Marvel's 'Black Widow' Production Start Date Reportedly Pushed Back

The start of production on Marvel's Black Widow may have been pushed back to midyear, according to a report at Production Weekly.

The trade publication lists the movie's start date as June, where it had previously been expected to go in front of cameras within a month from now.

There could be any number of reasons for such a shift (if indeed the shift is what it appears to be), not least of which is the theatrical release of Avengers: Endgame in April. Given how aggressive paparazzi are on the set of Marvel's movies, there may be things they hope to unveil onscreen before they are spotted unofficially behind the scenes.

A production synopsis appeared online last year when Production Weekly posted the following blurb about Black Widow, which was likely borrowed from a casting breakdown and may not be official and/or accurate...but it sounds right:

"At birth the Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanova) is given to the KGB, which grooms her to become its ultimate operative. When the U.S.S.R. breaks up, the government tries to kill her as the action movies to present-day New York, where she is a freelance operative. The standalone film will find Romanoff living in the United States 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union."

If true, a film taking place 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union would be roughly 2004, meaning that the movie will take place in the space between Captain Marvel, which will be set in the '90s, and the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008 with Iron Man. Likely candidates to appear in a Black Widow movie are Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders's Maria Hill, Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson, and Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye.

Scarlett Johansson is expected to reprise her role as Natasha Romanoff for the solo venture. The actress first stepped into the Marvel role in 2010 when Iron Man 2 introduced her character. Originally an assistant to Tony Stark, Natasha revealed herself to be a renowned spy working for SHIELD under Director Nick Fury, but the MCU has gone on to make the Black Widow an integral character in its narrative since.

Black Widow will also come up as Marvel Studios' second female-led film. This spring, Captain Marvel will have the honor of being the first as her solo movie is slated to premiere on March 8. Black Widow is thought to hit theaters sometime in 2020.

h/t Pursue News