In the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Widow occupies a strange position thematically, narratively, and mythologically. It’s Natasha Romanoff’s long-awaited solo debut, but she’s already dead in the main timeline, so we know how her story arc ultimately ends.
The post-credits scene points towards the future, but if you haven’t seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and don’t know that Jeremy Renner has a Hawkeye series coming to Disney Plus later this year, then you might not understand the significance of Julia-Louis Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine showing up to point Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova in the direction of Clint Barton to seek revenge for her surrogate sister’s death.
Pugh has long since been confirmed for a role in Hawkeye, so that at least gives away one of the show’s major plot points, and the presence of the Contessa coupled with the fact it’s clear the two have been working together for some time could also indicate that Yelena may end up as part of the Thunderbolts, at least for a little while.
Both the actress and Black Widow director Cate Shortland have teased her taking up the mantle, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s finale saw the Contessa assembling her own super team, with John Walker and Baron Zemo already on board. Yelena may be positioned as more of an antihero for now until the truth comes out.
It also paid off the red in Natasha’s ledger that had been plaguing her since The Avengers, with the revelation that Dreykov’s daughter was alive and well, before being freed from a prison of her father’s making. There’s no shortage of closure to be found in Black Widow, then, but many doors have been left wide open for the future.