the subway system and Nat reveals she and Clint hid there for a few days following their mission to destroy the Red Room. During that mission, Natasha gave the order to blow up the Red Room's operation, using the fact that Dreykov's daughter was there as proof he was as well, meaning the young girl was a casualty.

It's likely the firefight at the safe house is what Natasha was referring to in The Avengers , since there were signs of her and Clint fighting their way out together. Given Nat says the Red Room mission was her final act in defecting to SHIELD, it's likely that her time with Clint in Budapest is where their friendship began, explaining why she remembers it fondly. Further, the explanation of the Budapest mission makes it clear that Dreykov's daughter, whose death has weighed heavily on Nat, is the red in her ledger that Loki referenced in the movie. So the Budapest mission explains a few lines from The Avengers .

Black Widows Are Mind-Controlled By The Flying Red Room

The main plot of Black Widow revolves around Natasha learning that the Red Room has continued operating despite her belief she'd taken it down and killed Dreykov when she defected to SHIELD. However, when she reunites with Yelena, she learns that not only is the Red Room still operational and Dreykov is alive, but they've shifted from conditioning obedience in the Black Widows to full-blown mind control. Using the information that Alexei recovered in 1995 from the Hydra-controlled SHIELD North Institute, Melina and Dreykov engineered a way to chemically induce control.

Yelena is under this mind control at the start of the film, but a former Black Widow in Melina's generation had engineered an antidote and cures Yelena of the control. She then sends the rest of the antidotes to Natasha thinking the Avengers could help her deal with the Red Room, only for Nat to find her and reveal the Avengers have had a falling out and she's on the run. Together, they track down the new location of the Red Room , which is on a flying base. Since it's been hovering above the Earth, that's how Dreykov has been able to avoid Nat's detection for so long.

Related: The MCU Already Retconned Black Widow's Perfect Ending

Taskmaster’s Identity: Antonia Dreykov

One of the big mysteries of Black Widow is the identity of Taskmaster, the movie's masked villain who can mimic any fighting style and proves to be a formidable antagonist to Natasha. When Natasha confronts Dreykov in the Red Room, he reveals that Taskmaster is none other than his daughter, Antonia Dreykov, who Nat believed she'd killed during the Budapest mission. Antonia was badly injured in the explosion, but survived. However, Dreykov used his mind-control serum to maintain control over his daughter and turn her into the mindless killing machine seen in the film.

In perhaps a surprising move for Marvel, Taskmaster isn't killed in Black Widow . Instead, Natasha cures Antonia of the Red Room mind control and she joins the rest of the freed Widows. Antonia epitomizes the movie's theme of girls and women being abused by men in power and being used as weapons against their own will. So her ending fits into the liberation of all the Widows at the end of the film.

Yelena Gives Natasha Her Infinity War Vest

When Natasha shows up in Avengers: Infinity War , a few years after Captain America: Civil War , she's dyed her red hair a white-blonde and she's sporting a dark green vest. Black Widow reveals the green vest is a gift from Yelena, one that's incredibly important to the younger woman. As Yelena explains to Natasha, the vest is the first piece of clothing she bought for herself after being freed from the Red Room's control. Since Yelena was raised in the Red Room and stayed trapped as a Black Widow because of Dreykov's mind control, the vest represents her freedom and independence.

Though the vest is a sort of running joke throughout Black Widow , Yelena bequeathing it to Natasha is a symbol of their reconciliation. The "sisters" hadn't seen each other since they were kids at the start of the film, and Yelena had a lot of anger at Natasha while the elder woman felt guilt over their separation. They team up reluctantly, but by the end of the film, they are essentially sisters once again, which is why Yelena would be willing to give up her first real possession as a gift to Natasha.

