Black Widow Almost Had A Very Different Storyline In Avengers: Endgame

By now, it’s become apparent that everyone and their mom has seen Avengers: Endgame. Marvel Studios’ latest release has grossed over $2 billion worldwide, no easy feat for a 3-hour film. Despite its length though, directors Joe and Anthony Russo have revealed that a surprising amount of plot elements wound up on the cutting room floor, including an unexpected new job for Black Widow.

In a recent interview with Slate, the directorial team revealed that the film’s first act five-year time jump was deliberately selected so that every character had time to adjust to an existence wherein half the Earth’s population simply vanished.

“Primarily what drove the choice was that we wanted it to be far enough where your lead characters reached a point of acceptance,” the brothers shared. “They had to accept [Thanos’ victory] as part of their reality.”

While debating the story arc for each of the central six Avengers, the Russos considered how the Snap would not only impact their mental health but the physical world around them, too. For Black Widow, a character that has struggled with acceptance amongst both her surrogate superhero family as well as herself, the filmmakers realized that she would likely take on the role of a mother for children who lost their parents.

“It was almost too large of an idea for us to wrangle, but we did try for a while and at one point early on in the script, early in development, Black Widow was leading the organization in Washington D.C that was in charge of orphans. That’s what she was heading up five years later.”

Though the brothers confirmed that Thanos’ evil plan left nearly a quarter of all children without parents, they realized that exploring this idea would likely take the movie into a somber new direction, and grind the story a halt. The bleak tone of the first act of Endgame is easily one of my favorite aspects of the pic, especially since it slows things down following the chaotic finale of Avengers: Infinity War, but I also agree that even mentioning all of the children who lost their parents would be overkill.

As those of us who have seen the movie know, Black Widow wound up leading a new team of Avengers after the time jump in the final cut of Endgame. Despite defeat five years earlier, she hasn’t given up, and her willingness to do anything to bring back her fallen family culminates in making the ultimate sacrifice later in the film. Black Widow is set to take on her own solo movie in the near future, but due to the aforementioned ultimate sacrifice, it’s safe to say it’ll be a prequel, finally giving us insight into who she was before she became one of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Tell us, though, are you excited to see more Black Widow in the future? And are you happy with the direction the Russos took her character in Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments section down below.