Black Widow: Who Are 6 New Characters

Laelia Yang May 12, 2021 | 15:01

Six new character posters have been released for Marvel Studios’ long-awaited Black Widow movie, showcasing fresh looks at the main cast of the Phase 4 film. Take a look below!

Photo: vov

Black Widow is set in between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Johansson's Natasha Romanoff travels back to Russia to tie up some loose ends and on the way reunites with her adopted family including her "sister" Yelena Belova (Pugh), "father" a Russian super-soldier called the Red Guardian (Harbour), and "mother," spy, and previous Black Widow, Melina Vostokoff (Weisz).

Disney delayed Black Widow multiple times because of the ongoing pandemic, but the studio has finally settled on a July release date. Black Widow will also be released on Disney Plus Premier Access, meaning Disney Plus subscribers can pay an additional $30 to watch Black Widow at home the same day it premieres in theatres.

This was a major change as Disney's CEO insisted earlier this year that Black Widow would remain a theatres-only release. However, as the pandemic continues despite vaccine rollout, Disney changed course and will finally release Black Widow a year after it was originally supposed to be released in May 2020, according to Ign.

Black Widow Casts

Black Widow is being directed by Cate Shortland (Lore) and sees Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff alongside Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family) as Yelena Belova, O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Mason, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) as Melina Vostokoff/Iron Maiden, Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) as Dreykov and Olivier Richters (The King’s Man) in an as-yet-unrevealed role, Flickering myth reported.

Marvel Unveils Character Posters For Black Widow

In the new posters, we do get another look at Johansson as Black Widow, but the other characters are certainly the shiny new objects that steal our attention. Weisz looks fantastic as Melina, another Black Widow who serves as a mother figure to Romanoff and therefore dons the same costume as Johansson. Pugh also looks amazing as Yelena, Romanoff’s sister-figure, trained in the same Red Room as her. Rounding out her family is Harbour’s Alexei aka Red Guardian, Russia’s eastern answer to Captain America. We also get a better look at Fabgenle as Rick Mason, an ally from S.H.I.E.L.D. who serves as a romantic interest for Romanoff (one that will hopefully sizzle on screen a bit better than Bruce Banner).

Finally, the Taskmaster gets their own poster as well, even if their identity has not yet been revealed. The costuming portrays a daunting foe for Romanoff and company, including heavy body armour and…a shield, a replica of Captain America’s. His character is known for his “photographic reflexes,” which means that he can copy fighting styles, and has plenty of previous knowledge and weapons to back up his abilities. Despite the long list of villains that have appeared in previous movies, Marvel still has a plethora of great characters to pull from, and the Taskmaster is certainly a great one to unearth due to their mimicry styles, Collider noted.

1. Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson)

Photo: collider

The first poster up is Natasha Romanoff, the titular Black Widow herself. Although Scarlett sports a white outfit in many of the film’s trailers, for this final character poster, we’re back in black, baby. It is in her codename after all. Scarlett Johansson suits up as Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow's black suit, with staff weapons.

Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

2. Yelena Bolova (Florence Pugh)

Photo: collider

As fans of Marvel Comics know, the character of Yelena Bolova (Florence Pugh) eventually takes the mantle of Black Widow from Natasha. We think it’s safe to say, given Nat’s fate in Avengers: Endgame, that Yelena is ready for the role of MCU Black Widow heading into the future. Florence Pugh wears a white suit and black bullet-proof vest and holds a large staff.

3. Melina Vostokova (Rachel Weisz )

Photo: collider

Rachel Weisz wears a black suit and sports staff weapons in each hand. Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz plays Melina Vostokova in the film. She’s a Russian spy who has survived the Red Room’s Black Widow program a whopping five times. So it’s about time we saw her in a full classic Black Widow outfit of her own!

4. The Red Guardian (David Harbour)

Photo: collider

A bearded David Harbour as the Red Guardian, wearing a red suit with white accents and a white star on his chest. Stranger Things’ David Harbour is Alexi Shostakov, better known as the Red Guardian. He’s the Russian version of Captain America. As The Falcon and the Winter Soldier taught us, that Super-Soldier serum sure got around back in the day. At this point, who didn’t take the serum?

5. Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenle)

Photo: collider

Wherever Natasha goes, her past as a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. follows. In the Black Widow film, it arrives in the former of Rick Mason. He’s a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, portrayed by O-T Fagbenle. In the comics, he “specializes in the non-lethal handling of superhumans.” He’s Natasha’s ally while she’s on the run in the time frame between Civil War and Infinity War.

6. Taskmaster

Photo: collider

And finally, there is the villainous Taskmaster. No actor revealed. Likely because it’s one of the previous five we just mentioned. The longtime Marvel Comics bad guy can mimic the fighting skills of anyone he sees. Although we’re not convinced that, in this film, Taskmaster is a “he.” Taskmaster wears a metallic mask, bullet-proof vest, and fabric hood, and holds a round shield and staff or sword weapon, Yahoo cited.

Marvel Fans Have Thoughts About Black Widow’s Taskmaster After New Posters Revealed

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been waiting more than a year now for Black Widow, a film that was originally set to debut last May. While we still have to wait a couple more months to see the film, a collection of brand new character posters were dropped online and since there's nothing else to talk about, fans are making their own fun. Right now, that fun is focused on Taskmaster, who is a character who is as mysterious as he is, awesome, or hilarious, depending on your point of view.

Whether the live-action design for Taskmaster is "good" or not seems to be an open question. Some fans seem to love the design, while others really do not. This poster gives us our best look yet at the character, which is very much going for the comic book accurate skull that the character is usually portrayed with. For some, this really seems to work.

However, not everybody seems to have the same opinion. While the look of Taskmaster in the comics, with a skull for a face, works fine in that medium, it doesn't really work in the same way in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where things are, if only slightly, more "real." So this Taskmaster is wearing armour and he has what appears to be a helmet that is also designed to look like a skull. For some, it feels more like the knockoff, generic version of the character than the brand name.

Overall the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a stellar job of bringing comic book characters from the page to the screen in a way that has worked remarkably well, but nobody is perfect. Taskmaster was going to be a difficult character to work with and people have had very different opinions of the level of success ever since he first appeared in the marketing materials. It's possible the look will work better in the movie than it does in a simple poster, though some are pointing out it might work even better in a popular video game. And let's be honest, at the rate at which Fortnite is collecting characters from films and TV, there's a better than even chance this character is going to appear in Fornite looking just like this before too long.

However, there are some people who are actually looking at a very different poster in the recent Black Widow collection. While most are looking at the Taskmaster poster, others have their eye on the character poster of British actor O.T. Fagbenle. The other five characters that have been given their own poster are suited up like your normal Marvel heroes, or villains, while Fagbenle, who plays the role of Rick Mason, a former contact of Black Widow, is just a dude in jeans. This has led many to suspect that he could actually be Taskmaster, according to Cinemablend.

Black Widow coming out date

Black Widow, directed by Cate Shortland, stars Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O. T. Fagbenle, Rachel Weisz, and Ray Winstone. It is currently set to be released on July 9, 2021, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premiere Access.