FLORENCE Pugh is thought to be the frontrunner for a role opposite Scarlett Johansson in Marvel spy thriller Black Widow.
Previous entries to the Marvel Cinematic Universe portray Natasha Romanoff, better known as Black Widow, as a KGB-trained assassin and spy who defected to join the SHIELD program and, from there, the Avengers.
Though details around Pugh’s involvement in the project are not yet clear, it would appear that her character will be “a spy on the same level as Romanoff, likely her moral opposite,“ according to The Hollywood Reporter.
With Cate Shortland of wartime romance Lore and apartment horror Berlin Syndrome at the helm, filming could begin this June, per a February notice placed within industry outlet Production Weekly (via Comicbook.com).
The listing included a synopsis that had Black Widow as an origin story:
“At birth the Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanova) is given to the KGB, which grooms her to become its ultimate operative.”
“When the U.S.S.R. breaks up, the government tries to kill her as the action movies to present-day New York, where she is a freelance operative.”
“The standalone film will find Romanoff living in the United States 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.”
That would mean Black Widow takes place prior to the events of 2008’s Iron Man, which marked the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and its 2010 follow up Iron Man 2, Johansson’s Black Widow debut.
In this way, we could expect to see Pugh’s character pursue Black Widow in New York before the eventual SHIELD operative is assigned to Tony Stark’s detail.-AFP
