Black Widow 2021
Scarlett Johansson's eighth MCU appearance is her first solo lead, and it arrives as a period piece set in 2016 for a character Endgame already killed. Sean and Amanda agree it plays more like a Bond or Mission: Impossible movie than a Marvel one, a standalone with low stakes and no homework required. Florence Pugh's Yelena runs away with it; David Harbour's Red Guardian gets a broad Russian accent. The stinger, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, is the only real setup for what's next. Sean calls it two and a half stars, three for Pugh.
