Black Widow clashes with Taskmaster in special look at Natasha Romanoff spinoff

Marvel fans who are looking forward to the upcoming Black Widow film got a special surprise this evening if they were already tuned into ESPN for the College Football National Championship. The Marvel Cinematic Universe's upcoming film focusing on the adventures of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) precedes the events of Avengers: Infinity War, and now we have new bits of footage added into the mix.

In particular, we get to see Natasha (who is on the run after Captain America: Civil War) duke it out with the famous Marvel villain known as Taskmaster, as she tries to protect the latest generation of Black Widows. Watching this fresh trailer, you can see that the mysterious baddie — originally created by David Michelinie and George Pérez — has a nifty shield that recalls the one owned by Steve Rogers.

Take a look below:

Before we saw any new footage tonight, in a BTS preview to the preview, director Cate Shortland reminded us that Natasha has a dark past. We remember, as Nat has talked about having "red in her ledger" before.

Shortland also mentioned that audiences will be seeing "the real Black Widow," presumably the one who got up to all kinds of shady activity before joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and made plenty of mistakes.

"She's not a classic hero because she has a dark past," said the filmmaker.

It's time for Nat to face her past and make amends — whether a part of that past includes whatever actually happened in Budapest is anyone's guess. 

Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Rachel Weisz (Melina Vostokoff), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov), O-T Fagbenle (Rick Mason), William Hurt (Thaddeus Ross), and Ray Winstone also appear in the upcoming film. Both Pugh and Weisz are portraying two of Natasha's fellow spy-assassins, while Harbour is taking up the mantle of Red Guardian, the U.S.S.R.'s answer to Captain America.

Written by Eric Pearson, Black Widow will come to cinemas May 1.