As one of the most anticipated movies of this year, Marvel’s Black Widow holds the highly awaited backstory of Marvel’s first onscreen female superhero: Natasha Romanoff. “She’s highly intelligent and highly skillful in many ways,” said Spanish teacher and Marvel enthusiast Señor Watson.

The long-awaited film starring Scarlet Johannson is designed to fulfill fan’s big expectations for the only female Avenger not to have superpowers.

“I hope that they elaborate on her backstory, [and] that they explain the character a little bit more,” said Computers in Art teacher Mr. VanHall, another fan of the Marvel universe. 

Marvel has left tons of holes in Romanoff’s backstory, and fans have been long awaiting explanations.

Natasha Romanoff first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Iron Man 2 as a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D. Since her first appearance in the comic books back in 1964, she has always been one of the fans’ favorites, and fans have clamored for more.

Since her introduction to the big screen, fans have been asking for Natasha to star in her solo movie, but producers failed to deliver. According to Time Magazine, leaked messages from former Marvel CEO Ike Pearlmutter showed one main reason that the studio stayed away from a Black Widow solo movie. That reason was the failures of previous superhero movies with female leads, such as Catwoman and Elektra. However, after DC Comics’ Wonder Woman was a huge success and made millions in the box office, there was never a question that Natasha Romonaff would have her time to shine.

“It’s like they’re bringing in new people. It’s not just the Avengers anymore,” said 7th Grader Goldie W.

The Black Widow movie will introduce more characters, such as the antihero Taskmaster and Natasha’s sister Yelena Belova. In the comics, Yelena becomes the next Black Widow after Natasha sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone.

              Instead of making the movie about Romanoff’s time in the Red Room before her appearance in Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios has decided to set it during her time as an Avenger. Marvel will stage the movie between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, although it will contain many flashbacks that reveal secrets about her past.

Due to the coronavirus, Disney and other large studios have started to delay big blockbuster movies and reset release dates to times later in the year. Studios have put millions of dollars into movies like Black Widow. If it flopped, it could be catastrophic for the company. One option for studios is to release movies online, but that would not make nearly as much money as releasing in theaters.

Covid-19 also brings up the worries of delays in other Marvel movies. Black Widow was initially scheduled for release on May 1, 2020. Due to the pandemic, it has now been pushed back to November 6, 2020. 

In fact, Marvel decided to push back all of their scheduled movies. They kept the same dates for new releases, but just pushed all of the movies back one release date. For example, Black Widow took the date that was originally scheduled for The Eternals; The Eternals took the spot previously held by Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and so on. 

Fans have nothing but high expectations for the upcoming movies.

“[I want] to find out more about her team. It’s great to bring out other comic book characters, and it’s great to bring them to the forefront again on the big screen, so you get to find out a little more about [her life],” said Señor Watson. Marvel will have to deliver the movie that fans are expecting, and so far, have succeeded with the trailer.