Warning! This post contains spoilers for Black Widow.
The solo movie Black Widow takes place at the very beginning of MCU Phase 3, but if it had been part of Phase 2 or 3, it would have changed the course of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Set during Captain America: Civil War, the movie explores Natasha Romanoff’s previously untold story and her history with the Red Room. Black Widow was the first movie released as part of Phase 4, following on from the MCU’s first canonical TV shows WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki.
Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff has now appeared in nine movies and all four phases of the MCU, having made her first appearance in Iron Man 2. Romanoff’s death in Avengers: Endgame before appearing in a standalone movie required this entry to take place out of chronological order. The movie introduces a host of previously unknown characters including Red Guardian, Melina, Yelena, Taskmaster, and Dreykov, as well as reintroducing Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
When making Black Widow, writers were constrained by what already existed within the timeline. While they were largely able to avoid plot aspects that could have drastically changed the course of later events, the movie introduced characters whose absence from later films seems strange. If Marvel had made the movie as part of Phase 2 or Phase 3, the writers would not have been limited by the same constraints (including Black Widow needing to set up future MCU properties) and could have included the repercussions of Black Widow’s plot in later movies.
While MCU Phase 2 takes place before the events of Black Widow, it is worth examining what would have happened if Marvel has released a standalone Romanoff movie in this window. Of the original team of Avengers, only Romanoff and Clint Barton (Hawkeye) didn’t get solo entry in the first three phases. If Marvel had listened to audience demands for a female-led film in the franchise during Phase 2, it could have been a very similar film — but would have necessitated a few tweaks and could have caused major perspective shifts on what remained of the phase.
If Black Widow had taken place before the MCU's Sokovia Accords came into effect, it could still have focused on Romanoff’s back story, attack on the Red Room, and reconnection with her family. The major change that would have been necessary was that this would not have been an entirely solo outing. Taking place at the start of Phase 3, Black Widow is missing Romanoff’s close friend, Hawkeye, because he has taken a deal to avoid jail time and be able to be with his family. A Phase 2 outing for both of them would have strengthened their on-screen bond, particularly as Barton is so family-oriented and the film shows Romanoff coming to accept the notion of her found families.
Black Widow suggests that all the other players, from Dreykov’s Black Widows to Red Guardian, have been in the same place for years. This would mean that if the movie’s plot took place in early Phase 2, those characters would be able to appear or at least be referenced in other movies. This would have made the biggest difference in Captain America: Winter Soldier, which featured Romanoff heavily but also focuses on a Russian super-soldier program and mind control.
The Winter Soldier’s mind control is psychological rather than chemical, so her experience with freeing the Black Widows would only have been passingly relevant, but her knowledge of Russian super-soldiers would have come up with a possible appearance from Red Guardian himself. Black Widow does not explore the origins of Red Guardian’s super strength, but Romanoff certainly would have known about his strength since childhood as she sees him toss a trailer out of the way of their airplane. Although Romanoff famously plays things close to her chest, her not mentioning her knowledge of Russia having a successful super-soldier program during Captain America: Winter Soldier feels like a continuity error.
Romanoff’s other appearance in Phase 2 is in Avengers: Age of Ultron. While the events of Black Widow would have had little effect on the main plot of this film, it could have had a larger consequence on Romanoff’s treatment of the Hulk during the final battle. Her choice to push Bruce Banner off a ledge to force him to transform into Hulk is based on her belief that the mission is more important than individual people and relationships. However, Black Widow shows her learning to embrace these connections more strongly as she allows herself to be more vulnerable, which would make this mercenary decision harder to follow through on.
If Black Widow had been set and released at the very start of Phase 3, prior to the events of Captain America: Civil War, it could have had a huge effect on Romanoff’s role in that movie. In the original, she initially sides with Tony Stark and supports signing the Sokovia Accords before switching sides to help Steve Rogers’ team escape. During Black Widow, Romanoff learns of a worldwide network of freed Black Widows. Knowing that the accords would seek to register and control these women, Romanoff could have easily taken Rogers’ side from the beginning and left Stark with less support.
Had Black Widow been exactly the same movie that Marvel released in Phase 4 but was released at the time of its events instead, then it would have caused some changes to Romanoff’s final chronological appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. There are multiple valid reasons why it might have been difficult for Red Guardian, Melina, Yelena, or the Black Widows to appear at the fight of Wakanda in Infinity War, and there are several characters and groups who are missing from these scenes. But had the characters been established by the MCU already, then they certainly would have had cameo appearances during the final battle of Endgame.
The larger change post-Black Widow would have been a tonal shift for how Romanoff’s story was understood. Romanoff never mentions her family of Avengers-level agents, despite calling on all the forces she can at the start of Endgame to keep peace across the planet and beyond. With Black Widow released prior to these films, her family would appear or be mentioned here and be able to help in the fight. If they continued to be missing, then it would suggest a more tragic situation: the family that Black Widow had reconnected with had all been snapped by Thanos.
Having her family snapped would have caused changes in how Romanoff’s death played out because Hawkeye’s family was snapped as well. Under similar circumstances to each other, Romanoff threw herself into working to try and help everyone who was still around while Barton went on a revenge-killing spree of everyone he deemed to have survived the snap unjustly. Their disparate reactions to these familial losses would have played as more direct foils against each other and could have driven a wedge between them. During their fight on Vormir, Romanoff’s own family would have been brought up, and not just Barton’s.
Black Widow being released earlier in the MCU timeline would have made changes beyond the events of any single film and ultimately would have changed how audiences perceived Natasha Romanoff's story across the Avengers series. Romanoff has continually been played as an enigma whose background is mysterious. Providing this backstory earlier in the franchise would have allowed her to still be standoffish to her comrades, but give better insight into the character for the viewers and provided a fuller a more well-rounded female hero within the MCU.
The most important change that would have happened by releasing Black Widow in MCU Phase 3 is that it would have made her death feel more justified. Her death in Endgame came as a shock to many audiences as the character’s arc still felt incomplete with a lot left to explore. If her backstory and relationships had already been filled in, then it would have allowed Black Widow’s Endgame death to be the end of her story and the completion of a full arc, rather than the death of a protagonist who was never fully realized.
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