Ana de Armas is set to appear in a John Wick spinoff, Ballerina, that can finally deliver a story that audiences wanted to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Black Widow. After the success of the first two John Wick films, the franchise was announced to be expanding with further main series films, a limited series, The Continental, and a spinoff, Ballerina, expected to expand on a brief scene featured during John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Ana de Armas will star as Rooney, previously portrayed by Unity Phelan in John Wick: Chapter 3, as an assassin with ballet training who will hunt down the assassin who murdered her family.
The backstory for Rooney in Ballerina might sound familiar to viewers of the MCU, as the same storyline was almost used for Scarlett Johansson's first solo film as Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow. During a flashback scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Natasha relived her past, being trained as an assassin in the "Red Room" by undertaking ballet lessons. This harrowing montage led fans to beg for a solo Black Widow film for years, hoping to get more of Natasha's backstory. However, Black Widow failed to live up to expectations, which leaves the door open for Ballerina to give MCU viewers the Black Widow story they always wanted to see – just disconnected from the MCU.
Why Wasn’t Black Widow What Fans Had Asked For?
When the disappointing Black Widow was finally confirmed to be in development, audiences were thrilled that Natasha Romanoff would finally get the attention she deserved, especially after the hugely positive reaction to the small glimpse of her past during Age of Ultron. However, instead of focusing on Natasha's upbringing and training in the Red Room, Black Widow told the story of Natasha going back in the present day to take down the organization that had caused her so much pain. This was a disappointment for fans, who perhaps wanted a more stripped-back story in the wake of Avengers: Endgame, telling a tender and heartbreaking story of Natasha's childhood in the Red Room.
Ballerina Can Tell A Much Stronger Black Widow Story
The connection between being a ballerina and also a trained assassin is one that is often used in film, and while there are scenes in Black Widow that show prospective assassins training with dance, the film never really delves too deep into the beauty of it. This is something that Ballerina can deliver in spades, as even in the short scene from John Wick: Chapter 3, the expression of dance and its connection to becoming a good killer could be felt palpably. Ballerina can accurately tell the haunting story that Black Widow avoided, as long as it actually explores how learning ballet makes an individual a better, more powerful fighter.
On top of this, Ballerina can deliver this story without the fear of breaching a PG-13 rating, meaning that viewers could be seeing what a Black Widow assassin would be like in the real world. The hyper-realistic world of the John Wick franchise is the perfect place for this story to be told to its fullest, so hopefully, Ballerina doesn't shy away from actually investigating the power of dance when training killers. If it pulls it off, Ballerina could tell the perfect Black Widow story, something that Marvel Studios failed to do.