'Black Widow' Is About Women "Repairing" Themselves, Says Florence Pugh

Marvel’s next female-led film is not your usual superhero narrative. As per star Florence Pugh, Black Widow is all about women repairing themselves. In theaters May 1, Black Widow will follow Russian assassin and spy Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as she becomes the famed superhero Black Widow in the origin story set to also star Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz. In a feature story with the Hollywood Reporter published on Sunday, Pugh discussed the Cate Shortland-directed flick and called it “something that hasn't really been done in the Marvel films before.”

“Essentially it's about these two girls repairing themselves. These girls have been through a huge amount of hurt, and it's them getting together and trying to fix each other up,” Pugh told THR. “If you think about all those films, and you think about all those supposed superheroes, when do you see pain and when do you see what it takes to be that?"

In the film set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Pugh plays Yelena Belova, introduced as Natasha’s sister in the trailer that suggests a family reunion is at play. “It’s gonna be a hell of a reunion," Natasha says in the clip.

While not much is known about the other characters that will be introduced, Weisz revealed at San Diego Comic Con in June 2019 that Black Widow would introduce various Black Widows. "There are quite a number. I'm a Black Widow and there's Scarlett and Florence,” she said. “There's quite a bit of other characters you'll also meet that are Black Widows.”

In conversation for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” with Beanie Feldstein in November 2019, Pugh called the film “very raw” and “very beautiful.” She said, “I think people are going to be really surprised by the outcome of a big action film having that much heart.” Black Widow famously met her death in Endgame when she sacrificed herself to save Hawkeye — a plot that sparked backlash among fans who criticized Marvel’s throwaway treatment of female characters. As such, Pugh said the solo film would be an emotional one for movie-goers.

“I know lots of people will be emotional about her because her character had such a hard ending [in Endgame],” she told Feldstein. “She’s been doing this for like 10 years in those films. For this to be her film was special.”

Black Widow arrives in theaters on May 1.