Black Widow 2021 : MCU Studios

The 24th Film of Marvel Cinematic Universe based on a superhero named Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow is a 2021 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Black Widow premiered on June 29, 2021, at various red carpet fan events in London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, and New York City and was part of the Taormina Film Fest, which screened on July 3, 2021. It was released in the United States on July 9, 2021, simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access for US$30, and premiered in 46 territories over the course of its first weekend. In the United States, it opened in 4,100 theaters, with 375 in IMAX, over 800 in premium large format, 1,500 in 3D, and 275 in specialty D-Box, 4DX, and ScreenX theaters.[

The team behind the movie

Directed by
Cate Shortland
Screenplay by
Eric Pearson
Story by
Jac Schaeffer
Ned Benson
Based on
Marvel Comics
Produced by
Kevin Feige
Starring
Scarlett Johansson
Florence Pugh
David Harbour
O-T Fagbenle
Olga Kurylenko
William Hurt
Ray Winstone
Rachel Weisz

Plot

In 1995, Russian undercover agents, super-soldier Alexei Shostakov and Black Widow Melina Vostokoff, pose as a normal family in Ohio with their surrogate daughters Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova. When the mission to steal S.H.I.E.L.D. intel is complete, the family escapes to Cuba and rendezvous with their boss, General Dreykov, who has Romanoff and Belova taken to the Red Room for training. Years pass, and Shostakov is imprisoned in Russia, while Romanoff defects to S.H.I.E.L.D. after bombing Dreykov’s Budapest office, apparently killing him and his young daughter Antonia.

In 2016, Romanoff is a fugitive for violating the Sokovia Accords. She escapes from U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross and flees to a safehouse in Norway supplied by Rick Mason. Meanwhile, Belova kills a rogue former Black Widow but comes in contact with a synthetic gas that neutralizes the Red Room’s chemical mind-control agent. Belova sends the antidote to Romanoff hoping that she will return to help Belova free the other Widows. When Romanoff unknowingly drives off with the antidote, she is attacked by Taskmaster, who is after it. Romanoff manages to escape Taskmaster and realizes that the antidote came from Belova. The two reunite in Budapest, where Romanoff learns Dreykov is alive and the Red Room is still active. Shortly after, they are attacked by Black Widows, and Romanoff and Belova evade the Widows and Taskmaster before meeting Mason, who supplies them with a helicopter.

Romanoff and Belova break Shostakov out of prison to learn Dreykov’s location. He tells them to speak with Vostokoff, who lives on a farm outside Saint Petersburg, where she developed the chemical mind control process used on the Widows. There, Belova reveals that while they were not a real family, she believed they were so. Vostokoff admits she sent their location to Dreykov, whose agents arrive and take them to the Red Room, an aerial facility.

Vostokoff and Romanoff use face mask technology to switch places before being captured, allowing Vostokoff to free Shostakov and Belova from their restraints. Meanwhile, Romanoff confronts Dreykov, who sees through her disguise. Romanoff learns Taskmaster is Antonia, who suffered damage so severe that Dreykov had to put a chip in her head, turning her into the perfect soldier, capable of mimicking the actions of anyone she sees, including several Avengers. Romanoff attempts to kill Dreykov but fails to harm him due to a pheromone lock installed in every Widow. Dreykov reveals that he controls Widows worldwide via his desk console. Romanoff intentionally breaks her nose, severing a nerve in her nasal passage to negate the pheromone, and then attacks Dreykov. Shostakov battles Taskmaster, while Vostokoff takes out one of the facility’s engines, and Belova searches for the other Widows, who are sent to protect Dreykov. Together, Shostakov and Belova lock Taskmaster in a cell.

Dreykov escapes as the Widows attack Romanoff, but Belova creates an antidote bomb that releases the Widows from the mind control. Romanoff gets into the control desk and copies the locations of the other Widows worldwide as the facility begins to explode and fall. Romanoff retrieves the two surviving vials of the antidote and frees Taskmaster from the locked cell. Vostokoff and Shostakov escape via a plane just as Belova takes out Dreykov’s helicopter, killing him. Romanoff gives Belova a parachute before battling Taskmaster in freefall. After landing, Romanoff uses the antidote on Taskmaster, freeing her from servitude. The freed Widows arrive as Belova, Vostokoff, and Shostakov say goodbye to Romanoff. She gives Belova the last antidote vial and the portable drive, telling her to find and free the other, still mind-controlled, Widows. As they leave with Antonia, Romanoff awaits Ross and his men, who have arrived to apprehend her.

Two weeks later, Romanoff reunites with Mason, who supplies her with a Quinjet. She leaves, intending to free the imprisoned Avengers.

Post Credit scenes

In a post-credits scene set after Romanoff’s death,Belova encounters Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine at Romanoff’s grave. De Fontaine assigns Clint Barton, whom she claims is responsible for Romanoff’s death, as Belova’s next target.

