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How to Watch Marvel’s Black Widow in Australia

Lauren Rouse Avatar
Lauren Rouse
How to Watch Marvel’s Black Widow in Australia

Scarlett Johansson’s solo film, Black Widow, was originally scheduled to hit cinemas in May 2020 and would subsequently kick off phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But COVID happened and audiences first got access to the film in July 2021, instead.

Three months on, Disney+ has announced more people can access the film from home soon, meaning those who didn’t catch Black Widow on the big screen or on Premier Access can finally see the superhero in action.

Before you dive into Black Widow’s solo story, here are some things you should know.

Who is Black Widow?

If you’re not familiar with the MCU, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow is a brilliant spy, assassin and superhero.

She’s been a KGB operative, a SHIELD agent and, most importantly, a founding member of the Avengers.

Scarlett Johansson has portrayed the character in seven Marvel films to date and Romanoff has undoubtedly played an integral part in the Marvel universe. Still, unlike her other Avengers comrades, it’s taken until now for Black Widow to get a solo film.

Black Widow: Is it an origin film, a prequel or a sequel?

The answer is complicated. As anyone who’s seen Avengers: Endgame will know (spoiler alert), Black Widow heroically sacrificed herself to gain the final infinity stone to save Thanos.

Unfortunately, because of the way she died, there was no bringing her back when Tony Stark snapped half the population back into reality. So you can rule out this being a sequel, despite it being the 24th MCU film.

What you can expect is a combination of both origin film and prequel that nicely fills in some gaps in the Marvel timeline.

So much of Black Widow’s past is still unknown and you can expect to learn more about pivotal events in her life like the Red Room, Budapest and her family in Russia.

Which Marvel movies do you need to catch up on?

Black Widow takes place in between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, meaning we’ll see what Natasha gets up to after the Avengers have their falling out.

To prepare for this there are a few Marvel movies you must watch if you want to catch up on her story. They are:

  • Iron Man 2
  • The Avengers
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron
  • Captain America: Civil War

If you prefer to watch in chronological order you should probably watch up until Captain America: Civil War and then go straight into Black Widow.

But if you’re after all of the Marvel films Black Widow has appeared in, add Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame to your list as well.

You can find out where to catch up on all these Marvel movies here.

Who else is in the movie?

Without the other Avengers to fill the ensemble, Black Widow will introduce a whole range of new characters into the mix.

Obviously, Scarlett Johansson will be in the lead role as Natasha. We’ll also get to know Natasha’s Russian family which includes Florence Pugh as Yelena, Rachel Weisz as Melina, David Harbour as Alexei/Red Guardian.

Rounding out the cast is O-T Fagbenle as Mason and Ray Winstone as Dreykov.

The group will be facing off against the mysterious Marvel villain Taskmaster, whose identity is a secret at this stage. Any guesses?

The film also is directed by Aussie Cate Shortland (represent!).

Is it any good?

After over a decade of asking for a solo film and three COVID delays, is Black Widow worth the wait?

According to those who have already seen the film – yes.

It seems safe to say Black Widow is a Marvel movie worth seeing.

When and where you can watch Black Widow in Australia?

On that note, where can you watch this exciting new Black Widow movie? Black Widow hit cinemas in Australia on July 8, then became available on Premier Access on Disney+ on July 9. You needed an active Disney+ subscription and had to pay an additional fee of $35.99 in order to access the film this way.

As of October 6, however, all Disney+ subscribers will be able to watch the film at no additional cost.

Time to catch Natasha Romanoff in action, yes?

This article has been updated to include details of Disney+ access changes for the film.

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