Black Widow Official Teaser Trailer: Breakdown

The first teaser trailer for Marvel’s long-awaited Black Widow movie is finally upon us! But will Scarlett Johansson’s first solo outing live up to her rightfully earned fan favour? It seems so!

‘I’m done running from my past’ — Natasha Romanoff — Credit: Marvel Studios

Opening to the familiar voice of renowned spy and hero Natasha Romanoff, the trailer establishes the type of serious tone you would expect from someone of her background. Set between the events of Civil War and Infinity War, Marvel is brushing up on what exactly she was up to during this long stretch of time.

As depicted in both the flashback scenes, ripped directly from the previous films and the new material, it appears we are finally set to explore the shady history of Natasha’s past and uncover why her ledger is filled with so much red. While we can expect the brutality of Natasha’s previous life to be toned down for a wider audience of viewers, I do hope Marvel are not shying away from the dark background fans know and expect. And from what we can see here, there should be plenty of that to go around. But don’t be fooled, the now-iconic Marvel humour is still present and accounted for, brought down heavily through the acting chops of Stranger Things star David Harbour.

'Still fits.' — Red Guardian — Credit: Marvel Studios

Supported with a steady flow of new allies, Natasha won’t be going it alone. With the Russian copycat of Captain America, known as the Red Guardian (David Harbour), Marvel are evidently not shying away from exploring new characters. And with Florence Pugh seemingly posed to take over the mantle of the Widow, through the role of Yelena Belova, could this be Johansson’s final outing as the character? Big spoilers if you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame — but those who have will know that Natasha sacrificed herself at the peak of Vormir to recover the Soul Stone. With this in mind, a replacement for the legacy mantle is not out of the realm of possibility.

New prodigy Yelena Belova provides a window into Natasha's past — Credit: Marvel Studios

I won’t lie when I say that I was anticipating a more grounded Jason Bourne-esque movie, but it seems the action set pieces will be verging on the absurd towards the end of the film. Nevertheless, trailers are known to exaggerate dramatic cinematic moments, and there are many more hand-to-hand scenes reflective of the fan-favourite Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also, let’s not ignore the fact that we get to see Harbour in full superhero mode slogging it out with what appears to be Taskmaster.

That’s right; popular villain Taskmaster is set to join the MCU, albeit seemingly without his famous white, hooded cloak and skull mask. This lines up with previous iterations of Marvel villains, opting for a more toned-down rendition of the more outlandish comic book costumes. While I like to reserve judgement on issues such as this, it would be nice to see a more source material–accurate version of the outfit at some point in the film. Even so, Tony Masters (yes, I kid you not, that’s his real name) looks to be a credible threat to our starring heroine. With the ability to mimic any skill he sees, the pressure is going to be well and truly on to deliver some extraordinary action scenes.

Taskmaster demonstrating his many skills — Credit: Marvel Studios

Having seen the reappearance of Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye in an early flashback, if you were expecting some cameos from other heroes central to the Black Widow mythos, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier are, as many of you know, indisposed at this time. Clint, if you can remember back to the consequences of Civil War, is under house arrest, and Bucky is recovering from his mind control in Wakanda. However, never say never. And this doesn’t rule out other appearances from similarly important characters, such as Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.

Releasing in early May, it’s not long now until we’ll be able to re-join the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that we’ve finally got an idea of the direction Black Widow is heading in, what do you think of the new trailer?