Scarlett Johansson will ‘hand over the baton’ to Florence Pugh in Black Widow

When Marvel Studios‘ Black Widow hits theaters on November 6, fans will see it lead to another female-led superhero movie.

The MCU’s first solo female director, Cate Shortland revealed that Scarlett Johansson’s character will be ‘handing the baton‘ to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. She added that Black Widow is ‘going to propel another female story line.’ Hinting that fans can expect to see Yelena Belova in more MCU movies.

Black Widow is Scarlett Johansson’s long overdue solo adventure. It will launch the franchise into its future by looking back into its past. In an interview with Empire magazine, Cate revealed, “Kevin Feige realized that the audience would expect an origin story. So, of course, we went in the opposite direction.” Shortland explains. “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 story line.”

“Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral”

Moving on, the director touched on how Black Widow will also be a proper goodbye to Natasha Romanoff. Fans weren’t exactly happy with how the character left in Avengers: Endgame. In last year’s Endgame, Natasha sacrificed herself on Vormir so Hawkeye could obtain the Soul Stone.

“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.”

The Timeline

The film is set after the events of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and before 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. Black Widow a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff is forced to confront a conspiracy with ties to her past.

Johansson made her MCU debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2 and the rest was history. Nat’s story in the MCU begins as a tragic fairy tale. She was raised as a child in the Red Room and went on to be a KGB agent. In every possible way, Nat’s story is one of ultimate redemption.

Johansson went on to star in The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

The movie also stars Rachel Weisz, O-T Fagbenie, William Hurt and David Harbour. Black Widow will be the first movie in Marvel’s Phase 4 lineup, and is set for release on November 6th. It was pushed back from its May 1st release due to COVID-19. It will be followed by The Eternals on February 12, 2021 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on May 7, 2021.

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