Black Widowis finally out in theaters and on Disney+
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The Black Widow ending bridges the events of Civil War and Infinity War. We’re given the final clues as to what Nat was doing while she was on the run. We get the how and why she reconnected with the Avengers. Nat realized by the end of Black Widow that she has two families. And the Avengers, broken up after Civil War, needed saving.
The ending is great, as it establishes Nat’s motives and provides additional bits and pieces of character development. We realize once again how critical Black Widow has always been to the team, making the kind of key plays that impacted the bigger picture.
But Marvel shot a different Black Widow ending scene that would have offered even more character development for Nat.
The deleted Black Widow ending scene
Found on Twitter, the deleted Black Widow scene is just about a minute long. It mirrors the film’s opening sequence. We see Nat riding through a neighborhood just like she did when she was young. But she’s not a kid riding a bike anymore.
Nat is visiting her fake family home in Ohio that we see in the movie’s first act. But what you should be focusing on is the children playing in the background. One of them has a bow and arrow like Hawkeye, pretending to shoot at the others. Another one has wings like Falcon. And then there’s one kid with a Captain America toy shield on his arm.
It’s right at the end of the scene that we see one of the girls in the group approach Natasha. The kid realized her favorite superhero has just parked her bike on the street. The girl was in the same group of kids from before, and she probably played Black Widow. She raises her arm and shoots imaginary bolts at Nat, just like Black Widow does in the Avengers action scenes from all the movies. And Nat answers in kind. Those children seeing her as a hero must be the ultimate compliment for Nat, given her troubled past.
#BlackWidow deleted scene.
This would have been a perfect ending. pic.twitter.com/bQp3GidTbV— Scarlett Johansson Fanpage (@ScarlettForum) August 10, 2021
Why was it cut?
Marvel needs only a minute to make us understand how important family is for Nat. But the same scene also makes us (and Nat) understand how important the Avengers are to the world (and to Nat). After all, these kids are pretending to be Avengers after the highly publicized Sokovia Accords that broke up the Avengers in Civil War.
It’s also important to note that the deleted Black Widow ending scene is finished. Marvel must have decided not to use it very late in the game while producing the final cut of the film. This scene and the closing scene Marvel ultimately went with don’t necessarily work together. Marvel opted for the one where Nat verbalizes her thoughts about family and the Avengers.