Scarlett Johansson. Photo: VCG

Chinese netizens took to social media on Tuesday night to express their anticipation for Marvel's Black Widow film, which is scheduled to be released on May 1, 2020 in the US. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Marvel Studios released a Chinese and English teaser trailer for the film. By Wednesday afternoon, the hashtag for the film had earned 260 million views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

The solo superhero outing stars Scarlett Johansson, one of the world's highest-paid actresses, as the titular superheroine. The film will be a prequel that delves more into the Black Widow's back story, according to reports.

"Marvel is very good at marketing. The death of Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame disappointed many Marvel fans including myself, but it seems to have laid the groundwork for the solo film Black Widow in 2020. Due to Scarlett's excellent performances in Marvel movies, Black Widow's box office next year is sure to be good," Han Rui, a Marvel film fan living in North China's Tianjin Municipality, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"It is so funny that Marvel was not going to produce a Black Widow solo film until its deadly foe DC Entertainment released the hit film Wonder Woman," one Chinese netizen joked on Sina Weibo.

Although the film has a confirmed release date for the US, the Chinese trailer only listed 2020 as the date. The vague window left many Chinese fans wondering if the film will be released alongside the US, similar to recent outings Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.  

"I did not want it to be an origin story. I did not want it to be an espionage story. I didn't want it to feel superficial at all," Johansson told Vanity Fair in an interview, noting that she needed a reason to continue playing the character. 

"The audience will see what Black Widow is afraid of through the film," she said.