The new Black Widow trailer/featurette (embedded below), titled "Ready Set Action" gives audiences a behind the scenes look that's fairly boiler-plate, until it actually teases a fulfillment of the reason the movie needs to exist (beyond creating profit in theaters and on Disney Plus Premier Access).
Johansson starts the clip some standard hype for the film, saying "Black Widow is something that the Marvel Universe has never experienced before." And if that's true, we'll be impressed — right now it doesn't appear to be the case. Her claims are buffeted by plenty of action shots, with car chase scenes that feel a little reminiscent of The Winter Solider's — in a good way. But still not that unique.
- What we know about The Witcher season 2
- Marvel movies in order: Binge the MCU
- Plus: We need Jurassic World: Dominion and we need it now
Fortunately, director Cate Shortland confirms something that we've expected: Black Widow will explore "Natasha as a human being," and "let audiences see a side of her that they had never seen before." And while the latter is pretty cliche, it's the one thing we really hope the movie provides: the dimensionality that she's lacked (and that the script for Avengers: Age of Ultron robbed her of).
Looking past our need to make this movie actually matter, the coolest part of the clip is the preview of a massive prison riot. David Harbour (who plays Alexei, aka Red Guardian) is shown turning a guy's arm in the exact opposite direction it should go, before throwing him. To see Stranger Things' Hopper in an action movie where he's kicking butt is pretty neat.
Florence Pugh (who plays Yelena, Natasha's sister) charmingly notes "Within like two days of knowing Scarlett, I was just ramming her into a door frame," while footage of said fight choreography plays on-screen. She also explains that some of the action is intrinsically tied to misunderstanding, saying "All the fighting in this film is so emotional and about not knowing how to say what you feel."
Also, the clip reminds us that Black Widow will take place (at least partially) in Budapest, which will likely have that same problem that the streets of Rio De Janeiro had in Fast Five: tons of incidental destruction.
When it comes to Johansson's promise of something new, it should be noted that Tom Hiddleston made a similar promise about the Loki show, and Loki episode 1 + 2 actually supported his case. That said, Loki's trailers actually made that seem possible.
This clip arrives in conjunction with tickets for the movie (which comes out on July 9) going on sale, and Disney Plus Premier Access pre-orders beginning. We've already bought our tickets.
- Plus: Everything to know about Umbrella Academy season 3
