It's taken far too long to get a Black Widow solo movie.
It took waiting out a real world pandemic and the character's on-screen death in "Avengers:
Endgame," but finally "Black Widow" is here.
Confused about some of the plot's twists and turns?
Here are the biggest unanswered questions we have about "Black Widow."
Early in "Black Widow," director Cate Shortland uses some clever misdirection.
We're led to believe that we're about to get a showdown between Natasha and Secretary Ross'
men in an office building, when in fact Black Widow is already long gone -- on a ferry headed
for a safe house in Norway.
While it likely has nothing to do with the overall story of either "Black Widow" or the
MCU, it's interesting that Norway is Natasha's destination, considering who else may be in
the country when she arrives.
The events of "Black Widow" are set during 2016's "Captain America: Civil War" -- between
Tony Stark's confrontation with Nat after the airport battle, and the rescue of the
anti-registration heroes from the Raft.
What's interesting is that 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok" also takes place during the events of "Civil
War," and in the beginning of "Ragnarok" we learn Odin has escaped Loki's magic and is
waiting in Norway for his sons to arrive.
Nat isn't in Norway for very long.
It's during her first night in the safe house that she's attacked by Taskmaster, and soon
afterward she heads for Budapest.
But it's at least possible she was in Norway at the same time as Odin, perhaps even on
the same day as his death.
One of the more mysterious characters of "Black Widow" is Mason.
It's Mason who secures Nat's safe house for her, along with a chopper to rescue Alexei
from prison, and even a quinjet.
There's some palpable sexual tension between Mason and Nat -- you get the sense either
they have a romantic past or that they've been circling each other flirtatiously for
a long time.
This probably has a lot to do with why Mason is willing to continue supplying Nat even
though Secretary Ross is forcing him into a corner.
While we don't get a lot of details about Mason in "Black Widow," it's possible we've
met a relative.
In the comics, Mason is better known as Rick Mason, aka the Agent.
His father is Phineas Mason, the Tinkerer, a tech genius known for supplying super villains
with their gadgets.
While he's never referred to as the Tinkerer onscreen, we meet Phineas Mason in 2017's
"Spider-Man: Homecoming," working for the Vulture.
When we first meet Alexei in 1995, he's clearly already an adept storyteller considering he's
been hiding his "family" from the authorities for years.
"Ha ha ha!
Still fits!"
He's still telling stories just before Nat and Yelena spring him from prison.
In particular, he enjoys regaling his fellow prisoners about his supposedly epic battles
with Captain America.
The one prisoner brave enough to point out that Steve Rogers was still frozen at the
bottom of the ocean when Alexei was supposed to be fighting him pays for it by losing the
use of his hand.
In spite of Alexei's obvious lies, he still seems to think he and Captain America have
some kind of history, like they did in the comics.
One of the first things he does after being sprung from prison is to ask Nat whether or
not Steve Rogers ever asks about him.
Is it possible he actually does have some kind of history with Captain America?
On one hand, with all the mystery surrounding Steve Rogers' journey to the past at the end
of "Avengers: Endgame" -- and the changing story about whether that takes place in another
timeline or the prime one -- could he and a time-traveling Steve Rogers have clashed
at some point?
On the other hand, could Red Guardian be using some poetic license with a battle that took
place not with Steve Rogers, but another super soldier?
Perhaps Isaiah Bradley or someone like him?
It's been clear ever since her interrogation of Loki in "The Avengers" that the innocent
lives Natasha took while working for the Red Room still haunt her.
But while we don't hear much about it once the scene is over, it seems likely Nat and
her sister took a lot more innocent lives rescuing their adoptive father from prison.
While defending herself from the prison's guards, Yelena unintentionally triggers an
avalanche.
Nat and Alexei narrowly avoid being swept away by the avalanche, but we never learn
the fate of the prison's inmates or guards.
Considering the severity of the avalanche and the fact that the heroes were the only
ones to have a helicopter they could use to get away, it seems pretty likely most -- if
not all -- were buried beneath it and killed.
And strangely, this is never mentioned.
Neither Nat, Yelena, nor Alexei betray any kind of regret over what happens.
There are a lot of differences between the Taskmaster of "Black Widow" and the villain
of the source material, including gender.
But one thing that remains the same is their abilities.
In both the comics and the movie, Taskmaster can instantly perform any martial task they
see performed by combat experts.
In the film, we see Taskmaster can use a bow and arrow like Hawkeye, a shield like Captain
America, and even claws like Black Panther.
We also see Taskmaster using a sword.
The thing is, at this point in the MCU we haven't seen any major heroes or villains
using swords -- at least none Taskmaster would have access to recordings of.
Of course, it isn't like you have to be a superhero or villain to use a sword.
Still, almost all the other forms of martial combat we see Taskmaster use come from some
major hero.
It could be that this is foreshadowing for the upcoming "Eternals," which will include
the premiere of the Ebony Blade-wielding Black Knight played by Kit Harington.
Of course, another Marvel hero famous for wielding swords is the vampire hunter Blade,
who Mahershala Ali is set to play.
We know for a fact parts of "Eternals" will be set in the MCU's past, and it's possible
part of "Blade" could be as well.
If recordings of either heroes exist, it could explain Taskmaster's own skill with a blade.
We get teased with the possibility of learning about Natasha's birth parents toward the end
of "Black Widow."
Dreykov acts as if he's going to give Nat her mother's name, then cruelly says only
that her headstone reads "Unknown."
