{"id":14010,"date":"2020-07-06T17:03:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T00:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=14010"},"modified":"2020-07-08T12:38:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T19:38:12","slug":"black-widow-passing-torch-to-yelena-belova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/black-widow-passing-torch-to-yelena-belova\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Black Widow’ Will Be The Sendoff For Natasha Romanoff We Didn’t Get In ‘Endgame’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Avengers: Endgame<\/em> was globally beloved, raking in $2.75 billion<\/a> by the end of its theatrical run. It got to that eye-popping number in large part for being a phenomenally well-done finale to a 12-year-long story arc started way back in 2008 with Iron Man<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not all fans felt all OG Avengers got the closure they deserved, particularly Natasha Romanoff. For many fans, Black Widow sacrificing herself to get the Soul Stone and save the world was the greatest heartbreak of the movie<\/a> over Tony Stark sacrificing himself by wearing the Infinity Gauntlet. It especially grated as Tony got hailed as a hero with a massive funeral \u2013 and rightfully so \u2013 but Nat didn’t get much more than one brief scene with the remaining original Avengers mourning her privately. Where was Black Widow’s funeral? Where was the public acknowledgment of her equally great sacrifice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, the upcoming Black Widow<\/a><\/em> spinoff movie looks set to give Natasha Romanoff the sendoff she never got in Endgame<\/em>, and it will do it in a way that is far more befitting of the character than a public funeral might have been. Speaking to Empire<\/a><\/em>, director Cate Shortland said that Scarlett Johansson herself agreed that a funeral in Endgame<\/em> wouldn’t have made sense for the character. Both of them, however, believe the metaphorical closure the character is getting in Black Widow<\/em> is much more complete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In Endgame<\/em>, the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn\u2019t have wanted a funeral. She\u2019s too private, and anyway, people don\u2019t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that\u2019s a fitting ending for her.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, we know Natasha survived the events of Black Widow<\/em>. So what exactly is a “fitting ending” for Nat if not death? As Shortland hints, it might just be with Black Widow passing the baton to Yelena Belova as the new Black Widow just as Scarlett Johansson will pass the torch to Florence Pugh. Pugh was so good, it would appear, that she seems to have written herself into the future plans of the MCU. At the very least, we can certainly read Shortland’s praise of her that way: “[W]e didn\u2019t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn\u2019t know\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0great,” Shortland gushed. “Scarlett is so gracious, like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m handing her the baton.\u2019 So it\u2019s going to propel another female storyline.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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