Despite Wonder Woman 1984 hitting theaters on Christmas Day and simultaneously dropping on HBO Max, Disney and Marvel Studios reportedly have no such plans in place for Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow. There is a possibility that the likes of Cruella, Pinocchio and Peter Pan and Wendy could wind up heading straight to Disney+, however.
With COVID-19 having a firm grip on cinemas and other entertainment venues in the U.S., MCU fans had hoped that Kevin Feige and co. would make the same choice for what will likely be Natasha Romanoff's final mission in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Of course, Disney already executed a similar move earlier this year with their live-action Mulan film which debuted early for Disney+ subscribers for an additional price of $29.99 on September 4, 2020. The film will soon stream at no additional charge on the platform on December 4. Reports about how successful the venture was for Disney have been all over the place, and top execs have been somewhat vague about providing exact figures.
Shortly before WB pulled the trigger on Wonder Woman 1984, Marvel Studios executive vice president Victoria Alonso stated this about Black Widow releasing on Disney+.
"It seems to me that our films are films for theatrical distribution. We always said that we believe in different formats, and it is very important to maintain the custom, the tradition, of watching certain films in community."
"With Avengers: Endgame we did as usual: every Friday before a movie comes out, we go to see it with people who had never seen it. If you see it with those 500 people, or the 1,000 people, or the 100 people who were in the cinema, what you feel when you see that movie with other people is something very different from what one can feel in the living room with the four, five or six people who live in your house."
Of course, Black Widow appears to be in a somewhat unique position, as the prequel nature of the film likely means its release won't impact any of Marvel's plans for the rest of their Phase Four titles. Then again, there are rumors that characters like Taskmaster and Yelena Belova have a bright future in the MCU ahead of them. Right now, there's simply too many unknowns to say for sure.
Black Widow is currently scheduled for release in theaters on May 7, 2021.