The Black Widow film is the next in line when it comes to the MCU films. It will finally reveal one of the biggest questions still running in the MCU, and i.e. what exactly happened in Budapest? The movie will surprisingly take place after Captain America: Civil War and before Avengers: Infinity War. No one really expected that to happen, but it is happening nonetheless. You could argue that why exactly would Marvel want to do this instead of an origin story. But the reason for this is that there are a lot of benefits to placing the movie in 2017.
Black Widow is bringing in 4 new characters as Florence Pugh will be playing Yelena Belova. She is the second character in the Marvel Universe to take on the mantle of Black Widow. Other than her, there’s David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov, aka the Red Guardian. Then there’s the villain Taskmaster, and Rachel Weisz’ mystery character called Melina.
All these characters are related to the Red Room and so is Natasha Romanoff. Since the film is taking place in 2017, Marvel could easily explain the absence of these characters due to the Snap. Most of these characters could have been victims to the snap, but since they were brought back by the blip, we could expect them to return in the future films.
In the comics, Yelena Belova returns with powers and becomes a part of the Thunderbolts. So that could happen. Or Florence Pugh can actually take on the mantle of Black Widow in the future of the MCU. Other than her, we could expect David Harbour’s Red Guardian to be a part of the MCU’s future as well. He is a big name in Hollywood now, and Marvel would surely want to continue with his character if it’s any good.
Taskmaster is one of the craziest and most amazing villains of Marvel. He has taken down the likes of Deadpool, Avengers and so many other superheroes and villains single-handedly. It is a pretty big deal that Black Widow is getting to fight Taskmaster. He could also be saved for a future return.
Then comes Rachel Weisz’ Melina which we don’t know about. There’s a character in the comics called Melina Vostokov. She goes on to become the Iron Maiden. So what if this is another future character the Black Widow movie is building up for us? Clearly, the biggest benefit of this timeline is the characters of the movie that could return in the future.
But another advantage of the timeline here is that the movie will deal with is the aftermath of Civil War. We never really got to see what the consequences of having the Sokovia Accords in place were. Avengers: Infinity War didn’t have time to deal with that. Civil War made a huge deal out of the Accords and then they were cast aside like nothing. So, it’s actually good that the movie will give us something related to the ramifications of the Civil War.
Earlier, the timeline of Black Widow didn’t seem a sensible decision at all. But looking at the characters and having deduced all these point, it seems to be the only decision that does make sense. Marvel is giving us the Budapest storyline and they are introducing new characters as well. So, what more could we want.
It seems that Black Widow is in great hands because we’ve heard nothing but praises about director Cate Shortland. The new entry into the MCU, David Harbour spoke very highly of the director. He said:
“This woman, Cate Shortland, who is directing this movie is one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with,” Harbour said. “She’s so, so smart, and makes such beautiful indie movies. The fact that you’d put someone like that at the helm of one of these huge action movies — and she pays such attention to the story and such attention to character — speaks volumes. The fact that these guys are so good at what they do, and so passionate about what they do, it feels tremendous. I’m very, very happy with the situation, working on it now. It’s on a scale and on a passionate level unlike anything I’ve ever done.”
We should expect some great things from the Black Widow movie as it has the capability to be highly action-packed, dark, intense and bright at the same time. It will make its way to the theatres on May 1, 2020.
