Marvel’s choice to delay Black Widow is absolutely the right decision

Marvel has once again delayed their Black Widow solo film, pushing its debut to May 2021. And while it’s disappointing – it’s also the right choice.

We’ve all been waiting so long to see a Black Widow movie – surely we can wait a little longer, right? That’s apparently what Marvel is counting on.

The studio has decided to push back the release of Natasha Romanov’s solo debut once again, thanks to the fact that the coronavirus pandemic still raging in America – and across the globe – has generally kept audiences out of movie theaters this summer. But, rather than hedge their bets with a proposed holiday or potential winter release, the film has been moved all the way to next spring.

Black Widow is now slated for release on May 7, 2021, a little over a year after it was originally supposed to arrive in theaters.

And that’s not all, Black Widow’s delay will subsequently change release dates for several of the Phase 4 films that were set to follow it, with Marvel’s Eternals shifting from February 12, 2021, to November 5, 2021, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings moving from May 7, 2021, to July 9, 2021.

And though none of this has been announced yet, these delays will likely impact the releases of both Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, both of which were originally slated to arrive next year.

Whew. In short: It’s a big mess.

But in all honesty, this is Marvel making the best of a terrible situation, and it’s probably the best outcome we could have expected. Plus, it’s absolutely the right decision, even if it means waiting even longer for a movie we really should have had the chance to see five years ago.

Natasha Romanov deserves a film of her own. And the fans that love her deserve the chance to see her lead one on the big screen, the same as any other A-list superhero. Even now, after a decade of Black Widow appearances in a half-dozen films, she’ll still only be the second female superhero to get a solo movie.

That matters, and though we all want to see it right now, it’s equally important that Black Widow isn’t punted off to Disney Plus at the first sign of difficulty – sorry, Mulan – but given a chance to show that female-led superhero films can perform at the box office, just as Captain Marvel did. The women who’ve been waiting so long for this moment deserve to experience it fully – with overpriced popcorn and audience cheers, not live tweets on their sofas. (As fun as those can be.)

No one could have possibly foreseen what would happen when theaters across the country first began shutting down earlier this year. Originally, Marvel seemed confident that Black Widow could not only still arrive this year, but that the release date shuffle wouldn’t impact Phase 4 or any of its other films. I think we all knew that was deeply untrue at the time, but it’s comforting to see them finally acknowledge it and adjust their plans accordingly.

Now we, as fans, have to do the same. And trust that the chance to finally see Nat’s story will be worth it in the end. Whenever it arrives.

What do you think about the decision to push back Black Widow again? Share your thoughts!