Black Widow (2021)

After waiting almost two years (with three delays) for “Black Widow,” there’s something poignant about its entire tone and the time of its release. With Scarlett Johansson leaving the MCU and the series moving on, “Black Widow” is a wonderful epilogue that fills in the holes about Natasha Romanoff once and for all. Natasha was always something of an enigma who we could never really make up our minds about, and the long overdue solo movie gives us the definitive look in to the life of a pretty noble heroine.

Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by the mysterious Taskmaster, a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy, and the broken relationships with her sister Yelena and her parents that were left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

While many were speculating that “Black Widow” came much too late to really book end the character’s demise in “Infinity Wars,” Cate Shortland does a marvelous job unfolding what is such a unique Marvel solo movie. While it does embrace its Marvel Universe roots, it also allows Black Widow to travel through her own world and confront her own conflicts that made and broke her life as we know it. Scarlett Johansson’s final outing as Natasha is a complex and very bittersweet experience. Johansson is obviously having a great time as Romanoff who is allowed to finally stand by herself without the help of Hawkeye or Hulk.

This is very much Black Widow’s movie, but it also introduces a lot of the more obscure Marvel banner heroes from Captain America and Iron Man’s lore. This includes the fascinating Red Guardian, and Iron Maiden. Their welcome inclusion injects distinct flavor in the film that sets it apart from the whole time line of the Infinity Wars, and creates a very self contained aesthetic. Director Shortland is able to invoke great turns from the entire cast, including Rachel Weisz, Ray Winstone, David Harbour and Florence Pugh, respectively. The latter two are the clear stand outs in the film as they manage to steal scenes from the rest of the cast on a near regular basis.

The best scenes often involve Harbour’s patriarch Alexei and Pugh’s Yelena. In fact, one of the few scenes they share together amounts to a great exchange and a somber callback to the opening of the film. I really hope that Marvel convinces Pugh to return to the franchise, as she’s dynamic in her character’s skin and easily builds excellent chemistry with everyone in the cast. It’s sad that this might just be Johansson’s final cinematic adventure as Natasha Romanoff, as she’s brought a unique energy to the massive MCU and retains so much of that vibe with “Black Widow.”

It’s easily one of the best solo MCU movies of the entire series yet, and delivers on every front as a comic book movie, MCU entry, and Summer blockbuster.

Now in Theaters and Streaming on Disney+.