Among the many star-studded casting announcements rolled out during the Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday was Rachel Weisz in the upcoming Black Widow movie. In her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Weisz is playing the character of Melina, though the big screen version might have a bit of a twist by comparison to her comic book counterpart who goes on to become Iron Maiden.
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Weisz caught up with ComicBook.com (as seen in the video above) following the Halll H panel to dish on her upcoming role, saying that a comparison to the comic book character is “right” though there are certainly more layers to Melina on the big screen. “[Melina has] been cycled through the Red Room through the Black Widow Training Program, five times since I was a child,” Weisz said. “So, I’m pretty seasoned spy.”
She couldn’t say much more without giving anything away, but she did have one important note in comparison the Avengers-member Natasha Romanoff: “Yeah, not famous in the way that Black Widow is.” As a result, this all makes the relationship between Natasha and Malena “complex.”
Weisz points out that she will costume up in Black Widow, which she calls “exciting,” but refrains from offering up details of what it might look like. In one theory, I predicted that instead of becoming Iron Maiden, Weisz’s Melina will actually become Taskmaster and rival Black Widow throughout the movie in that role
The only problem with the theory is that the Hall H footage for Black Widow showed Scarlett Johansson’s character coming face to face with Taskmaster for a showdown in which they mimicked each other perfectly. “I haven’t shot my action sequences yet, so I just saw that footage for the first time, with you,” Weisz said. Still, the sequence may have been Malena, given the masked character offers the opportunity to use a stunt double in its entirety.
“That’s Cate’s signature style of direction,” Weisz said of the sequence. “She’s an author, director, she always directs females. The percentage of films always were men. There always kinda quite gritty, quite edgy, quite hardcore, quite tough, quite vulnerable, quite sexy.”
What do you want to see from Weisz in Black Widow? Are you happy with the casting of the upcoming film? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter!
Black Widow hits theaters on May 1, 2020.
