Following CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is lured back to Budapest and reunites with her “sister” Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). The Red Room Program created by Natasha’s surrogate father, General Ivan Petrovich (Ray Winstone), trained them both to become Black Widows.
The Red Room is now led by Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), another operative who is abducting young woman to turn them into a new generation of Black Widows. Natasha and Yelena set out to stop her, aided by Natasha’s old lover Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenle), a fixer for international spies who previously worked for SHIELD.
Natasha and Yelena are pursued by Taskmaster, a mercenary affiliated with Vostokoff, who is capable of mimicking his opponents’ fighting patterns. To face him, Natasha and Yelena recruit their “brother” Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), a boisterous, drunken supersoldier originally meant to be the Red Guardian, the Russian counterpart to Captain America.
Action scenes include Natasha and Yelena fighting in a rundown apartment; Natasha and Yelena fleeing on a motorcycle while Taskmaster chases them in an armored tank; Natasha and Yelena breaking Alexei out of a gulag; and Natasha infiltrating the Red Room headquarters and fighting Vostokoff in a laboratory.
Flashbacks chronicle Natasha's childhood, training, escape and eventual recruitment by SHIELD.
Cameos include William Hurt as Secretary Thaddeus Ross and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, in a deleted scene where he urges Natasha to run. Jeremy Renner is also rumored to appear as Hawkeye.
Suits include the standard suit, a white stealth suit for snowy environment and a reinforced combat suit.
The main plot twist is that Mason is Taskmaster.
Movie ends with Natasha reconnecting with Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson.
Movie sets up Yelena as the new Black Widow in the MCU. She is more morally ambiguous than Natasha, setting up a new dynamic.