Tag: Winter Guard

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Says Melina & Red Guardian’s Return “A Safe Bet” As ‘Black Widow’ Crosses $200M At Global Box Office

Black Widow has officially crossed $200 million internationally at the box office, after an impressive $80.3 million domestic opening last weekend. Sadly, the box office totals for Black Widow won’t include the $60 million Disney claims they earned or future earnings from Premier Access, which will likely deflate the total run once the dust settles. A risk Disney knew they would be facing with a hybrid release strategy.

However, the film is on the path to turn a decent profit and we’ll likely get plenty of sequels/spinoffs.

There does seem to be some hope that not only David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian might be making a comeback soon, but while speaking with the D23 Inside podcast (via The Direct), Marvel’s Kevin Feige suggested that Rachel Weisz’s Melina Vostokoff aka Iron Maiden could also be poised for a return as well.

“It is always the intention that when characters come in, and great great actors come in to the universe, if we have a great time with them, the audience did, that you always want to see them again. I think it’s a safe bet that we definitely want that to happen,” Feige told D23 Inside concerning the possibility of Melina and Alexei making their return to the MCU in the future.

We never actually saw Melina’s Iron Maiden incarnation, so that could be something fun to explore in the future.

Director Cate Shortland has teased a desire to return for Black Widow 2, there seems to be some inference that Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) will appear in both the Hawkeye series and potentially a Thunderbolts project, and finally David Harbour has teased early talks with Marvel about Red Guardian’s return being open to either a film or Disney+ series (Winter Guard project feels like the smart move).

We’re also assuming that Taskmaster will be back at some point too.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: D23 INSIDE PODCAST

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Widow’ Director Cate Shortland Says Red Guardian Needs His Own Movie; Should They Do A Winter Guard Project?

Marvel Studios is currently at a point where they’re open to branching-out various characters with their own Disney+ shows or even giving them their own films. A good example is Anthony Mackie leading Captain America 4 after playing a sidekick for years and then landing his own series with The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

Could we see that with David Harbour’s Red Guardian?

Black Widow director Cate Shortland believes that Red Guardian deserves his own film while speaking with The Wrap. She previously said she’d return for a hypothetical Black Widow 2, that could be led by other characters (Florence Pugh’s Yelena is a given).

“Sometimes — not sometimes — often I would be crying with laughter. And there was so much good stuff that didn’t end up in the film. But I think that’s why Red Guardian needs his own movie. Because it will be so funny,” the filmmaker told The Wrap as she champions the idea of a Red Guardian spinoff film.

After mentioning to Collider that he’s had early talks with Marvel about reprising the role, David Harbour mentioned to The Wrap he is game for a Red Guardian project if Marvel decided to make it.

“People want to see more of this character, I would love to give people more. And I’m glad he’s alive at the end of the movie too,” David Harbour said when asked if he’d want to reprise the role in a series or movie.

Clearly, there is more you could do with Red Guardian because in the comics he leads his own team, Winter Guard (made up of other Russian Marvel characters), and allows him to do his own side adventures outside of the Black Wdow franchise. Darkstar, Ursa Major, Red Widow, Vostok, Perun, Crimson Dynamo, Fantasma, Sibercat, Powersurge, and Chernobog could end up being members of the Winter Guard roster led by The Red Guardian.

Yelena briefly calls Alexei, Crimson Dynamo, an Iron Man villain and member of Winter Guard.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: THE WRAP