Marvel’s standalone ‘Black Widow’ film is “really cool…very surprising,” says co-star David Harbour

The first solo adventure for the character, and the second female-fronted superhero film for Marvel Studios, is still in its very early stages, with director Cate Shortland at the helm.

Harbour tells ABC Radio exclusively, “I do know they continue to work [on it] and stuff, but I do know a lot of it now, and I think it’s really cool. And it’s also very surprising.”

He called Shortland “phenomenal,” and “very human and funny…And I think that she’ll bring all that to the screen.”

He explains, “You go into these meetings thinking a certain thing or having an idea in your head — you know it’s Black Widow and you know sort of that world — and then she very much surprised me with what they wanted to do with this particular movie and what she wanted me to do.

The Hellboy and Stranger Things lead said of Marvel Studios, “It’s a phenomenal franchise, right? I’ve never seen anything like it…It was 10 years ago that Robert Downey Jr. did their first Iron Man movie and sort of changed the landscape of cinema with a single performance, and [director] Jon Favreau with a single film…and then it just built this whole world.”  

Harbour said Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and his team, “let each film have its own tone and I like that. And especially for this one [Black Widow]…Cate Shortland…she’s…very human and funny and sort of a rich human being. And I think that she’ll bring all that to the screen.”

“Scarlett Johansson…Florence Pugh…Rachel Weisz…are just a phenomenal cast of actresses!” Harbour says of Black Widow‘s announced casting. “I feel like I’m very very lucky to be a part of it.”

But the actor joked that security is still air-tight.

“So hopefully before we start shooting — or before we wrap — I’ll see a script,” he jokes. “I wish I could tell you more but they will enter the room and kill me,” he jokes. 

Marvel Studios is owned by ABC News’ parent company Disney.