The long-awaited Marvel movie spin-off for iconic superhero Black Widow has stormed into cinemas globally over a year after it was originally set for release.
Marvel fans have been begging for the standalone breakout movie ever since her debut in Iron Man 2.
The Russo Brothers pumped more fuel on that fire pushing Natasha Romanoff front and centre alongside The Cap in Winter Soldier, then in 2019, action was called on her own movie. The film was shot and cut in record time, only for its high-profile release to be king-hit by COVID.
"When the pandemic hit, it actually gave us more time to fine tune it. We worked on it for a bit and then it's been on the shelf for a while. It's kinda crazy. I'm still processing that it's actually finally being released," Scarlett Johansson tells Newshub.
In a way, Johansson has nothing to prove, she's owned the screen since the get-go. But this time around, she shares it with British actor Florence Pugh.
Pugh was determined not to let the side down, spending months ahead of the production with the stunt crew.
"I threw myself at it. Literally. I'm really grateful that I did," she says.
"We did the Budapest fight first and there's this jump where I have to jump with a knife and do a roll in the air. If you get it a bit wrong you can end up landing really horribly on your neck and also you want it to look cool. You're like, 'I can do this roll'.
"I remember I got one in the can, which was great, and the second wasn't good. I was really pissed off with it because I'd been practising it for months. I was thinking 'God this is so embarrassing' in front of Scarlett Johannson, the Black Widow herself."
Pugh survived to tell the tale and to become an absolute superhero standout in this latest Marvel blockbuster.
