Black Widow

The first solo feature for Scarlett Johansson's superspy starts with a 1995 snapshot of idyllic family life. It's an attention-grabbing prelude to this exhilarating, globe-trotting adventure, which expands on the Widow's origins, the Red Room and that infamous Budapest mission mentioned in 2012's Avengers Assemble. In hiding after the break-up of her team in Captain America: Civil War, Natasha Romanoff is forced into the open after a brutal clash with the Taskmaster, a masked adversary who mimics the Avengers' skills like a super-powered Swiss Army knife. That encounter reunites her with Florence Pugh's no-nonsense assassin Yelena, Rachel Weisz's mysterious Melina and the Red Guardian, a boorish, gone-to-seed Soviet super-soldier played with blustering brio by Stranger Things star David Harbour. This stirring tale of secrets and spies is reminiscent of a Bond caper, with added electrifying fight scenes, high-speed chases and epic stunts straight out of the Mission: Impossible and Bourne franchises. But director Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) provides the stars with plenty of witty and emotional scenes to feast on, too. Pugh's brand of deadpan disdain is particularly potent, especially when mocking Johansson's trademark action poses at opportune moments. And the post-Avengers: Endgame credit sequence is both moving and a prophecy of what's to come in Marvel's ever-expanding universe.