Alia Bhatt to play an ASSASSIN, not a spy in 'Alpha'; sparks comparison to Scarlett Johansson's 'Black Widow'

Alia Bhatt’s upcoming action film Alpha is already generating buzz ahead of its release, with new details suggesting that the actress will not be playing a spy, but rather, an assassin.Directed by Shiv Rawail, 'Alpha' has long been reported to be the next chapter in the YRF Spy Universe. The film was set to mark the franchise’s first female-led film with Alia in the lead, along with Sharvari, Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol.According to the latest report on Bollywood Hungama, the film will now reportedly explore the story of a girl raised to become an assassin, thus setting Alia’s character apart from the traditional spy characters played by Shah Rukh Khan in 'Pathaan', Hrithik Roshan in 'WAR' and Salman Khan in 'Tiger'.As per the report, the film will present a lead character "who is an assassin, not a spy that we have seen all leads play earlier. For the first time, Aditya Chopra is giving us an origin story that introduces a character who is more grey, more of an anti-hero in tonality. It is refreshing because otherwise it would be extremely boring for us to watch."The report goes on to quote the source saying, "This is definitely going to deliver a shock value to us. This is not a conventional approach to build a hero, and it’s brave to even think of building out a female action character like this."The revelation has fuelled comparisons online to the character, Black Widow, portrayed by Scarlett Johansson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans have long drawn parallels between Alia’s reported character arc and Natasha Romanoff’s backstory, which explored how young Russian girls were trained as assassins in the Red Room programme. While first teased in the 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', the character's tainted back story was delved into in the standalone 'Black Widow' film.Since December last year, social media users have been debating the similarities between 'Alpha' and the Marvel franchise. One user wrote, “Black widow ka copy.” Another commented, “Alpha will try to copy Black widow.”Another social media user said, “I feel it's going to be on the lines of black widow. Jo hisaab yrf ki movies ka raha hai recently won't be surprised if it is a ripoff mostly. Alia similar to natasha and bobby to the leader who was grooming girls since childhood.”Another post compared the film to Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron. “It seems like mix of Atomic Blonde and Black Widow. I hope its more like former,” the user wrote.The film is scheduled to release in theatres on July 10, 2026.