With Avengers: Endgame in theaters and Spider-Man: Far From Home on the horizon, Marvel fans are naturally looking towards Phase Four of the franchise. While several films have been confirmed, Black Widow, Black Panther 2, The Eternals among them, fans will have to wait until San Diego Comic Con or D23 to find out the planned schedule for the next slate of MCU movies.
In the meantime, news and rumors are trickling in about the various films in development. Most recently, Sebastian Stan let it slip that the upcoming solo Black Widow movie would take place after the events of Captain America: Civil War. The erstwhile Bucky Barnes made the comments during a panel at an Italian comic convention, but it still remains a rumor.
Fans have long assumed that, given Natasha Romanov’s arc in Endgame, her solo film would be a prequel of sorts. While I think there’s a great film to be made in Natasha’s origins as a Russian spy, there is plenty of solid material to mine in her post-Civil War timeline.
Civil War saw Natasha sign onto the Sokovia Accords alongside Tony Stark, but finds her changing allegiances in battle when she allows Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes to escape. Natasha’s betrayal send her into hiding, where she teams up with Cap and Falcon for some off-the-books missions.
According to the Avengers: Infinity War Prelude comic miniseries, this involves taking down some smugglers who are trafficking Chitauri weaponry. Does this mean we could see Chris Evans return and reprise his role as Captain America? It seems unlikely, but there is an opening for Falcon to make an appearance.
It’s more likely that, if either the former or future Captain America appears, it will be in a reduced role. Natasha’s solo film will likely be exactly that – Black Widow on a solo mission in a spy thriller of her own.
But speaking of Civil War, this film could be a chance to course-correct one of the MCU’s biggest missed opportunities. In the climax of the film, Helmut Zemo discovers the secret Siberian Hydra base, where several super-soldiers remain in cryostasis. What could have been an epic super-soldier breakout battle is quickly snuffed out, as Zemo murders every soldier while they’re frozen.
I know that the focus of Civil War was on the fight between Steve and Tony, which an assist from Bucky, but COME ON GUYS. Unleashing those super-soldiers would have made for an awesome and exciting fight scene. I imagine that there must be some version of the script that unfreezes the soldiers and puts them into action, but sadly that version never made it to the screen.
If Black Widow finds a way incorporate Chekhov’s Super Soldiers, it would be an amazing payoff to a subplot that showed so much promise. After all, maybe there are more Hydra bases, more Winter Soldiers waiting to be thawed out. A fan can dream, right?
Are you excited for the Black Widow movie? What are you hoping to see happen?
(via ComicBook.com, image: Marvel)
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