Many actors have shared fond memories of being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, butRay Winstoneisn’t one of them. The British actor made his one and only MCU appearance in 2021’sBlack Widowas Dreykov, the main antagonist who serves as a key figure from Natasha Romanoff’s past and the mastermind behind the creation of the “Widows.” In an interview withRadio Times, Winstone candidly shared his feelings about working on the movie, which he found tedious and “soul-destroying” thanks in part to Marvel Studios penchant for reshoots.
Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh.
Black Widowwas a movie that came to fruition at completely the wrong time. Released as the first movie of the MCU’s Phase 4, Scarlett Johansson’s solo story already had the impossible job of followingAvengers: EndgameandSpider-Man: Far From Home, and then landed right in the middle of the Covid pandemic with a Day & Date release. Although this allowed many people to purchase and watch the movie without venturing into a cinema, it also led to a huge surge in piracy of the film, andsaw Johansson take Disney to court over lost earnings.
It seems that while the release of the film was plagued with issues, working on the film was no better for Winstone, who revealed that everything was “fine” until it came to returning to reshoot numerous scenes. He said:
“It was fine until you have to do the reshoots. Then you find out that a few producers have come down, and your performance is too much, it’s too strong… That’s the way Marvel works. It can be soul-destroying because you feel like you’re doing great work. I actually said, ‘You ought to recast it because that was it for me.’ And you end up doing it again because you’re contracted to do it. Otherwise you end up in court. It’s like being kicked in the balls.”
Black Widow Failed Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff
Black Widowwas meant to be the moment that Scarlett Johansson’s original Avenger was given a chance to shine in her own right. However, circumstances seemed to dictate that things would not quite go to plan. From complaints over the movie’s visual effects, to disappointment from those fans expecting the movie to be on the same scale as its immediate predecessors, and its controversial release strategy,Black Widowwas a movie that was always going to be as close to a failure as the MCU had seen at that time.
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Despite the film’s faults, like every Marvel movie, it did serve another purpose than just giving Natasha her solo story.Black Widowintroduced several characters that will next year form part of theThunderboltsline-up,including David Harbour’s Red Guardianand Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. The film also set in motion Yelena’s revenge mission that would see her take on Hawkeye in his Disney+ series. So, while the movie is not one that sits at the top of many fans’ MCU lists, it does have an important place in the Marvel story that will likely be revisited following the release ofThunderboltsnext summer.
Black Widowis available to stream on Disney+.Thunderboltsis released in cinemas on June 05, 2025.
