New Black Widow footage shows a de-aged David Harbour and Rachel Weisz in a flashback scene. After a full year without any theatrical releases from Marvel, Black Widow is just a few days away. The long and grueling wait between Marvel’s last theatrical release, Spider-Man: Far From Home in July 2019, and Black Widow on July 9 will be the MCU’s longest since The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, releasing in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

Now the MCU will kick off its highly-anticipated Phase 4 with Scarlett Johansson’s first solo outing as Natasha Romanoff, which is also expected to be her last portrayal of the character. The film will be a deep exploration into her Russian roots as she is reunited with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), a younger sister to Natasha, and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), who act as mother and father figures to the two. Black Widow is set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, but numerous clips and trailers have indicated it will flashback even further to Natasha and Yelena’s time as children.

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The latest to do so is a new “Family Reunion Featurette” from Marvel, which includes footage of a de-aged David Harbour and Rachel Weisz for a flashback scene. While the younger versions of Natasha and Yelena are played by Ever Anderson and Violet McGraw, Marvel opted to digitally de-age Harbour and Weisz for these scenes rather than recast them. Watch the new Black Widow featurette below:

Click here to watch the video.

While it is unclear exactly what type of technology was used to scale back their ages, Marvel likely employed the services of Lola VFX as they did previously for Robert Downey Jr. in Captain America: Civil War and Michael Douglas in Ant-Man. The company’s most famous work was likely on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which earned an Oscar for visual effects. Black Widow’s VFX work as seen in the latest featurette appears to be equally as impressive.

Given Black Widow’s multiple flashbacks, William Hurt’s General Ross is another character who will appear de-aged in film. While a glimpse of Thunderbolt Ross has been seen in trailers, this is the first look at Harbour and Weisz’s digital makeovers. The featurette hints a lot at the familial conflict in Black Widow, which is expected to be a crucial part of Natasha’s solo debut.

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Source: Marvel

Key Release Dates
  • Black Widow (2021)Release date: Jul 09, 2021
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)Release date: Sep 03, 2021
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
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Adam Bentz
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Adam Bentz is a movie and TV news writer for Screen Rant. From a young age, Adam has been interested in a wide range of movies and television, but it was talented auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Aaron Sorkin who ultimately sparked his interest in the craft. Motivated by his love for the screen, Adam studied creative writing with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University.

After graduating, Adam interned as a writer with The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization working to end extreme poverty. Other than writing for Screen Rant, Adam reviews films on his website adambentz.wordpress.com

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