Yelena Kills General Dreykov

Although it's Natasha who insists on finding the Red Room so she can finally kill Dreykov, her goal shifts to freeing the younger generation of Widows - including Antonia - and ensuring no more young girls get forced into the program. Because she believed she had killed Antonia when she originally blew up the Red Room, Nat knew the cost of revenge wasn't always worth it. However, Yelena is younger and doesn't have the same experiences of living outside the Red Room as Nat. As such, Yelena is ready to do anything to kill Dreykov, including die herself.

Though Yelena does manage to kill Dreykov during his attempt to escape the flying Red Room base, she sends herself falling to a sure death with no parachute or hope of being saved. Natasha wouldn't let that happen, though, and she dives after Yelena with a parachute, ensuring her younger sister makes it safely to the ground. It reinforces both Natasha's development and Yelena's foolhardiness.

Yelena, Melina & Red Guardian Leave With The Widows

After the Red Room's base crash lands on the ground and Natasha has freed Antonia from the Red Room mind control, Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) shows up with the cavalry. But Natasha doesn't want her family to be caught, so when the freed Widows show up, they take Yelena, Melina, Antonia and Red Guardian with them as they flee. As former Widows themselves, Yelena and Melina hope to help those who have only just been freed from mind control.

It's unclear where exactly the Widows go, but they'll presumably look to free any Widows that had been stationed around the world and/or establish new lives for themselves. This sets the stage for a possible sequel following Yelena that could bring back Melina and Alexei. However, it's unclear whether what exactly happened after they leave Nat will ever be shown or may just be referenced in a future project.

Related: Why Black Widow Is Actually The Most Moral Avenger

Natasha Never Learns Her Parents’ Identities

At the start of Black Widow , Natasha believes her mother abandoned her in the street and she was found and put into the custody of the Russian government where she became a spy. However, Melina reveals that Natasha was sold to Dreykov by her father and her mother protested it. In fact, her mother made so much noise in an effort to find her daughter that Dreykov had her killed.

Later, when Natasha is begging for information about her mother from Dreykov, he simply mocks her. He says Nat's mother is buried under a tree somewhere and her grave doesn't have her name on it. It's unclear if he's telling the truth, or he doesn't remember Nat's mother's name. Or it's possible Dreykov purposefully had her buried without a name on her gravestone to ensure Nat would never learn her identity. Ultimately, though, Natasha never learns the identities of her parents, despite Red Skull calling her "daughter of Ivan" in Endgame , in a way that looked like a set-up to her past being revealed. Ultimately, the moment meant nothing.

Black Widow Gets The Infinity War Quinjet From Mason

In a time-jump of two weeks following the Red Room being taken down, Natasha is shown with her white-blonde hair from Infinity War . She reunites with Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenle), who had helped her earlier in the film to acquire certain things to first hide from Ross and then go on her mission to find Dreykov. She had asked for a jet to help her and Yelena break Red Guardian out of Russian prison, but he'd only managed to get her a small plane because, as he explained, he hadn't had enough time.

However, when Nat's given him more time, it's revealed he managed to get her a Quinjet. It's presumably the same Quinjet she used in Infinity War when she was working with Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson.

Black Widow Is Set Before Civil War's Final Scene; Nat Leaves To Help Cap's Jailbreak

After she gets the Quinjet, Natasha makes a comment about her other family being a bit of a mess. She says she's going to go help break them out of prison and patch things up. The Avengers theme plays as the scene is clearly meant to bridge the gap between Black Widow and Avengers: Infinity War .

This also means that the entirety of Black Widow takes place before the final scene of Civil War , which sees Steve breaking Sam out of the Raft. Although that particular scene only shows Steve, implying he executed the prison break alone, the ending of Black Widow indicates he may have had help. In terms of exactly when Natasha reunited with Steve, though, that's still unclear. But Black Widow does make it seem like she joined him soon after the main events of Civil War and stayed with him throughout the years before Infinity War .

Black Widow's Post-Credits Scene Reveals Natasha’s Grave...

