This article discusses the ending of Disney+ film Black Widow and the post-credits scene, so it will contain major spoilers.
Ready Steady Cut Film Critic, M.N. Miller, called Black Widow “The blockbuster of the summer.”
Black Widow – the set-up
Black Widow is set at some point after Captain America: Civil War. Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johanson, aka Black Widow) has taken a sabbatical from all the Avenger infighting. She is a freelance operative somewhere in New York. As the movie begins, however, we see a bit of her origin story.
Natasha and her sister, Yelena, are raised in Ohio by her mother (Rachel Weisz) and father (David Harbour, priceless here). They are playing Americans, living a happy life until they are forced to go back to the USSR because their mission is complete. Her father is actually Alex? I Alanovich Shostakov the Red Guardian, the Soviet counterpart to Captain America (yes, in the comic books, he was the husband later on in the Black Widow. Here, his version is a father figure… Yup).
Except, the kids are then gifted to the KGB like they meant nothing to their parents. They may have just been adopted and put in place to reflect the perfect American family. The children are put into a program to make them super Russian spy soldiers in the Red Room. Natasha later defects, she is forced later to confront her past and the family she once knew.
Black Widow – the ending explained
It’s clear that this is the setup for a new franchise of films for Florence Pugh’s Yelena. She eventually will probably pick up the Black Widow as the second modern version; after all, do we know which Black Widow the film is referring to? (Or maybe, later on, the Crimson Widow). Her character will also return for the Hawkeye Disney+ limited series coming out later this year. Since the film ends with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Yelena freeing the other women who are byproducts of the Red Room and is set before Civil War, she leaves to rejoin the Avengers, thinking she finally has reunited with her family. The thought that she will see her soon probably went through her head. We know what Yelena, Alexei, and Melina did not— she will die saving the world. Fricken Hawkeye.
What Happens Next – Black Widow post-credits scene explained
Yelena visits Natasha’s grave, this taking place after Avengers: Endgame when Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine arrives out of nowhere in the middle of the woods without making a sound. Ok, that pesky Contessa. Yes, the big CVAdF (played by the amazing Julia Louise Dreyfuss), the former head of the Femme Force, member of S.H.I.E.LD, and Nicky Fury’s lover, seems to be popping up all over Marvel Phase 4 films and series. She recruits Yelena, presumably, to take over the reins her sister left behind.
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