Step Aside Thanos! ‘Black Widow’ Will Reportedly Introduce Marvel’s Next Big Bad
Black Widow might be revealing the next major villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film, due out in November, is set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War and is Scarlett Johansson’s first solo outing as the eponymous hero. While the movie is set to kick off Phase 4 of the MCU, inside sources claim that it will also reveal Marvel’s next big bad now that Thanos (Josh Brolin) is out of the picture.
‘Black Widow’ — Everything We Know
Marvel originally scheduled Black Widow to premiere in theaters in May, but the release was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The studio pushed back the premiere to November, which is the new start date for Phase 4 of the MCU.
As far as the plot is concerned, Black Widow will follow Johansson’s character as she returns to Russia to take down the leader of the spy program that created her. The main villain in the movie is Taskmaster, though we still don’t know who is behind the character’s mask.
The film will also introduce a few new characters to the MCU. This includes Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and David Harbour’s Red Guardian. There have also been reports that Robert Downey Jr. will enjoy a brief cameo as Tony Stark.
Because Black Widow is a prequel, fans expected it to be more of a farewell to Johansson’s character, who perished in Avengers: Endgame. But since the film is the first one of Phase 4, there is a good chance that Marvel will tease what’s ahead for the MCU — and this will reportedly include the studio’s next main villain.
This will be Marvel’s next big bad
Marvel has not said anything about which villain will fill Thanos’s shoes following the events in Endgame. An inside source, however, told We Got This Covered that Marvel will tease the arrival of Doctor Doom in a Black Widow post-credits scene.
The source claims that the scene will feature a person from Doom’s fictional country of Latveria who will mention something about the masked supervillain. The insider did not reveal any more details about the scene, other than that Doom will be teased in some manner.
Doom, of course, is one of the most iconic villains in Marvel’s lineup and has deep ties to the Fantastic Four. With Marvel now having the rights to produce a Fantastic Four film, it makes sense that the studio will introduce Doom in the upcoming project.
If the insider is correct, then Doom will go on to play a major role in the MCU in Phase 4 and beyond. It is even possible that he takes on a part similar to Thanos and becomes the next big nemesis of the Avengers.
That said, this is not the first time Doom’s name has popped up in a project in the MCU.
What about those ‘Black Panther 2’ rumors?
Last fall, reports surfaced that Doctor Doom was going to be the main antagonist in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 2. At the time, sources claimed that the movie will see Doom conquering Africa and eventually battling it out with Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman).
Coogler was still writing the story for the sequel last fall and has kept a tight lid on plot details over the past few months. While we cannot confirm that Doom will be the villain in Black Panther 2, he does has a history with T’Challa in the comics.
In the storyline Doomwar, Doom invaded Wakanda in a bid to obtain some Vibranium. T’Challa gathered his forces to defend Wakanda against Doom in a story that could easily be adapted to the big screens.
There have also been reports that Noah Hawley (Legion and Fargo) had written a script for a stand-alone Doctor Doom film. Hawley has confirmed that he has an idea for a movie about the villain but Marvel has yet to give him the green light for the project.
Whatever happens with Doctor Doom, it’s only a matter of time before he makes his way into the MCU.
Black Widow is set to premiere in theaters on November 6.
