Trivia / Black Widow (2021)

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• Delayed Release Tie-In: Due to the film's released being pushed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Lots of tie-in merchandise, most notably clothes, action figures and the Funko Pop! figurines, were released in time for its first rescheduled date in November 2020... but very early given it wound up delayed again to 2021.
  • French supermarket chain Leclerc launched a Marvel Comics promotional event in November and December 2020 with collectible stickers. They were accompanied by advertising of Black Widow that said "currently in theaters".
• Dueling Works:

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  • With No Time to Die, as both films are high octane spy action thrillers from a long-running film franchise (No Time to Die being the 25th James Bond film and Black Widow being the 26th Marvel Cinematic Universe entry — the 24th film to be precise, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are the official 24th and 25th entries). Amusingly, it's also a husband and wife duel, as Black Widow has Rachel Weisz (Daniel Craig's wife) in its cast.
  • With Wonder Woman 1984, released a few months prior (Christmas 2020). It's another Marvel Cinematic Universe vs DC Extended Universe showdown, with a female lead and directed by a woman.
• Fake Russian: Scarlett Johansson and David Harbour are both American while Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz are both British.
• Meaningful Release Date: This film was originally intended to be released May 1, 2020, just 6 days before the 10th anniversary of Iron Man 2, which was Natasha's first appearance in the MCU. The movie will now release on May 7, 2021, smack dab on the 11th anniversary of Natasha's debut.
• Relationship Voice Actor:

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  • In the Japanese dub, Tomokazu Seki (Mason) and Akio Ohtsuka (Red Guardian) previously worked together in the Full Metal Panic! franchise as Sousuke Sagara and Andrei Sergeivich Kalinin respectively.
  • Also from the same dub, Akio Ohtsuka (Red Guardian) and Atsuko Tanaka (Melina Vostokoff) are Batou and Motoko Kusanagi respectively.
• Release Date Change: The COVID-19 Pandemic and ensuing theater closures forced the film off of the aforementioned original release date. It’s one of many big-budget 2020 movies to get this treatment. It was later rescheduled for November 6, taking the release date of Eternals which caused it and the MCU films following to be pushed back to the Marvel slot following it. In September 2020, it was announced that the movie would be delayed again, to May 7, 2021, making 2020 the first year since 2009 without a MCU film / without a Marvel Studios installment.

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• Saved from Development Hell: There was a Black Widow movie project as far back as 2004, and even within the MCU it took quite some time to greenlight it, first with the Executive Veto of Ike Perlmutter (he didn't believe that female-centric superhero movies would work as previous attempts had failed; while Captain Marvel was greenlit on his watch, it was believed that this was done out of reluctance), then with Kevin Feige shifting some plans for Phase 3 as he saw fit.
• What Could Have Been: See here.

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