Black Widow finally gave Natasha Romanoff a standalone movie, years after the character died within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Knowing what the future of the timeline held for Black Widow, audiences were primed to expect an element of closure, just as Tony Stark and Steve Rogers received in Avengers: Endgame. Alternatively, the movie could have suggested a way Black Widow’s narrative might continue. Ultimately, the movie didn’t provide either.

For a standalone story, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Black Widow focused on delivering insight into the MCU timeline’s history of the character and her version of The Red Room, expanding her arc by explaining her change in attitudes and team roles between previously released movies. It finally gave Natasha some peace about her own backstory. Given the previous film’s hints about her tortured past, providing her with closure on those aspects by reconnecting her with her deep-cover family was an important part of giving the character more dimension, and it was executed successfully.

Even if my good friend and co-host Jonah Ray doesn’t agree, James Bond is cool. He’s the gold standard for the spy movie genre, and all other spy films are compared to the Bond legacy, which spans nearly 60 years. But through that entire history, Bond has never been portrayed by a woman. That’s mainly because the character was conceived as a snobby Englishman, but also because of Hollywood’s long-standing aversion to putting women at the center of big-budget action franchises.

Marvel’s Black Widow does its best to reverse this archaic notion, and places Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh at the center of a globe-trotting espionage adventure. They run, they fight, and they jump off various things from very high places. It’s certainly it’s own thing, a meditation on the meaning of family in a chaotic world, but it’s still indebted to the legacy of Bond. It’s so indebted that Natasha Romanoff sits down to watch the Roger Moore Bond film Moonraker — a sly nod to the absurd, galactic shenanigans that both that movie and the Marvel films share. And, a significant number of the stars of this film — David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, and Rachel Weisz — have an either direct or indirect connection to the Bond franchise. So, is Black Widow as close as we’ll ever get to a female James Bond? Should we even have a female James Bond?

Every good Marvel superhero needs a supervillain, so as Black Widow stepped up for her solo movie debut, it’s only natural that she got a signature bad guy to go along with her. In Black Widow, that’s Taskmaster, the mysterious killer with the ability to learn any fighting technique simply by watching it.

Even with their true identity shrouded in secrecy, the maniacal masked mimic is the biggest recognizable threat of Black Widow, and the latest supervillain entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel Studios’ Black Widow — the first new movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic — is finally hitting theaters and living rooms this weekend, on the big screen and on Disney Plus.

But between the last Marvel movie and Black Widow there’s been something new: Marvel’s Disney Plus television shows, which are tied much more directly into Marvel Cinematic Universe canon than their predecessors like Agents of SHIELD or Agent Carter.

Assassin. Spy. Avenger. Those are the things the general population knows about Black Widow. But like any comic character with decades of history behind them, Natasha Romanoff is far more complex than a few words can describe.

Natasha has had a complex comic journey, but her core values — her empathy and her loyalty to her friends — have helped creators keep her relevant and beloved over the years. As Black Widow hits theaters, the writers and artists behind some of Natasha’s most prominent tales reveal what helped them shape the character’s evolution throughout her 57-year comic history.

Our first real look at Marvel’s Black Widow — at least, outside of Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con — arrived on Tuesday in the movie’s first trailer. Besides showcasing Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, the two-minute teaser also gives MCU fans a good look at David Harbour (Stranger Things, Hellboy) in costume as the Russian superhero Red Guardian.

Harbour is looking characteristically paunchy but powerful in the red and grey suit, which makes the rare but memorable combination of a classic superhero cowl with a full beard. We got our first glimpse of this look during San Diego Comic-Con 2019, on the first Black Widow poster.