The MCU's return to theaters has been quite the experience after the Infinity Saga ended more than two years ago, especially with a movie as highly anticipated as Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow.
Having spent over a decade in supporting roles through Marvel Studios' twenty-three films, Natasha Romanoff's first solo outing helped to finally bring the individual adventure she'd earned as a founding Avenger.
Now that the movie has been available to the public for some time, Marvel is starting to pull the curtains back to give fans a look at how the MCU's twenty-fourth movie came to life.
Some of this includes deleted scenes that missed the final cut of Black Widow while other releases tease the inclusion of new characters in Marvel Studios' ever-expanding arsenal. As Black Widow's release disappears in the rearview mirror, more intimate details are coming to life on how the big action set pieces were pulled together.
BEHIND BLACK WIDOW'S FINAL BATTLE
Digital Domain visual effects supervisor Hanzhi Tang, via Befores and Afters, shared details on how Marvel Studios shot the final battle of Black Widow. This included information on how the climactic fight between Natasha Romanoff and the Red Room was changed from what Marvel had first planned out.
This shoot included plenty of practical effects alongside Marvel's usual use of CGI on ground-level in an open field. Effects like chunks of debris, some pyrotechnics, and dirt bombs helped make the scene feel more real before post-production went into full effect.
Months after principal photography ended, there was "additional photography" shot later "for some of the ground shots," confirmed Tang. This took place "at Disney Ranch in (Los Angeles)," which had the ground adjusted "to look like the field in England" to match everything that had been captured previously:
"There was some additional photography as well months later for some of the ground shots. The Taskmaster fight with Natasha on the ground is quite different from what was originally envisioned. That new fight was shot at Disney Ranch in LA after the fact. They dressed up the dirt to look like the field in England, but it was more like a 20 by 20 foot patch, with bluescreen. So we needed more set extensions for this."
MAKING BLACK WIDOW'S FIGHT JUST RIGHT
Every blockbuster movie in Hollywood goes through some form of reshoots before theatrical release, which is the same case with each of Marvel Studios' outings as well. Particularly with the unexpected delays for Black Widow between shooting and release, it only makes sense that the team went back and made sure every aspect of the fight between Black Widow and Taskmaster played well.
Though Marvel is known for its use of CGI in every film, it seems evident that the team wanted to make Black Widow feel as grounded as possible with the spy-thriller feel of Scarlett Johansson's solo outing. With fire and dirt bombs going off around the two actresses as they imagined the Red Room falling out of the sky, it undoubtedly helped set the scene for the movie's climax.
As for what changed from the original sequence, no details were given on what Black Widow and Taskmaster were originally set to be doing in this battle. However, Natasha Romanoff still delivered plenty of excitement as Natasha faced her demons and took down the past that had haunted her for years.
Black Widow is now in theaters and available to stream on Disney+.
