Disney and Marvel Studios have released the first trailer forBlack Widow, the prequel film followingScarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff before her ultimate sacrifice inAvengers: Endgame.Cate Shortland(Berlin Syndrome) is set to direct from a script byNed Benson(The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) andJac Schaefer(The Hustle).
In arecent interview, Johansson opened up about how Black Widow will ultimately be about “self-forgiveness” and “family”:
“I don’t have a total perspective on it yet. It’s a film about self-forgiveness. It’s a film about family. I think, in life, we come of age many times in your life and you have these moments where you’re kind of in a transitional phase and then you move sort of beyond it. I think in theBlack Widowstandalone film the character is […] at a moment of real crisis and throughout the film by facing herself in a lot of ways and all the things that make her her, she actually kind of comes through that crisis on the other side and is able to sort of re-set into a space where she’s a more grounded, self-possessed person. So, that’s her journey.”
Joining Johansson in the cast isFlorence Pugh(Midsommar),David Harbour(Hellboy),Rachel Weisz(The Favourite), andO-T Fagbenle(The Handmaid’s Tale). Plot details are still pretty tightly under wraps, but Marvel did confirm Pugh would be playing Yelena Belova, a character who eventually adopts the Black Widow title in the comics, and Harbour is playing Alexei aka The Red Guardian. Meanwhile, welearned at Comic-Con 2019that Weisz is playing yet another Black Widow, albeit one who has been through the training and active duty cycle quite a few times.
This. Trailer. Does. Not. Disappoint. And honestly? It kinda felt like it had a high bar to clear there after so much time passing even between Comic-Con and now, in early December. But our first real look atBlack Widowteases a movie that has traces ofThe Bourne Identitywhile retaining some Marvel-fied humor (looks like Red Guardian might be our comedic relief?). Not gonna lie, it’s good to see Johansson back in the saddle and leading her own movie; it’s been a long time in the making. Watching her, as Natasha, take one last ride in this world for a story that is so focused on her life that we’ll get tosay goodbye to her properlyfeels just and good. As a final note, it seems like both the directing and the score are going to be two standout elements in this film that we’ll be talking about more in-depth when the movie actually comes out. What’s being shown here in the first trailer hints at a very strong, capable vision that looks and sounds unlike anything we’ve seen elsewhere in the MCU.
Check out the trailer below.Black Widowhits theaters on August 09, 2025. For more on the film, here is alook at the official posterand abreakdown of the footage shown at D23.
