Warning: SPOILERS for Marvel's What If...? Episode 8 - "What If... Ultron Won?"
Episode 8 of Marvel's What If...? showed Natasha Romanoff (Lake Bell) fighting to save the world, providing a better sequel to Black Widow than Avengers: Endgame. Romanoff and a robotic-armed Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are the last Avengers standing in "What If... Ultron Won?" and Natasha's desperate gamble is to activate the A.I. of Hydra scientist Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), which she hopes can infect and deactivate Ultron. This offers a better conclusion to her story than the final MCU Phase 3 movie.
Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) famously sacrificed her life for the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame, which enabled Earth's Mightiest Heroes to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet and stop Thanos (Josh Brolin). However, Black Widow was set years before Endgame and it showed Natasha facing her past and destroying the Red Room alongside her 'family', Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). While Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame was in mourning for the billions of people Thanos killed, in Black Widow she was at the apex of her abilities – taking down the Red Room's evil creator, Dreykov (Ray Winstone), and overcoming the odds against a dozen mind-controlled Black Widows as well as the dangerous Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), who was the superior fighter.
Natasha Romanoff in What If...? episode 8 is a more fitting continuation of the superhero she was in Black Widow as in Avengers: Endgame, Natasha didn't actually fight. Instead, the conclusion of Romanoff's arc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe saw her give up the fight and take herself out of the equation in the hopes that the Avengers could eventually win. In contrast, "What If... Ultron Won?" showcased Black Widow displaying her never-say-die attitude and utilizing all of the first female Avenger's awesome skills to try to defeat Ultron. Indeed, Natasha showed her resourcefulness by remembering the Arnim Zola A.I. she and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) met in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and banking that the evil Hydra algorithm could kill the murderous android.
In What If...? episode 8, Black Widow doesn't let the end of the world stop her from trying to avenge the billions of souls Ultron killed in a nuclear holocaust. Instead, Natasha relentlessly battles scores of Ultron sentries and utilizes her array of weapons like her Widow's Bite, Red Guardian's shield, and even her motorcycle against the killer robots. Romanoff's heroism against impossible odds is even more impressive considering she also carried Clint Barton's hopes since Hawkeye had lost the will to fight.
What If...? cleverly switched Barton and Romanoff's places from Avengers: Endgame so that it's Hawkeye, despite being more powerful, who decides to sacrifice his life to enable Black Widow and Zola to escape the Ultron drones. What If...?'s Ultron-dominated reality is arguably an even more dire scenario than Avengers: Endgame's world since the planet was ravaged by nuclear fire and nearly everyone on Earth was dead, not just half the population. But the Black Widow in What If...? refused to die or accept Ultron's victory, contrasted against Natasha in Avengers: Endgame who seemed to have lost that fire inside of her and gave up her life for the Soul Stone on Vormir.
Natasha Romanoff in What If...? episode 8 is very much the spiritual successor of Black Widow's superhero, who showed her real power by taking down Dreykov and the Red Room, diving off an exploding and plummeting sub-orbital satellite without a parachute, but still found the compassion to save Antonia Dreykov instead of killing Taskmaster. Although Black Widow is set in the mainline MCU while "What If... Ultron Won?" is an alternate timeline, Marvel's What If...? episode 8 actually provides a much more satisfying sequel to Natasha's solo film and shows us Black Widow at her very best.
Marvel's What If...? streams Wednesdays on Disney+.
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