Black Widow is finally arriving in early July, the first MCU movie since Spider-Man: Far From Home way back in 2019. One interesting wrinkle is that Natasha Romanoff died on screen in Avengers: Endgame, with this movie set just after the events of Captain America: Civil War. This will make the movie something of a memorial to the character as (save for a multiversal resurrection) it looks like Scarlett Johansson’s MCU swansong.
But her death soon became a source of controversy amongst Black Widow’s fans. As rightly pointed out, why should the MCU’s first female hero have to die? This also meant she didn’t take part in the final battle, with the all-female Avengers assemble shot sorely missing her presence. On top of all that, while Tony Stark got an all-star funeral, she almost went forgotten despite playing as important a role in beating Thanos.
Johansson commented on this in a new interview with ET Online!, saying:
“It’s funny because I’ve had kind of a lot of mixed reactions to her ultimate fate in Endgame. But for me, it made so much sense that she would sacrifice herself not just for the greater good of humanity, but actually for her friends, which was really at the heart of it. She’s a good one.”
Though Natasha was a fairly good place by the time of Avengers: Endgame, she was still clearly haunted by the “red in her ledger”. It can’t be easy for everyone to consider you one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes while knowing that you’ve done some horrible stuff in your past. So her giving her life in one final redemptive act is easy to understand. Even so, I wouldn’t have complained in the slightest if they’d ditched the boring bow and arrow guy (sorry Hawkeye fans).
Whatever your opinion on her death, fans are looking forward to seeing Natasha in action in her long-overdue solo movie. Judging by the trailers it’s looking like it’ll be worth the wait and I can’t wait to see that Marvel Studios logo on the big screen one more time.
Black Widow will release in theaters and on Disney Plus on July 9, 2021.