Black Widow, which is the first film of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will hit theaters in May. Rather than taking place in the present, it serves as a retrospect on Natasha's life after her part in Captain America: Civil War and before she makes her final sacrifice in this year's Avengers: Endgame. And according to Marvel's Chief Creative Officer, Kevin Feige, it will offer insight into her future.
At Brazil's Comic Con Experience, Feige was asked about how Marvel Studios chose to set the movie at that point in the timeline, as reported by IGN. He replied that they "wanted to explore a part of her life that we hadn't seen before." Johansson has played Natasha in numerous MCU films, but Feige said, "a lot of stuff happened in between those movies that we never saw, we didn't hear about, we didn't learn about."
The movie will focus on Natasha's recent past rather than her distant past, but her youth will also be explored to show how it affected her life. In much the same way, it appears that we'll also see how the part of her life covered in Black Widow affects her future. According to Feige, "There are things that she does in Infinity War and Endgame that you'll see in a new light once you see the Black Widow."
Natasha's poignant arc in her last two movies showed her surviving the Snap that destroyed half of all life, only to sacrifice her life so that her closest friend, Clint Barton, could obtain the Soul Stone and live on to help bring back his family and the rest of those lost. Whether Feige is referring to the choices she made in this regard, or to something else, is yet to be seen.
Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha, Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour as Alexei aka The Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina. The film opens May 1, 2020.