INTO THE WORLD OF WEBTOONS

Everybody has heard of K-Pop, many people know K-Dramas. After all, the Hallyu wave from Korea has been stunning the world for a long time now. With the addition of K-Dramas of various genres to Netflix and the exponential rise in fame of bands like BTS and Blackpink, Korean culture is taking over hearts in almost every part of the world. There is another part of Korean entertainment that is also making waves. Though not as prevalent yet, as Kdramas or Kpop, this part is also creating waves in its own way. What I am talking about are Webtoons.

Webtoon is an app that is part of the online portal developed in Korea called Naver. It was initially launched in Korea but soon after its rising popularity, it was launched globally in languages that included Chinese, Japanese, English, French, Indonesian, Spanish, Thai and German.

Webtoon is home to hundreds and thousands of comics across almost 20 different genres ranging from romance, to slice-of-life, to action and horror. Webtoon brought attention to the Korean equivalent of ‘Manga’, called ‘Manhwa’. The translations of these ‘Manhwa’ comics were released through the Webtoon app and has now gained a lot of popularity.

People still prefer reading Manga as books and their digitized copies are also in the form of ‘pages’. But, ‘webtoons’, as the comics on the app are called, are different. They are made solely for the mobile phones. They have a continuous style of page distribution, where one episode is generally one long page that you can scroll through easily on a phone. To be honest, the best experience of reading a webtoon is on the phone. Reading it on a desktop just does not have the same feel. This is bringing a lot of change in the way artists are planning out storyboards and layouts too.

That is another thing about webtoon. They have something called ‘Canvas’. This is a space where any artist can upload their comics for people from around the world to read. Through competitions and contests, many of these comics are recognized and taken up by the Webtoon corporation and made into an ‘Original’ on the app. When released as ‘Originals’, the artist is hired under the corporation and is financed by the corporation. The comic is serialized with proper release schedules and a more wider audience range. In this way, Webtoon is a great platform for aspiring comic book artists to get their works recognized and applauded.

During the lockdown, I came across the app and now I am fully hooked. There is so much variety both in terms of art styles and in terms of stories. So, I have decided to compile a list of my favourite webtoons for those who want to start reading and for those who already know and are looking for something new to read. So here goes!

1. WINDBREAKER

Windbreaker.
(img source:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nAHfAX6QMG7ht_6nAITp8VP3ATnOECEH5DIdEDf3wNAhLtAiMv6CFtGitzBYcRF3Orm0=h500)
  • Status: Ongoing
  • Genre: Sports
  • No. of Eps: 339 (so far)

This webtoon is one of my all time favorites. It is a sports webtoon about extreme and street cycling. Reading this webtoon made me, a couch potato at the best of times, to also want to ride a bicycle. It follows a group of high school kids who start a cycling crew to enter a street cycling competition. It is about how they grow together both as riders and human beings in general.

The art is amazing, the story is amazing and every week I am waiting excitedly for a new episode to release. It is a really nice webtoon to start off your foray into this world, especially for those who love cycling and even for those who don’t. It is a very underrated webtoon that I hope gets a lot more love.

2. SPIRIT FINGERS

  • Status: completed
  • Genre: drama
  • No. of eps: 167

For anyone looking for a light hearted webtoon to start their day, this is the perfect one. It is the story about a girl who has lived all her life as an awkward teenager and lacking self-confidence. But then, she encounters a group of the ‘hippest, strangest, coolest (yet most welcoming)’ people ever in the form of an art club called ‘Spirit Fingers’. Then begins her journey of self discovery self love.

A webtoon filled with lovable characters, dumb incidents and just hilarious in many senses, it is one that also gives out the message that everyone is unique and a ‘COLOR’ of their own. It is just about taking our the time to find yourself and your group. It is a small webtoon compared to the others on the list with just 166 episodes but a fun read nevertheless. The art took me some getting used to. But it grows on you and by the end of it you are in love with not only ALL the characters but also with how they are drawn.

3.LOST IN TRANSLATION

lost in translation
(img source:https://i.quotev.com/ihmkhfxjzola.jpg)
  • Status: ongoing
  • Genre: drama
  • No. of eps: 71 (so far)

This is one of the webtoons I started reading as soon as it released, so I have been part of the whole journey so far. It is a webtoon that brings the two worlds of webtoons and the Kpop industry together. The webtoon is about an Idol group member whose stage name is ‘Wyld’. As ‘Wyld’ of group ‘Mayhem’ he is embroiled in scandals and has a persona of a player but in reality “Jaehwon’ is just a huge cinnamon roll who was forced to put on the persona by the company he works under. It is a new webtoon with not even a hundred episodes yet but I already love it. The art is distinctive and the story is really good so far. I cant wait to see how much better it is going to get.

Another thing about the band, Mayhem. It actually exists! It is a 2d band that has a huge fan following, basically readers of the series. If you go to YouTube and search for Mayhem, you can even listen to an original song along with a music video that was released by the band. Twitter pages for all band members is also there all having a huge amount of fan following. This is another thing about the webtoon that is keeping me hooked.

So there you have it. A small list of my favorite webtoons that I hope everyone will enjoy as much as me. There are so many more good ones that I haven’t included in the list. Many that can be found the minute you open the app. And new ones are getting added almost everyday. It is a new world in itself. One I have enjoyed stepping into and being a part of. I hope this helps you also in your foray into the world of webtoons.