Shortly before her death in "Endgame," Nat gets the tiniest of crumbs from the Red Skull.
He calls her "Natasha, daughter of Ivan," and moments later we learn that -- until the
name came out of the Skull's mouth -- Nat didn't know so much as his first name, much
less his last.
All she's able to learn from Melina is that the story she was told about her mother abandoning
her was a lie.
Sadly, with Nat dying in "Endgame," it seems unlikely we'll ever learn anything about her
birth parents.
Since Yelena appears set to continue to be a part of the MCU going forward, it could
be that she'll investigate further, but we'd assume she'd be much more interested in learning
about her own origins.
And maybe finally getting to the bottom of "The Pose."
"Why do you always do that thing?"
"What thing?"
"The pose!
It's a fighting pose.
You're a total poser."
We don't actually see much of Dreykov before the end of the film, but if one thing is clear,
the guy likes to brag.
With what he thinks is a helpless Natasha, Dreykov opens up about his global network
of mind-controlled Widows and the kind of power they give him.
The scene feels a lot like the A.I.
Zola bringing Steve and Nat up to speed on Hydra and Bucky in "Captain America: The Winter
Soldier," but with one exception -- we never get any solid idea of exactly what the Widows
have done.
Dreykov gives some very broad strokes about what he can do with the Widows.
He makes the kind of boasts you'd expect -- that with them he can topple governments, he can
destroy economies, and so on.
And it's clear that, yes, for a while now the emissaries of the Red Room have spilled
plenty of blood.
But we never learn exactly what kind of power moves Dreykov has made with the Widows.
Has he toppled governments?
Has he destroyed economies?
Exactly how does the world of the MCU look different because of what he's made his Widows
do?
It turns out all the Widows, including Nat, have been conditioned to be unable to directly
attack Dreykov while in range of his pheromones.
Nat pretends to be surprised by this, but we learn she and Melina worked it out earlier.
Melina tells her she will need to completely sever a nerve connected to her olfactory system
-- essentially losing her sense of smell to bypass Dreykov's pheromones.
Nat tries to get Dreykov to do it himself by provoking him into beating her, but when
he can't finish the job, she does it for him.
So does this mean Nat is completely without her sense of smell for the rest of her life?
She painfully resets her broken nose after Dreykov escapes, but severing a nerve sounds
fairly, well, permanent.
It doesn't sound like something that could be corrected by resetting a broken nose.
By the end of "Black Widow," all of the surviving Widows are freed from Dreykov's control.
Before leaving Dreykov's office, Nat downloads the data about other Widows across the globe
and she hands it off to Yelena.
Alexei, Melina, and Yelena leave with all the Widows, including Taskmaster.
So, what are the Widows and the rest of Nat's found family doing now?
In most likelihood they spent some time locating and liberating the rest of Dreykov's Widows,
but the present day MCU is set in 2023, seven or so years after "Black Widow."
We know from the post-credits scene that Yelena is working for Contessa Valentina Allegra
de Fontaine, aka Val.
"Don't call me that."
"Copy."
Val, who we were introduced to in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," seems like she would
certainly love to get the rest of the Widows on her payroll, but that doesn't mean the
Widows would feel the same.
Perhaps some went to work for Val, some became freelancers, and maybe others did their best
to build "normal" lives.
Then there's the question of what happened to Alexei and Melina.
They clearly still share a mutual attraction, so there's a decent chance they're a couple.
As for what else they're up to -- considering their former employers, they probably don't
have a ton of moral scruples regarding who they do and don't work for.
They might have found a place working for Val as well.
For fans of Marvel's trademark post-credits scenes, "Black Widow" doesn't disappoint.
It's clear Yelena has been working for Val for a while, and the Contessa has come to
give Yelena her next target, who she refers to as "the man responsible for your sister's
death" — in other words, Clint Barton.
Anyone who's seen "Avengers: Endgame" knows saying Barton is responsible for Natasha's
demise is a pretty limited, and obviously manipulative, interpretation of Natasha's
sacrifice.
Regardless, what's most intriguing here is the question of why Val wants Hawkeye dead.
Without knowing more about Val and her agenda, the most obvious answer is that it has something
to do with Barton's vigilante activities as Ronin in the years between the events of "Avengers:
Infinity War" and "Endgame."
It could be that the government now sees him as a wild card and wants him taken out quietly,
or it could be that the carnage he caused in the global crime community made the wrong
people angry.
It seems likely we'll have to wait until the release of Disney+'s "Hawkeye" to know for
sure.
For fans hoping that the MCU is building its own big-screen Thunderbolts -- a Marvel Comics
team composed of mostly either reformed villains or heroes with criminal pasts -- the post-credits
scene of "Black Widow" offers some promising teases.
The very fact that Val appears in the scene is a hint.
She's introduced in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," a series which had long been rumored
to build the foundation for the Thunderbolts' entry into the MCU.
Along with featuring Bucky and Zemo -- both of whom have fronted their own versions of
the Thunderbolts in the comics -- the series sees John Walker recruited by Val, and considering
Walker's actions in the series, he certainly rates as a guy who could use some redemption.
Val's meeting with Yelena can only add more fuel to the speculation.
Not only would an assassin like Yelena be a perfect fit for an MCU Thunderbolts, but
she's tasked with taking out Hawkeye, yet another character who leads his own Thunderbolts
team in the comics.
We'll have to wait and see, obviously, but the more Val shows up, the more likely it
seems she's planting seeds for a team that isn't quite as clean-cut as the Avengers.
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