In Black Widow's post-credits scene , Yelena is shown visiting Natasha's grave, indicating this particular sequence is set after the events of Avengers: Endgame . The grave is placed under a tree, similar to the location Dreykov described to Natasha about her mother's grave. There are quite a few tributes around the grave, indicating it's publicly known - or at least that enough people know about it to visit and pay their respects to the fallen Avenger. It's a similar treatment to the one Iron Man was seen to have received in Spider-Man: Far From Home .

As to where exactly the grave is located, that's not totally clear. But when Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) shows up, she sneezes and makes a comment about the midwest. It's possible the grave is located in Ohio, since that's the closest thing to home both Natasha and Yelena had while growing up. Still, it gives a sense of closure to Natasha Romanoff's story. Even if it doesn't give Natasha a funeral like Endgame did for Tony Stark, it does make it clear she has a grave that her friends and family can visit.

...And Valentina Sends Yelena To Kill Hawkeye

The Black Widow post-credits scene also reveals not only does Yelena work for Valentina at this point in the MCU timeline, but Valentina sends her to kill Clint Barton. It's not quite as explicit as that, but Valentina interrupts Yelena's time off to tell the younger woman who was responsible for Natasha's death, showing her a photo of Hawkeye. This sets up Marvel's Hawkeye show that's expected to premiere on Disney+ later this year, indicating Yelena will come face to face with Natasha's old friend, and likely try to kill him for his part in Nat's death.

Valentina was, of course, first seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier recruiting John Walker to her team. However, she was meant to first appear in Black Widow with this post-credits scene. Now that both Black Widow and Falcon are out, we know at least two people who work with Valentina: Yelena and John Walker . It's unclear who else might have been or will be recruited by Valentina, but Marvel is clearly setting up a team that will be key to the MCU Phase 4 after Black Widow .

Next: How Black Widow Is Setting Up The MCU's Future (Despite Being A Prequel)

Key Release Dates

Black widow, shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings, doctor strange in the multiverse of madness, thor: love and thunder, black panther: wakanda forever, captain marvel 2, ant-man and the wasp: quantumania, guardians of the galaxy vol. 3.

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Scarlett johansson in marvel’s ‘black widow’: film review.

Natasha Romanoff revisits her past in Marvel’s stand-alone action-thriller, directed by Cate Shortland and also starring Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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If the Avengers movies are broadly about a ragtag family of superheroes finding comradeship while forging an allegiance against evil, Black Widow is about another kind of alternate family, messed up by deceptions and bitter betrayals before rediscovering trust in an onslaught of explosive situations. Directed by Cate Shortland with propulsive excitement, humor and pleasingly understated emotional interludes, this stand-alone proves a stellar vehicle for Scarlett Johansson ’s Natasha Romanoff, given first-rate support by Florence Pugh , Rachel Weisz and David Harbour. Shifting away from the superhero template into high-octane espionage thriller territory, it makes a far more satisfying female-driven MCU entry than the blandly bombastic Captain Marvel .

Black Widow

Release date : Friday, July 9 Cast : Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, O-T Fagbenle Director : Cate Shortland Screenwriters : Eric Pearson; story by Jac Schaeffer, Ned Benson, based on the Marvel Comics

The attention-grabbing opening sequence starts out like a Terrence Malick remembrance of sun-dappled childhood before igniting into a suspenseful escape scene that might have been lifted from The Americans . The young Natasha (Ever Anderson) is a tomboyish preteen with a mop of acid-blue dyed hair, tooling around on her bicycle in the leafy Ohio town where she lives with her family in 1995. Her 6-year-old sister, Yelena (Violet McGraw) scrapes her knee and gets comforting kisses from their mother, Melina (Weisz), who reminds both girls, “Your pain only makes you stronger.” But the tender family scene is shattered when father Alexei (Harbour) returns home with news that they need to make a hasty exit.

Narrowly evading authorities and a barrage of gunfire, they fly to Cuba, where their identities as Russian intelligence agents posing as an American family are revealed before they are separated. Alexei expresses relief that his three years of thankless undercover obscurity are over, finally allowing the “Red Guardian” to get back to the super-soldier duties for which he was trained. But his boss, General Dreykov (Ray Winstone, with a dodgy Russian accent), seems more interested in the feisty spirit of Natasha, who is fiercely protective of her kid sister.

