Let’s break down Black Widow’s first trailer.
Surprise! Marvel has dropped the first trailer for Natasha Romanoff’s solo movie, Black Widow, and it’s jam-packed with never-before-seen footage, new characters, and all sorts of hints as to just what our favorite super-spy might’ve been getting up to back in that weird, vague time period between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. We get our very first look at Rachel Weiss’s Melina Vostokoff, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, and David Harbor’s Red Guardian, as well as not one but two brand new costumes for Natasha herself and a few up-close-and-personal moments with the movie’s villain, Taskmaster.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an MCU movie if the trailers gave everything away, so there’s still plenty of mystery to speculate on–but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to do our best to pull out every shred of information from these 2 minutes and 9 seconds. We’ve combed through the trailer frame-by-frame and come up with some critical details, hints, and clues as to Natasha’s story. Let’s break it down.
Natasha’s Past
Given Natasha’s unfortunate ending in Avengers: Endgame, it’s not a total surprise that the teaser opens with a voiceover of one of her more memorable lines from the film: “I used to have nothing, but then I got this job, this family. But nothing lasts forever.” It plays over clips of some of Natasha’s big moments throughout her MCU history–The Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and so on.
Then we jump to the present day–or, well, the not-quite-present-day. Black Widow takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War (as David Harbour told IGN recently). At this point we finally get some brand new footage.
Thunderbolt Ross
We get a shot of Thadeus Ross, better known as the Secretary of State who caused a lot of the problems in Captain America: Civil War, with an accompanying voiceover. Speaking to Natasha he says he “heard [she] had to leave in a hurry” and then asks what she’s going to do. This is a little unusual, given Natasha’s post-Civil War status as a fugitive. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to be in contact with Ross, so there’s a good chance that this particular soundbite might be from a flashback–or that it’s actually from someone who just sounds suspiciously like Ross that we haven’t actually met yet. The clip certainly makes it look like Ross is rolling out the big guns to hunt Natasha down.
Meet Yelena
The next clip is one that was originally shown at San Diego Comic-Con’s Marvel Studios panel. Natasha enters an apartment building to find Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and a brutal fight ensues. The two are so evenly matched that it ends in a stalemate, complete with shared shots of vodka.
A(nother) new look
We get a very brief look at another new costume for Natasha as she stands in what looks like the wreckage of a Quinjet. This particular look wasn’t the one showcased at Disney’s D23 expo and seems to include some extra armor. Also, it’s worth noting that her hairstyle is also completely new–significantly longer than it was in Civil War and sectioned off into small braids. This could take place a good amount of time later than Civil War.
Where it all started
Natasha is interested in taking care of some “unfinished business” with Yelena, and that means they’ll need to go back to “where it all started.” Comic and MCU fans alike will immediately recognize that she’s talking about the Red Room, the secret Soviet training program that produced Black Widow agents. So far, the Red Room has only made brief, flashback appearances onscreen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but judging by some of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them clips shown here, there was a lot more going on than just training little girls to be deadly ballerinas.
What’s the plan?
One of the potential Red Room shots shows two figures–one of them looks a lot like Natasha in her Avengers-era outfit–standing in front of a wall of monitors. The monitors seem to show maps with big red indicators. Either this is a flashback to a mission from Natasha’s past or some part of the plan she’s hoping to prevent here in the present.
The white suit
We get a shot of Nat dropping out of a helicopter wearing the all-white suit featured on display at D23 this year.
New Widows
It’s possible the Red Room is still creating Black Widows, based on a brief clip of women training in black catsuits.
Taskmaster
Our first real look at Taskmaster comes in the form of a car chase. In Marvel Comics, Taskmaster is a super-soldier with “photographic reflexes,” meaning he’s able to instantly learn new fighting styles and abilities just by seeing them performed once. Unfortunately, this talent has a major drawback: The more skills he learns, the fewer personal memories (i.e. memories that aren’t related to combat) he’s able to hold on to.
Meet Melina
We also get our first look at Rachel Weiss’s Melina Vostokoff. In the comics, Melina becomes a villain known as Iron Maiden, but it seems like the MCU may be forgoing that part of her history. Weiss is clearly wearing the same Black Widow uniform that Natasha was wearing earlier in the trailer–the one with the extra armor. This could be a flashback to Melina’s days as a Black Widow operative or a clue to Melina’s current status. Either way, it’s probably best not to get too comfortable around her–if anyone’s going to stab Nat in the back during this movie, the smart money is on her.
Red Guardian
David Harbor also debuts his Red Guardian in full costume. He’s apparently been retired for quite a while–he’s impressed that his costume still fits. Melina, Yelena, and Natasha are all considerably less so. They’re all sharing a drink, because, as Red Guardian says, they’re “family, back together again.”
Taskmaster vs. Red Guardian
The only person we actually get to see go one-on-one with Taskmaster is Red Guardian, strangely enough, in what looks like some sort of laboratory. Why Alexei has been left to fend for himself without any of the Widows, or why Taskmaster seems to have a bone to pick with him, specifically, is a mystery–but one that we’re guessing is going to be a pretty big deal for the story, and, possibly, for Natasha’s past.
Who are these soldiers?
It’s not totally clear just who Natasha and co. are going up against. The soldiers all wear masks that look vaguely skull-like, which is potentially a nod to Taskmaster’s comic book costume, which includes a skull mask. They also bear a passing resemblance to the helmet Brock Rumlow wore in his Crossbones persona at the start of Captain America: Civil War, so there may be a Hydra connection.