With Phase 3 of the MCU now finally complete, fans are eagerly looking forward to what’s coming in Phase 4. Marvel Studios’ plans for the next couple of years are widely expected to be outlined at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con, with fresh information coming down the pipeline about Shang-Chi, The Eternals, Black Panther 2 and Doctor Strange 2. But all of those movies are some way off yet, with The Eternals just about to begin shooting. This leaves only one currently-in-production film that has a realistic chance of getting a trailer at the panel: Black Widow.
And as it turns out, Variety are reporting that an advance look at the movie may well be on the cards. An anonymous executive spoke to the publication recently, explaining that:
“Marvel will of course bring out the stars of its next phase, and that’ll be a moment for it, but you’re also using a presentation in Hall H to break a new piece of content. Getting something ready, like footage or a trailer for ‘Black Widow,’ means a VFX acceleration. If it’s up to two or three minutes, that can run you a million bucks.”
Well, it’s a good thing that Marvel Studios probably has a million bucks to burn at the moment, and right now seems like a great time to remind audiences of why they were demanding a Black Widow solo movie for so long. Precisely what Black Widow will consist of remains a mystery, but given that we all saw Natasha sacrifice herself for the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame, it’s safe to assume that this will be a prequel.
Despite that, analysis of set photos shows cars that were released in 2017. This indicates that at least part of the events of the movie will take during the time the character was undercover with Captain America after Civil War, or possibly during the five-year period after the Blip. So, right now we have more questions than answers, but I’m desperately hoping at least some of them get cleared up next week at Comic-Con.