Cut to 21 years later, when Natasha (Johansson) is a federal fugitive being hunted by a SWAT team under the direction of U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), forcing her to leave the country and go into hiding in remote Norway. Meanwhile, Yelena (Pugh), now a highly skilled assassin, is in Morocco, having defected from Dreykov’s ranks and removed a tracking device planted under her skin. She outmaneuvers the female kill squad sent to eliminate her and gets away with a case of vials containing an antidote to Dreykov’s chemical compound designed to inhibit free will.

The globe-hopping plot then shifts to Budapest, where Yelena is holed up in a safe house and has just enough time to get reacquainted with Natasha in their slam-bang style before an armored vehicle is chasing them through the city streets. The deadliest of Dreykov’s soldiers on their heels is a microchip-enabled mimic, programmed to replicate any fight skills, including those of the now-disbanded Avengers.

If all this sounds like a lot of overcomplicated plotting, well, it is. So it’s a welcome respite from the almost nonstop visceral action when Shortland pauses long enough to allow Natasha and Yelena to reestablish the frayed bonds of their non-biological sisterhood with some scenes of good-natured teasing, banter and rivalry. Somewhat jealous that Natasha is a hero to little girls while she remains in the shadows, Yelena has a take on her sister’s signature hair-toss pose that’s especially funny. But whether the narrative is in amped-up overdrive or idling, the director and her magnetic cast keep us fully invested in their cautious reconnection and their ability to survive a series of life-threatening encounters.

The personal stakes are heightened further still when Alexei and Melina reenter the picture, the first in a thrilling Russian prison breakout and the latter on an isolated farm where she’s testing Dreykov’s mind-control programs on hogs. Gradually, the pieces come together to reveal the nefarious puppet master’s Red Room training camp, where orphaned or abandoned young women from around the globe are transformed into his “Widows,” a kind of fembot army of blindly obedient killers. “I recycle trash and I give them a purpose,” says Dreykov. “I give them a life.”

It’s in the epic battle to take down Dreykov and destroy the off-the-radar Red Room location that the film goes beyond the mere appearance of female representation and becomes a narrative entirely shaped by the fearlessness, smarts and badassery of two young women determined to liberate legions of others from inhumane exploitation. (They even find time to get creative with braided hairstyles in between clashes.) The ultimate in patriarchal evil, Dreykov congratulates himself on his genius in utilizing the only resource the world has too much of — girls. His plan is to command the Widows to gain control over international centers of power.

There’s a sly nod early on to the outsize supervillain nature of his ambitions, when Natasha chills in her wilderness trailer in Norway watching the cheesy 1979 James Bond space entry, Moonraker . But what makes the script so appealing is the balance of espionage intrigue akin to the Bourne movies, hard-hitting physical action — with the emphasis on hand-to-hand combat over weaponry — and unconventional family dynamics.

Unanswered questions that have bounced around in the heads of Natasha and especially Yelena for two decades surface in charming scenes at Melina’s hog farm. Weisz plays the exchanges with frank honesty tinged with regret, while Harbour brings a goofy endearing quality to his tattoo-covered tough guy.

There’s genuine poignancy in Yelena’s struggle to believe that any part of the familial bond of her early life was real. The remarkable Pugh, who just keeps getting better and better, brings warmth and complexity to that internal conflict of a woman trained to think not emotionally but tactically yet unable to suppress her feelings. Her sparky chemistry with Johansson yields many lovely moments of resilient sisterhood. And while this isn’t quite a Natasha Romanoff origin story, it does dig deep enough into the character’s pre-Red Room history to expose the raw wounds of a stolen childhood, which Johansson plays with touching vulnerability. It’s to her credit, though, that while the film bears her character’s name, it’s very much an ensemble piece for the four leads.

