After a delay of more than 14 months, “Black Widow” was finally released on July 9. In this long awaited feature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first woman superhero, director Cate Shortland brings fans a family-focused story in an action packed film.

The story takes place between “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” However, the intro shows Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson, as a child with her family in America. While Romanoff is best known as the Black Widow, she is not the only one of her kind. The childhood story ends at the Red Room, which is a secret operation to kidnap young girls and train them to be killers known as “Black Widows.”

Victims of the Red Room are forever bound to the operation’s owner, Dreykov (Ray Winstone), and forced to do dirty work on his behalf through psychological conditioning and mind control brain chemistry. This intro sets up the background that directly ties to the events that take place for Romanoff after the Avengers break up.

The film begins with Romanoff on the run, after breaking the Sokovia Accords in “The Winter Soldier,” and becoming an international fugitive. Upon receiving a mysterious package from her sister figure, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Romanoff meets Belova at a safehouse in Budapest to learn about the vital importance of the package. With this, Romanoff and Belova are forced to reconnect after years of being disconnected and team up in an attempt to bring down the Red Room for good.

After twenty years apart, Romanoff and Yelena’s adventure brings them in touch with their self-centered, former father figure Alexi Shostakov (David Harbour), the Red Guardian and Russian equivalent of Captain America, and their former mother figure Melina Vostokova (Rachel Weisz), a Black Widow, spy and the brain power for the Red Room. In order to achieve their goal, this dysfunctional family must overcome their broken relationships.

Because the center of the story is family bonds, there is less of a focus on the Black Widow herself. Admittedly, this can be a disappointment for some die hard Widow fans. However, the well written family dynamics of the film offer a deeper insight into Romanoff’s character that are enough to make up for her loss of screen time. Through Romanoff’s exploration of family, we gain a deeper understanding of her past and incentives.

The ending of the film also sets up the beginning of “Avengers: Infinity War” by giving an explanation to how Romanoff, Captain America and others came together after the end of “The Winter Soldier.”

Another important part of the film is the introduction of Belova as a sister figure to Romanoff. Belova is a fellow Widow and victim of the Red Room, and she is also a caring warrior who is ready to take control of her life after escaping the Red Room. She brings some humor into the film; a prime example is her incessant teasing toward Romanoff for being a “poser” because of her traditional Avengers fighting poses. While the sisterly relationship between Romanoff and Belova is important to the development of both characters in the film, Belova’s introduction doubles in importance because of the end credit scene.

As always with the MCU, the end credit scene shows new, ambiguous information that keeps fans guessing about the next movie or tv show. The end credit scene for “Black Widow” takes place after “Avengers: End Game,” with Belova visiting Romanoff’s grave. At the gravesite, there is an interaction that left fans speculating what her involvement in the future of the MCU will include. This end scene may very well be the MCU’s way of handing off the Black Widow torch to Belova.
The overall plot of the movie is similar to that of a standard action movie, thus is mostly predictable. Some critics said “Black Widow” is very similar to a Jason Bourne movie. Despite some predictability, the film is executed well and demonstrates good special effects for the average audience member, especially considering challenges the pandemic may have brought. It brings iconic fighting moves from a beloved assassin-turned-hero, humor and a heartwarming story of family. For any fan of the MCU, it is fairly certain to satisfy.