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Marvel's Black Widow movie postponed due to coronavirus

The latest Marvel movie was meant to hit theaters May 1, but Disney has canceled the release for now.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
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Corinne Reichert
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Black Widow has been delayed.

Marvel

The release of Disney's Black Widow movie has been postponed because of health concerns surrounding the coronavirus and COVID-19. The film, a prequel for Scarlett Johansson's Marvel Cinematic Universe character, Natasha Romanoff, is the latest to be delayed due to the pandemic.

Originally scheduled for May 1, Black Widow been pushed back to an unspecified date. It follows the closure of many movie theaters nationwide, and the essential shutting down of several cities. Disney has also postponed its other May releases The Personal History of David Copperfield and The Woman in the Window, confirmed in an email to press.

The final trailer for Black Widow dropped March 9. The film will see Johansson return alongside new stars Florence Pugh and David Harbour.

Other movies delayed due to the coronavirus include the next James Bond movie, No Time to Die; the ninth Fast and Furious installment, titled F9; the live-action reboot of Mulan; X-Men spinoff The New Mutants; and A Quiet Place 2. Only some of the many delayed films have confirmed a new date: Bond will return in November, and F9 will race back in April 2021, but Black Widow joins a growing number of movies that are postponed indefinitely.

The coronavirus causes a respiratory illness called COVID-19. The virus was first reported to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31 after originating in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 has spread globally to other parts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australia, the UK and other parts of Europe, and the Middle East. Chinese scientists have linked the disease to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses, which include SARS and MERS. 

Coronavirus deaths now top 7,000, with over 181,000 cases confirmed worldwide. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic on March 11. 

Here's a list of major events that have been canceled amid to coronavirus concerns.

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