Black Widow review – Scarlett Johansson, the Russian super spy with an electra complex

Great fun is had in giving us the backstory to the assassin's place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The sensuous cough-syrup purr of Scarlett Johansson's voice is something I've missed in lockdown; now it's back with a throaty vengeance in the highly enjoyable standalone episode for which her character Black Widow was well overdue. It is co-written by WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer and directed with gusto by Cate Shortland, with touches of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible but undoubtedly keeping the tonal consistency of a typical MCU melodrama.

This movie gives us the backstory to Black Widow's presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, involving an origin-myth tale of family trauma, identity crisis and sibling rivalry with a pugnacious kid sister, Yelena, entertainingly played by Florence Pugh. Yelena can't help mocking - but also maybe envying - Black Widow's balletic fight stance which involves absurd posing and resembles the mane-tossing antics of a woman in a shampoo advert.