On the craftsmanship side, Black Widow is top-notch, with muscular camerawork from Gabriel Beristain and a wonderful score by Lorne Balfe that ranges from gentle piano to high-intensity suspense and almost into the operatic as it incorporates stormy choral elements. The editing of the fight scenes is perhaps a touch too unrelentingly fast, often blurring the choreography, but the physical side never feels overwhelmed by CG enhancement.

The production represents a huge leap in scale for Shortland, who made her name with the intimately observed Somersault before segueing to the Holocaust drama Lore and the psychological abduction thriller Berlin Syndrome . Those features all explored the lives of young women with sensitivity and genuine curiosity, something the Australian director continues to do here, adding unexpectedly rich dimensions to a genre that often shows too little interest in character. The payoff with a woman filmmaker from way outside the action sphere stokes anticipation for Chloé Zhao’s Eternals .

Full credits

Production company: Marvel Studios Distribution: Disney/Disney+ Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, O-T Fagbenle Director: Cate Shortland Screenwriters: Eric Pearson; story by Jac Schaeffer, Ned Benson, based on the Marvel Comics Producer: Kevin Feige Executive producers: Louis D’ Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Nigel Gostelow, Scarlett Johansson Director of photography: Gabriel Beristain Production designer: Charles Wood Costume designer: Jany Temime Music: Lorne Balfe Editors: Leigh Folsom Boyd, Matthew Schmidt Visual effects supervisors: Lisa Marra, Geoffrey Baumann Casting: Sarah Halley Finn

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Review: 'Black Widow' is a Marvel movie like you've never seen before

Natasha Romanoff is a kick-ass spy with no need for superpowers.

Do you want to see the movie that's sold the most advance tickets on Fandango? Then check out "Black Widow" (in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access) with a knockout Scarlett Johansson in the title role. Delayed more than a year -- thanks, COVID-19 -- this Marvel epic is worth the wait.

Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson stars as Natasha Romanoff in Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller, "Black Widow."

Packed with Oscar and Emmy nominees who act like they mean it instead of faking it for a paycheck, this thrilling backstory lets us see Johansson's Russian assassin Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, in the days before she became an Avenger.

You'll be hooked even if you never watched any of the 23 "Avengers" movies. "Black Widow" speaks for itself with rousing hand-to-hand combat deepened by emotions that befit the most provocative woman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Romanoff is a kick-ass spy (take that, James Bond) with no need for superpowers and no interest in racking up sexual conquests.

PHOTO: Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Scarlett Johansson star in Marvel Studios' 2021 film, "Black Widow," directed by Cate Shortland.

Smartly directed by Aussie dynamo Cate Shortland, "Black Widow" focuses on Romanoff's plan to end the reign of General Dreykov (a hissable Ray Winstone), the brainwashing Russian tyrant who trained her as a killer for his rogue espionage agency, dubbed the Red Room.

MORE: Review: 'F9: The Fast Saga' is the biggest, baddest popcorn movie of the summer

To complete her mission impossible, Romanoff must reconnect with the undercover U.S. family that -- shades of "The Americans" -- once passed themselves off as 1995 Ohio suburbanites. Dad Alexei (David Harbour) may have been a super-solider known as the Red Guardian. But he and his scientist wife Melina (Rachel Weisz) had to blend in as Buckeye State rubes.

For three years, Romanoff and her pretend sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh), formed an alliance that had nothing to do with being pawns in a Red Room game. That is until their cover is blown and these faux Americans are separated into factions they could never have anticipated.

In Norway, where she evades capture by U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), Romanoff watches the 007 caper "Moonraker" as a primer for escape. In Morocco, Yelena yanks a Dreykov tracking device from under her skin and dodges a fembot army of "Widows" designed to aid Dreykov in his plan for global domination.

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All the actors come up aces. Harbor ("Stranger Things") nails it as a goofball strongman whose prison break generates a bonfire of excitement. And Weisz ("The Favourite") radiates a fierce humanity that shows her maternal instincts weren't all manufactured by Dreykov.

