Wish You Could See Black Widow? Here's What to Watch Instead

If this were a normal Friday, moviegoers would be flocking to theaters to see Scarlett Johansson in Black Widow, the start of the next phase in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe. But as everyone knows, there is nothing normal about this Friday, or anything else during the coronavirus pandemic. Movie theaters around the country remain closed even as some local governments have begun to ease stay-at-home restrictions. Social distancing has forced people inside for the foreseeable future and left potential audiences scrambling for something to watch other than their apocalyptic Twitter feeds.

Fortunately, fans who had hoped to watch Black Widow this week have some options that may serve as worthy substitutes until November 6, the date on which the next Marvel adventure is now scheduled to debut. So in lieu of seeing Black Widow, here are alternatives to consider watching right now.

Captain America: Civil War

Between now and November, those interested will have plenty of time to rewatch all 23 previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Avengers: Endgame—where Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. Black Widow) sacrificed her life to save the universe. (Er, spoiler alert?) Black Widow will be a prequel, so special attention should be paid to when it is set: in the immediate aftermath of Captain America: Civil War. Released in 2016, the Anthony and Joe Russo film kicked off Marvel’s Phase 3 and set up the next 10 (!) MCU features, not to mention the forthcoming Disney+ series The Falcon and Winter Soldier. (In that show, Baron Zemo, the Civil War baddie played by Daniel Bruhl is a key character.) Civil War introduced Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) to the cinematic universe, and put Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) on opposite ends of a philosophical battle, with Black Widow stuck firmly in the middle.

Atomic Blonde

Unlike many of her superpowered co-workers, Romanoff is blessed with a more realistic set of skills. The espionage expert was trained as a Russian spy, and is an expert in the kind of hand-to-hand combat featured in Atomic Blonde. Directed by stunt coordinator turned director David Leitch (who was an uncredited co-director on John Wick and later went behind the camera for Hobbs and Show), the 2017 action-thriller stars Charlize Theron as a superspy let loose in Berlin on the eve of the Berlin Wall coming down. The plot is a confusing mess of double and triple crosses, but the action is unimpeachable, especially a third act brawl shot to appear as one continuous take.

Haywire

Speaking of artful action scenes: Steven Soderbergh isn’t necessarily the first director who comes to mind when thoughts turn to physicality, but he pulls it off with aplomb in Haywire. Released in 2011, just before Soderbergh announced his short-lived retirement from feature films, Haywire lines up an all-star cast of leading men, including Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, and Ewan McGregor—and lets MMA fighter-turned-actress Gina Carano beat most of them to a bloody pulp.

Little Women

Johansson isn’t alone in Black Widow: the film also stars Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz as respectively, Natasha’s de facto sister, father, and mother. “I thought it would be a straightforward action movie, and then it wound up being a real character study of a dysfunctional family,” Harbour told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. Of special interest to the film is the sisterly bond between Romanoff and Pugh’s character, which should be no problem for the young actress. Pugh played Amy in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, imbuing the divisive March sister with a humanity and grace other adaptations hadn’t previously bothered to extend her.

Extraction

The closest thing to a summer blockbuster coming out in the next couple of months, Extraction is the recent Chris Hemsworth Netflix movie that is better than it has any right to be. It includes one truly bonkers you-gotta-see-this action sequence; like Atomic Blonde, the mayhem is designed to look like it was shot in one continuous take). It also features a brief, scene-stealing performance from Black Widow costar Harbour. When the Stranger Things lead pops up halfway through Extraction, it initially feels like a game of algorithm bingo. But playing a shadowy mercenary with shifty morals suits Harbour exceedingly well, and his extended cameo is a good reminder that even if he appears to be playing a goofy do-gooder in the Black Widow trailer, there might be something more sinister lurking beneath his thick Russian accent.

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