Taking place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Spidey’s newest movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, is chock-full of connections and references to other films within the MCU. Heck, the first few minutes after the opening title sequence features an amateur video tribute to the heroes who gave their lives to undo the effects of Thanos’ devastating, universe-altering Snap, which is now being referred to as the Blip.
In fact, as the movie progresses, it’s quite clear that people from all around the world – regardless of whether or not they were wiped out of and back into existence – are mourning the loss of some of the planet’s greatest heroes. There are multiple memorials and reminders of Iron Man and Captain America, but, as some fans noticed, Black Widow isn’t given much screentime. In fact, aside from the aforementioned video tribute, that’s the last time Natasha Romanoff is even mentioned or shown on-screen; a stark contrast (no pun intended) when compared to Tony or Steve Rogers.
As ScreenRant points out, Marvel has done the character a disservice here, which, unfortunately, has become par for the course as of late. Despite being the public face of the Avengers, along with representing them at several high-profile hearings and political meetings, the only female OG Avenger is essentially all-but-forgotten, which is a shame, especially when you consider how she stepped up and coordinated their operations during Endgame‘s five-year jump.
Frankly, the MCU as a whole never took the time to develop Black Widow into a more well-rounded character and as such, her death didn’t have the emotional payoff that Marvel Studios thought it would. While Spider-Man: Far From Home (arguably) dropped the ball when it came to honoring her legacy, we’re still holding out hope that her standalone prequel film manages to do Nat justice.