PHOTO: Scarlett Johansson stars in Marvel Studios' 2021 film, "Black Widow," directed by Cate Shortland.

Still, "Black Widow" belongs to the two women at its center, both haunted by broken childhoods and both determined to break free of the dictates of toxic masculinity. You've never seen a Marvel movie like "Black Widow," and that's the point.

MORE: Review: 'In the Heights' pure unleashed joy grabs you and never lets go

Johansson, equally adept at drama ("Marriage Story") and comedy ("Jojo Rabbit"), is a startling and soulful screen presence.You can't take your eyes off her. And it's no accident that the spectacular Pugh ("Little Women") is generating Oscar buzz as the kid sister who teases her sibling's hair-tossing poses while never compromising a bond that goes deeper than blood.

In typical Marvel fashion, the action sequences range from bracing to bloated and often rob the film of intimacy. "Black Widow" is best when it busts out of the Marvel mythology bubble to become a stirring, standalone tribute to female empowerment. I'd call that progress.

'Black Widow' is more concerned with setting up the future of the MCU than giving Scarlett Johansson's character the origin story she's deserved since 2010

Warning: There are minor spoilers ahead for " Black Widow ."
Though it's a good watch, it's likely not one you'll revisit due to its darker subject matter.
Florence Pugh and David Harbour manage to outshine Black Widow in her own movie.

" Black Widow " is a decent standalone action movie, but it would have landed better if Disney and Marvel had the guts to release it a decade ago — or even five years ago.

Scarlett Johansson and her Natasha Romanoff character have been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2010's " Iron Man 2 ." Yet, it wasn't until 2017 that work on a solo movie finally began.

The new film, which serves as both an origin story exploring Romanoff's dark past and an explanation of what she was up to between " Captain America: Civil War " and " Avengers: Infinity War ," was originally supposed to lead May 2020 as the first big summer release. Of course, even if it had debuted on schedule, Black Widow frustratingly still wouldn't have been the first female Marvel hero to get her own movie. (That was 2019's "Captain Marvel." ) But because of the pandemic, not only does " Widow " need to follow the heels of Universal's successful "Fast 9," it's also relegated to a film you can unlock on Disney+ for an additional $29.99 — a release strategy Marvel never would've gone with for an Iron Man movie, or quite frankly any of its male-leading vehicles.

Herein lies part of the problem with debuting a "Black Widow" movie in 2021, 11 years after debuting the character into the MCU.

Though I enjoyed what I was watching, and I believe other Marvel fans will as well, I found myself wondering so many times why I should care about this film more than two years after Marvel killed Johansson's Black Widow character in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame."

What's the point? Will people care for a movie about a dead Marvel character, or will they see it as a disingenuous cash grab?

Perhaps Disney has considered the same question and that's why, in part, it's heading to Disney+ in addition to its theatrical release. Even if that's not an issue for most fans, I predict the casual Marvel viewer is going to be confused trying to figure out when in the Marvel timeline this film takes place .

'Black Widow' should have come out 4 or 5 years ago

As Johansson confirmed in 2019 , " Black Widow " takes place between the events of 2016's " Captain America: Civil War " and 2018's " Avengers: Infinity War ." But that's not made clear to casual Marvel fans in the film.

While the MCU has never been beholden to chronological releases, this movie really should have come out in 2016 or 2017 because it plays as a direct sequel to " Civil War " with Nat on the run from General Ross (William Hurt) after turning her back on Tony Stark to help Captain America flee on the Quinjet.

With nowhere else to run, Nat finds herself coming face-to-face with her younger adopted "sister," Yelena (an excellent Florence Pugh).

Together, they decide to take down the Red Room, the place that transformed them into Widows, once and for all after Nat learns it's still operational. They just need to find it first.

The other obstacle is a soldier named Taskmaster, a new antagonist who can mimic the fighting techniques of any person they come across.

