Marvel's Black Widow: First Look at Red Guardian's Shield Revealed

Marvel's Black Widow has snagged a lo of attention after revealing its first teaser trailer, which revealed how Scarlet Johansson's Natasha Romanoff returned to her Russian roots between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Back in Russia Natasha is seen reuniting with her old Soviet team, which includes her Widow "sisters" Yelena (Florence Pugh) and Melina (Rachel Weisz), as well as The Soviet Union's version of Captain America, Red Guardian (David Harbour). Now, thanks to the merchandising line for Marvel's Black Widow, fans can get a sense of just how closely the Soviet Union copied the Captain America blueprint, as Red Guardian has his own shield!

Take a look at David Harbour's Red Guardian shield, below (note: the figure is available to pre-order now along with the rest of the Black Widow Marvel Legends wave):

As you can see, the toy version of Harbour's Red Guardian looks a lot more fit and clean than the disheveled prisoner we saw in the trailer. It's also pretty clear from the action figure that Red Guardian's costume was a definite knock-off of Captain America, right down to the shield. It makes you wonder, then, if Harbour's already "controversial" look in the movie (some fans feel like he's being fat-shamed) is actually going to be more of a humorous commentary on how the Soviet Super-Soldier serum paled in comparison to its American counterpart, as Harbour's Alexei Shostakov does not seem to have retained the physique that Chris Evans' Steve Rogers did.

So far, it seems that Marvel fans are pretty keen about what they've seen from Black Widow so far. The film has the challenge of kicking Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as justifying its own existence. After all, Black Widow is telling a story about a character who fans have already seen die in Avengers: Endgame, which has lead some to wonder what the point of telling a standalone story about Black Widow even is. However, meeting new characters like Yelena or Red Guardian (or Taskmaster, the film's antagonist) is a definite point of intrigue for Marvel fans, and details like this shield will certainly keep them occupied.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.