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'Black Widow' will shed light on Natasha's exploits between her MCU appearances

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in <i>Captain America: Civil War</i> (Marvel 2016)
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Captain America: Civil War (Marvel 2016)

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige says the Black Widow solo film will reveal some of what Natasha Romanoff has been up to between her appearances on screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Scarlett Johansson’s character was first introduced in 2010’s Iron Man 2 and has since appeared in The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame with more and more of her history revealed each time.

Now it sounds like her long-awaited solo film – now due for release in November, 2020 – will fill in some more of the blanks.

“[We’ve] hinted at [Natasha Romanoff’s backstory] throughout all the other films” Feige tells Total Film. “We approach it in a completely unexpected way. She’s been up to a lot all along – in between when we see her in the other movies – some of which will be surprising to people.”

So far we know Johansson’s character was born in Russia, and trained to be a super spy in the Red Room, a secret agency. It involved training as a ballerina as a cover and she was sterilised as part of the process. She operated for many years as a deadly assassin.

Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was sent to kill to Romanoff, but recruited her as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent instead, and the pair worked together extensively in the field before she joined Stark Industries undercover as Tony Stark’s PA during the events of Iron Man 2.

In the same issue of Total Film, Johansson revealed her solo film would subvert expectations.

She said that family is one of the key themes of the movie, with trailers teasing a dysfunctional relationship between Natasha and her odd family unit.

HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 13:  Actress Scarlett Johansson and  President of Production at Marvel Studios Kevin Feige attend the premiere of Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" at the El Capitan Theatre on March 13, 2014 in Hollywood, California.  (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Scarlett Johansson and President of Production at Marvel Studios Kevin Feige attend the premiere of Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", 2014. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

This includes sister figure Yelena, played by Florence Pugh, and unconventional quasi-parents portrayed by David Harbour and Rachel Weisz.

Johansson said: “I think part of Kevin Feige’s genius is that he always thinks about what fans expect out of these films and then gives them something that they never could’ve dreamed of.

Read more: Florence Pugh says Black Widow is “raw, powerful and beautiful”

“The idea of Natasha Romanoff in a family drama is the least expected thing, and I had to wrap my head around what that was going to be because there’s such a big tonal shift.”

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff. (Marvel Studios)
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff. (Marvel Studios)

Black Widow was originally scheduled for release in May, but that was pushed back to 6 November, taking the release date originally held by The Eternals, which has been pushed back to February, 2021.

HT: Flickering Myth