'Black Widow' Set Photos Tease 3 Possible New Villains for Marvel's Phase 4

Photos from the set of upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universal Phase 4 film Black Widow keep rolling in, and the latest batch may have just revealed the prequel film’s villain. Now, Black Widow has come up against a lot of big baddies (we’re lookin’ at you, Thanos) but the villain she faces next could be one of her toughest yet — if the internet’s guess is correct, that is.

Warning: Possible spoilers for Black Widow below.

Photos posted to various social media platforms hints at what is most likely a new MCU character and the villain of Black Widow. The photo shows a character standing at the top of a military tank as it rolls down the street. The character is wearing a blue and silver suit and is covered head-to-toe. Based on these photos, there’s no what of knowing which of the Black Widow actors is inside the suit but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a crack at which MCU character this actor is dressed as.

Here are three possible options for this new MCU Phase 4 villain, based on the latest Black Widow set photos.

3. Taskmaster

The first guess fans offered up is that this Black Widow character is Taskmaster. In the Marvel comics, Tony Masters (aka, Taskmaster) is a pretty formidable villain. As a child, Tony was able to replicate the exact movements of whatever he saw after observing it for only a few moments. As an adult, he joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and went into the field with his partner and, eventually, his wife Mercedes.

During a mission, Tony encountered a scientist in possession of a Nazi form of the Super Soldier serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Tony evolved thanks to the serum, finding he was able to match the fighting skills and movements of his opponents after his innate abilities were amplified. As the serum changed him and he observed opponents during fights he became the Taskmaster. However, he also learned that memorizing other people’s attacks meant overwriting his own memories.

Knowing who Taskmaster is, it makes sense he’d be incorporated into the Black Widow film. Since Black Widow herself is not a superpowered being — just an extremely well-trained fighter/superspy — it stands to reason the film won’t put Natasha Romanoff up against a superpowered villain.

Finding a baddie who’s similarly non-superpowered would offer a somewhat fair fight. Plus, the armor Taskmaster typically wears in the comics is a very close match to the photos taken on the Black Widow set. The suit colors seem similar as does the size of the actual person in the suit.

Granted, the Black Widow character’s helmet differs from Taskmaster’s, which resembles a skull, but it would be easy enough for Marvel to tweak that one detail slightly.

2. Darkhawk

The costume shown in the set photos bear a striking resemblance to another Marvel character: Darkhawk. In the comics, the character Chris Powell becomes Darkhawk when he comes in contact with a special amulet that allows him to switch his consciousness into a Darkhawk android. Believing this would give him the upper hand in fighting crime, Chris hopped into action to take criminals off the streets.

Now, Darkhawk isn’t as overtly as bad a character as Taskmaster is — but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t undergo some slight personality changes to fit the bill. Spider-Man: Far From Home has had no problem making some tweaks to the fundamental nature of Mysterio, softening him into an outwardly nice guy, so why couldn’t a switch-up of this sort happen in other Phase 4 films?

Most convincing of all, if you compare the photo of Darkhawk from the comics (seen below) to the photos from the Black Widow set, it’s difficult not to see Darkhawk. The color of the suit and the chrome detailing seem to be a spot-on match. Even the helmet, with its metal band running across the tap, is a decent match.

1. It’s Some Other CGI’d Marvel Villain

It’s also possible that both of these guesses are wrong and the suit seen in the photos is one which will be used for CGI purposes in post-production. Admittedly, it’s a very detailed and non-traditional take on the CGI garb worn by MCU actors who will be transformed into their true characters after principal photography, but we know so little about this movie that it’s tough to say anything for sure.

For all we know, Marvel will pull a fast one on all of us and pit Black Widow against a revamped comic book villain that nobody sees coming.

Black Widow is filming now and could hit theaters as soon as 2020.