Recently we broke the news that Marvel Studios had made the decision to slot their solo Black Widow film into the May 6, 2020 slot that was previously believed to belong to the now delayed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. We’ve been told for some time that Black Widow was set to be “next time” for the studio and recently passed along that the studio was ready to move into production early next year and was looking at overseas locations, such as Croatia, for the spy flick. While they still having quite locked down a firm list of locations just yet, they have moved onto the preliminary stages of casting for the film and we have the first look at over a half dozen character breakdowns.

While we at That Hashtag Show have a long history of being the first to share character breakdowns with fans, it has become a bit of a cat and mouse game with the studios. Over time, the breakdowns have become more and more vague, making it harder and harder to come to any sort of conclusion on who the characters may actually be. For instance, the initial breakdown for Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio simply called for someone with “elevated ideas” and was open to any gender and ethnicity. With that having been said, here’s what to expect:

Main Antagonist

The film’s big bad is set to be a male. The villain is simply described as “exciting” and the studio is open to ethnicity, but looking for someone in their 40s.

The Russian super soldier known as The Red Guardian is certainly one of the most popular choices among fans. Given that the studio is open to diverse actors, we wonder if someone like Taskmaster might not be an interesting fit to take on a hand-to-hand combatant as lethal as the Black Widow. Perhaps, with the story taking place at least partially in Europe, someone like the vigilante Night Raven, who was featured in the graphic novel Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty , could even be reworked into the film.

Friends or Foes

This is a Black Widow film, so it goes without saying that not everyone is going to be who they seem. The studio is looking to fill four roles which seem like good bets to end up being potential double agents. The two most interesting roles call for “contemporaries” to the Widow and are looking for actors in their late-20s to early 30s. The first is a “kick ass” female character described as a “female Bond” while the other is for a male with an emphasis on African, Middle Eastern or East Indian actors. Additionally, the search is on for one European Caucasian female and one European Caucasian male, both in the 50-60 year old range. The studio is putting an emphasis on actors and actresses who can speak multiple languages for all of the roles mentioned above, which certainly makes them all feel like spied.

It’s no easy task to decipher what the studio is looking for her. We could be talking about someone like Jessica Drew (a character we speculated might appear in Spider-Man: Far From Home), Black Lotus, an new take on Melina Vostokovna (aka Iron Maiden) or even Snapdragon; the male contemporary could be anyone from an adaptation of Bengal to someone like Raoul Bushman nad anyone in between.There’s certainly no indication here that any of these characters are on Nat’s side and even if they were, who knows if they’d stay that way.   Perhaps the two older characters are KGB agents from Nat’s past, maybe someone like Ivan Petrovich or a Red Room relic, who are working with the woman described below.

Secondary Antagonist

While the film’s lead villain will be a male, the studio is also looking for an actress in her 50s to play a smaller, villainous role. The character was only briefly described as a “conniving female villian”, leading us to wonder if she’s possibly a relic of the KGB’s Red Room and someone much more familiar to the Black Widow.

This Guy

The film will also feature another minor role described as a “bookish American” in his late 20s.

Really…take your best guess.

It was late last November when we got our first look at character breakdowns for Captain Marvel, which filmed for a week in January before resuming production full-time in March. While many are still skeptical that Marvel Studios will go ahead with this film, the timing of these breakdowns allows us to speculate that Black Widow is set to begin filming in late-February or early-March, a timeline congruent with the info we’ve been given all along. Though no official word has come from Marvel Studios, we expect Black Widow on May 1, 2020.