Black Widow
is finally happening. In just a few days, the highly anticipated Marvel movie will premiere worldwide, more than a year after its intended release date. The pandemic forced Marvel and
The first online reactions and reviews are out, including one that tackles one of the movie’s most anticipated elements. We’ve talked about the Black Widow credits scenes a few times already. But this time, it’s different. It looks like we know exactly what the main credits scene will be. As always, spoilers follow below, so make sure you stop here if you want to be surprised when you watch Black Widow in theaters or on Disney+.
The Black Widow plot leaks
The Black Widow leaks we saw in early and mid-2020 detailed the film’s purported plot. That happens with most Marvel films, and many of those leaks turn out to be fake. But some of them might contain genuine information. What’s different about Black Widow compared to other MCU films is the pandemic.
The health crisis forced Marvel to delay Black Widow to give the film the theatrical debut it deserves. And while Marvel could do little to change the film’s overall plot, the delays might have allowed the studio to change the post-credits scenes.
Black Widow credits scenes – January 2020 edition
The mid-January 2020 Black Widow plot leak claimed the film had two credits scenes, as follows:
Two post-credit scenes I saw.
One is Florence Pugh and skullguy giving William Hurt the flash drive thing, and him telling them they are just getting started.
End credit is Hawkeye in a guess the present because he’s all tatted up and shit. He’s at Nat’s grave with his kids.
The July 2020 credits scenes variation
A mid-July 2020 leak gave us a similar version:
Post credits 1 is Yelena walking into a dark warehouse. A bunch of soldiers point guns at her. Her casually puts her hands up and throws the device on a table. Sitting at the table is Thunderbolt Ross.
Taskmaster is there and Yelena gets pissed saying that he killed her friend and that wasn’t part of the plan.
He takes off his helmet to reveal a bandage and points out that she returned the favor by shooting him in the head. She points out it’s not the first time she’s done that.
She says to Ross ‘I think that relieves me of our deal.’
And Ross responds ‘oh no, we’re just getting started.’
Final credits scene is Clint looking at Natasha’s grave with his kids. Nice tender moment, but honestly a bit of emotional whiplash from the twisty turning spy movie that preceded it.
The actual Black Widow credits scene
We learned a few months ago that the amazing The Falcon and the Winter Soldier cameo wasn’t supposed to appear first in Marvel’s streaming show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine — you know what, we’ll call her Val — was supposed to debut in Black Widow.
A Vanity Fair report said that Val was supposed to show up in Black Widow first. The story also said that Marvel had “even bigger ambitions” for Louis-Dreyfus. At the time, we had no idea where Val would appear, but a brand new Black Widow review tells us exactly where we’ll see her. If you’ve come this far, it must be crystal clear that it’s in the credits scenes. From The Hollywood Reporter:
A post-credits recruitment scene with a surprise cameo from a major-name star seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldierindicates possible future installments that will bring at least one key character here back into the SHIELD-adjacent fold.
The unexpected reveal from THR’s review gives us enough information to conclude that Val will appear in the Black Widow credits scenes. And who better than Florence Pugh Yelena Belova for Val to recruit? Or is it the reportedly surprising Taskmaster who is going to work for the Contessa? We’ll have to wait and see.
It’s unclear whether we’re looking at more than one credits scene. But the gist of Val’s scene seems to be similar to previous leaks. Marvel might have gone a different route for obvious reasons, choosing to replace William Hurt with Louis-Dreyfus. That’s just speculation, however.
Black Widow premieres on July 9th in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.
