Surprise! Without warning, Marvel Studios dropped the first trailer for “Black Widow” at midnight Pacific time, and you can watch it for yourself above.
Per usual for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film’s first trailer, the actual plot of the film is very much obscured, so don’t expect any real details. All we know for sure is that: 1) it’s the first to come out after “Spider-Man: Far From Home”; 2) it’s set immediately after the events of “Captain America: Civil War”; and 3) it follows Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as she reunites with former members of the (former) Soviet assassin squad she grew up with to defeat an even greater threat.
Oh, and we also 4) know the film takes place well before “Avengers: Endgame,” which is how Natasha is even alive in the first place.
But despite those knowledge deficiencies, we do get to see Natasha kick a ton of ass, jumps out of a plane into some very dangerous-looking airborne debris, and have some fun family banter with her former comrades, including David Harbour as Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova (a.k.a. the Super Adaptoid in Marvel Comics), and Rachel Weisz as … actually we’re not sure who she plays other than a fellow ex-Soviet super spy but, let’s assume she kicks a lot of ass.
We also get to see William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross, and a very brief look at the film’s (masked) villain, Taskmaster. But sadly, we don’t actually get to see Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, or O-T Fagbenle (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent “Mason.” But, uh, now that we think about it, we’re going to place a bet that the film has a reveal, and that is either Weisz or Fagbenle is Taskmaster. We’ll pay $50 or the equivalent in Rubles if we lose.
Directed by Cate Shortland (“Berlin Syndrome”) and written by Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson, “Black Widow” hits theaters May 1, 2020. And hey, wait a minute, we just realized that’s May Day. NOW WE GET IT.