The trailers have made this mystery character out to be the main villain. Taskmaster is the villain, to an extent, but there's another big bad I won't reveal here, who is a rather silly, self-important character and feels like they belong in an early Marvel movie.

The moment viewers finally learn who's behind the Taskmaster mask, meant to be a shocking and emotional revelation, falls a bit flat. Most fans will probably go, "Oh. That's it?" I doubt you'll even guess it because the reveal is just not as interesting as the movie believes it to be.

Johansson isn't even the main highlight in her own movie

The wildest thing about " Black Widow " may be that the title character isn't even the main hero in her own story most of the time.

Ultimately, 'Black Widow' is a wannabe 'The Americans' knock-off that plays it too safe

As others have said in overzealous early reaction tweets, " Black Widow " feels like a "Bourne" movie meets "The Americans."

While true, it's a hollow version of the FX series at that.

Despite having one of Marvel's strongest and most haunting openings ever, "Black Widow" tiptoes around the KGB to give us the Disneyfied version of Russian spies infiltrating America in the '80s in a brief montage by simply explaining that random major events in history have all been orchestrated by the Black Widow program.

We've heard so much about this Red Room and its psychological and physical torture across 20+ Marvel movies. But after a 134-minute movie, some of it still feels like a mystery. The basics are there, and any smart viewer can fill in the gaps, but you still never feel like you completely understand Natasha and Yelena's trauma.

Every other Marvel movie actually did a better job of making you feel empathy for Natasha's character.

Disney had the opportunity to go all-in on this movie, but they kept the dial turned way down in order to make it more kid-friendly — and they don't even quite succeed at that.

I'd caution parents with little ones to consider sitting them out for at least portions of "Black Widow." This is one of Marvel's darker, grittier movies. Some scarier images of girls being rounded up at the film's start and discussion of weak ones being killed off may stay with young children after the film's over. You never see child deaths on screen, but the images may be a bit haunting, nonetheless.

Later in the film, Yelena makes the Widow sterilization process into what I imagine will be an uncomfortably long joke for men and for parents who will have to explain fallopian tubes and how the reproductive system in women works to any young viewers.

Overall, "Black Widow" is a decent action vehicle and spy thriller, even if it feels a bit paint-by-numbers and years late to the screen.

At the very least, fans will be satisfied that after 24 movies, Marvel finally explains what happened in Budapest .

And always, be sure to stay until the film's very end for an extra scene after the credits.

"Black Widow" is in theaters and streaming on Disney+ for an additional $29.99 on July 9. It will be free to all Disney+ users on October 6.

Watch: How Scarlett Johansson gets into shape for her role as Black Widow in Marvel films

Main content

IMAGES

35+ Black Widow Image
'Black Widow' Poster Reveals First Look At New Characters Including David Harbour's Red Guardian
Black Widow Movie Review: One of the Better MCU Entries
Black Widow Movie Review: Don’t Mess With „Family“
Black Widow Review: This Should Have Happened Years Ago
MOVIE REVIEW: Black Widow

VIDEO

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Black Widow Movie Review
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Black Widow movie review
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COMMENTS

