Following its debut in theaters and Disney+ Premiere Access, where it cost extra to watch the film, Marvel Studios’ Black Widow movie has officially arrived on Disney+ as a streaming title with no strings attached. By launching on Disney+ at no additional cost, Black Widow joins almost every other Marvel Cinematic Universe movie on the streamer which is largely a one-stop shop for every entry in the MCU (only 2008’s The Incredible Hulk is absent from available titles). Black Widow’s release on Disney+ also marks the first Marvel Phase Four movie to be released on the streamer, joining their TV series titles WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki to complete the lineup of this phase of programming. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.
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For several months now all talk of Black Widow and its star Scarlett Johansson hasn’t been about the movie itself but that the actress filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company alleging breach of contract and disputing the terms of her payment. Johansson’s dispute with Disney came down to the fact that her contract for the film was written and signed in a pre-COVID-19 era when an exclusively theatrical release was a near guarantee and Disney+ wasn’t even a thing. Amid the ongoing pandemic Disney’s hybrid release of Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access resulted in a drastic cut to Johansson’s bottom line, according to her at least. In the end the matter was settled out of court and Johansson will continue to collaborate with Disney on new projects.
Despite Black WIdow’s prequel status, and that it was essentially Johansson’s last hurrah as the character, that hasn’t stopped some fans from wondering if it could become its own franchise in the MCU later on.
“I think these girls have got a lot of asses still to kick,” Director Cate Shortland previously told Deadline when asked about a Black Widow sequel. The first-time Marvel director also told RadioTimes.com that a second film “following a different character” is possible.
“I think Scarlett is really happy that she’s leaving the party, you know, and she’s not the last to leave. She decided she wanted to go,” Shortland said. “And I don’t think she would want to come back at the moment.”
Johansson made similar comments to ComicBook.com, telling us: “Honestly, I feel like it’s always, it feels great to leave a party when it’s still raging and I think that this film feels very much like it’s alive and fresh and powerful and I feel really pleased with it.”
