The Marvel Cinematic Universe is meticulously designed and planned years in advance to make sure that all of the pieces eventually fit together, and that strategy is what keeps bringing fans back for every installment, establishing the franchise as the biggest and most successful game in town in the process.
Even though the recently-delayed Black Widow is a prequel set directly after the events of Captain America: Civil War, headlined by a character that was killed off during the events of Avengers: Endgame, as the first installment in the studio’s Phase Four, Natasha Romanoff’s long-awaited solo outing is still set to put events in motion that will affect much of the MCU’s upcoming slate.
We’ve already reported that Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova is set to make a cameo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, including how her appearance is tied to Black Widow’s narrative, and following the leak of the movie’s two post-credit scenes we’ve now heard that there are multiple plot threads that tie the two seemingly-unrelated projects together.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us Taskmaster would be the main villain in Black Widow and that the Guardians will cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder – Thaddeus Ross plays a much bigger role in both Natasha’s first solo outing and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier than many are expecting. You see, in Black Widow, David Harbour’s Red Guardian uses the Super Soldier serum to become Russia’s equivalent of Captain America, but by the end of the movie it somehow falls into Ross’ possession, which he then uses on John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Not only does this tie into some of the plot details we already know about the Disney Plus show, but introducing the serum into play also creates the opportunity to have it end up in Sam Wilson’s hands, in order for him to officially assume the mantle given to him by Steve Rogers. Which is apparently the plan.
This time last month, nobody was expecting a prequel movie and a small screen spinoff to tie so closely together, but that’s the beauty of the MCU, because nothing happens without a good reason behind it.
