Marvel Fan Argues Mystery Role Ray Winstone is Playing in 'Black Widow' With Convincing Theory

Marvel Studios' Black Widow is coming to theaters this fall and Natasha Romanoff fans everywhere are grateful for the character's reprieve. Natasha has arguably the most interesting backstory out of all the Avengers, and yet hers has been the one least explored. Granted, Marvel fans have been given hints and vague, menacing explanations about her past, but this November we will finally be given a look into how she became the highly-skilled assassin, world-class spy, and hand-to-hand combat expert fans know her to be at the time of her demise in Avengers: Endgame.

However, some fans are wondering about one actor billed on the Black Widow movie posters who has not been seen in a single promotion or trailer so far: Ray Winstone.

As you can see in the movie poster above, Winstone's name appears, but unlike the rest of the cast, his face is nowhere to be found. He hasn't been in the trailers either. Reddit user deathdownunder4 has an interesting theory about who the actor plays, and it actually makes a lot of sense. The fan starts off by saying that Winstone probably hasn't been in any promotional material because, "his character is integral to the plot in a major way, and revealing his role could be considered a potential spoiler."

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The user goes on to argue that it could definitely be a character named General Dreykov, who is one of the overseers of the Red Room, which is integral to Nat's indoctrination as an assassin. Also, in The Avengers when Romanoff is interrogating Loki, the God of Mischief mentions an incident involving the daughter of a person named Dreykov. The fan writes:

"I think Ray Winstone is playing General Dreykov in the movie mostly through flashbacks in the Red Room. His daughter was likely a Widow who was bested by Romanoff, and Dreykov’s bitterness and resentment towards her marks the beginning of Romanoff’s violent past that she would later come to regret (the red in her ledger). Dreykov could have also worked behind the scenes as somebody who helped revolutionize the Red Guardian in the 1990s; Dreykov could have been using the USSR’s version of the SuperSoldier serum to make the Red Room serums for the Black Widow Program. If this is true, this could potentially tie into the Thunderbolts w/ General Ross and Taskmaster, since we know from TIH that Ross has been desperately searching to recreate the Gamma accident with the SuperSoldier serum (Red Hulk?)."

It would only make sense for the film to include characters who were heavily involved in Natasha's past, as the movie is all about how she became the woman we all know so well. After this compelling theory, if Winstone isn't playing anyone remotely significant, I'll be disappointed! Black Widow is scheduled for a Nov. 6, 2020 theatrical release.