When Florence Pugh (Midsommar) was cast in Black Widow I have always said that Marvel Studios didnt sign a rising star to have be a one off in their blockbuster cinematic universe. Now, it looks like my thoughts have been confirmed.
While speaking with Empire, director Cate Shortland revealed that despite this being the final entry for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, it is only the beginning for Pugh’s character, Yelena Belova:
“[Kevin Feige] realised that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction,” Shortland continues. “And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
Shortland would also go on to reveal that the film will offer a different kind of closure for Romanoff, who met her demise in Avengers: Endgame:
In Endgame, the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral. She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”
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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.
Directed by Cate Shortland, the film sees the return of Scarlett Johansson in her 9th film appearance as Natasha, Florence Pugh (Midsommar) as Yelena, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Alexei aka The Red Guardian, Rachel Weisz (Oz The Great and Powerful) as Melina, William Hurt (The Incredible Hulk) as Thunderbolt Ross, Ray Winstone (The Departed) as Dreykov, The Leader of the Red Room and O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as the mysterious Mason.
Black Widow will hit theaters on November 6, 2020.
Source: Empire