Official Discussion
Summary: A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War. Director: Cate Shortland. Writers: Eric Pearson (screenplay by)Jac Schaeffer (story by)Ned Benson (story by) Cast: Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow. Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova.
Black Widow movie review & film summary (2021)
The best aspects of "Black Widow" echo the '70s spy movie tone of one of the best films in the MCU, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."Director Shortland and writer Eric Pearson (an MCU vet behind both "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Endgame," along with Thor, Spider-Man, Ant-Man films and the ABC TV shows) unabashedly pull from beloved action and espionage classics with ...
Black Widow
Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Rating ...
'Black Widow' review: It's the best Marvel movie in years
June 29, 2021. Before she got her own movie, Black Widow had to die. Two years ago, in Avengers: Endgame, we witnessed the demise of Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff. It was an emotional ...
Black Widow review: Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh play sisters
Black Widow is in cinemas from July 8 and on Disney+ with 'Premier Access' from July 9. Loading YouTube content Posted 7 Jul 2021 7 Jul 2021 Wed 7 Jul 2021 at 8:28pm , updated 7 Jul 2021 7 Jul ...
'Black Widow' Review: Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh ...
Florence Pugh in "Black Widow" Kenin Baker. Their mission: Infiltrate the Red Room, ideally with the help of ex-Russian mega-hero Red Guardian, aka Alexei Shostakov, played with great relish ...
Black Widow review
This movie gives us the backstory to Black Widow's presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, involving an origin-myth tale of family trauma, identity crisis and sibling rivalry with a ...
Black Widow isn't too little, but it is too late
Black Widow mostly feels like an apology. It arrives as the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, two years (one of them a pandemic mulligan) after the 22nd film, Avengers: Endgame, featured ...
Black Widow 4K Blu-ray Review
Widow enjoys another left-field MCU directorial choice in the form of hitherto indie director Cate Shortland, who made a mark with her 2004 debut Somersault, but actually only did a couple more small movies in the 17 year run-up to taking the helm here.Whilst that leaves the action distinctly Marvel - stuff just has to blow up in a big way, go full CG, and have heroes going wild in the sky ...
'Black Widow' Review: Too Long, Too Boring, Too MCU
Black Widow hews toward a darker, grittier style than much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though by the end we find ourselves in much more familiar territory. Things go boom. Things go boom.
'Black Widow' Review: Spies, Lies and Family Ties
Black Widow Rated PG-13 for spy vs. spy stabbings, fisticuffs and some naughty Russian words. Running time: 2 hours 13 minutes. Running time: 2 hours 13 minutes. In theaters and on Disney+ .
'Black Widow' Review: Not too little, but a little too late
Black Widow's the one making the sacrifice play. So of course she's the last one to get her own film. That may seem like beating a dead horse — gods know how long we've been harping on the fact — but it's actually pertinent to the enjoyment of Black Widow. It's a strong enough film that gives Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) a solid ...
Black Widow's 12 Biggest Spoilers
Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest is in theaters, here are the biggest Black Widow movie spoilers. The first film of Phase 4 acts as a launchpad for what's to come while finally giving Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff her own solo vehicle. It's set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War ...
BLACK WIDOW Is One of the MCU's Best Standalone Movies
Black Widow —which finally sees its release next week after months of COVID-19 shuffling —is the first film in Phase 4 of the MCU, but is set after C aptain America: Civil War. Natasha is dead ...
Scarlett Johansson in Marvel's 'Black Widow': Film Review
Black Widow. The Bottom Line Sisters are doing it for themselves. Rated PG-13, 2 hours 14 minutes. The attention-grabbing opening sequence starts out like a Terrence Malick remembrance of sun ...
Review: 'Black Widow' is a Marvel movie like you've never seen before
Scarlett Johansson stars as Natasha Romanoff in Marvel Studios' action-packed spy thriller, "Black Widow." Packed with Oscar and Emmy nominees who act like they mean it instead of faking it for ...
'Black Widow' Review: a Good Action Movie We Should've Had Years Ago
You can opt-out at any time. "Black Widow" is a decent standalone action movie, but it would have landed better if Disney and Marvel had the guts to release it a decade ago — or even five years ...

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'Black Widow' review: It's the best Marvel movie in years — maybe ever

Black Widow review: Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh play sisters in a family-focused backstory for Natasha Romanoff

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Review: 'Black Widow' is a Marvel movie like you've never seen before

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'Black Widow' is more concerned with setting up the future of the MCU than giving Scarlett Johansson's character the origin story she's deserved since 2010

'Black Widow' should have come out 4 or 5 years ago

Johansson isn't even the main highlight in her own movie

Ultimately, 'Black Widow' is a wannabe 'The Americans' knock-off that plays it too safe

Watch: How Scarlett Johansson gets into shape for her role as Black Widow in Marvel films

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