From RUSSIA With LOVE

The last time we saw Black Widow it was – to put it mildly – emotional. “Let me go – it’s OK,” she told Hawkeye, plunging to her death on the barren planet Vormir in Avengers: Endgame for the ultimate world-saving sacrifice. As deaths in the Marvel Cinematic Universe go – sorry, Iron Man – there probably wasn’t a more heart-stopping moment, as the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. spy turned Avenger gave her life to retrieve the Soul Stone.

Still, it left the MCU in a bind. For years, a Black Widow film had been mooted, right back to 2004 at Lions Gate Entertainment before the rights reverted to Marvel. When Scarlett Johansson first appeared as Natasha Romanoff – the former KGB assassin with a very particular set of skills – in 2010’s , it didn’t take long before questions were asked about a solo outing. Marvel Studios maestro Kevin Feige even held discussions with Johansson, who was then only 25. But there was comes first.”