Black Widow
is this year’s first MCU film to hit theaters and Disney Plus. The film’s day-and-date premiere also sparked significant controversy in real life. Scarlett Johansson sued Disney, alleging the studio breached its contract.
The alternate ending
Black Widow
is an unusual origin story for one of the most beloved Avengers. Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) died in Endgame, so Black Widow is a prequel.
The main action takes place chronologically between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. It shows us what Black Widow was up to after the Avengers disbanded. But the film also explores Natasha’s past, filling in the gaps of previous movies. We see her as a child, a young spy, and the dangerous Black Widow assassin that moved to SHIELD.
We also get to meet Nat’s fake family, who are all Russian spies. That includes Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who will likely take over the Black Widow mantel in the MCU.
About a month after the film’s release, we learned that Marvel had shot a different scene for the ending. That deleted scene gives an emotional journey for Nat. She travels to her old home in Ohio, where she sees children playing and pretending to be Avengers. The scene would have delivered another excellent element for Nat’s character development. But Marvel ultimately deleted it as it didn’t fit with the ending Marvel chose.
The new Black Widow deleted scenes
Now that Black Widow is streaming on Disney Plus, the deleted scenes are available on the extras tab. Anyone with an active subscription can access them. The alternative is watching the scene on Twitter or YouTube, as it already made its way to those platforms.
“it was all me” new black widow deleted scene so true natasha romanoff smartest avenger pic.twitter.com/NE3Px0bx64
— ashlea ⧗ (@queenromxnov) October 6, 2021
Just like the previous deleted scene we mentioned, the new one takes place near the end of Black Widow. It happens when General Secretary (William Hurt) approaches and apprehends Natasha. The scene also shows that Ross gets Antonia (Olga Kurylenko), who is unconscious. The implication here is that the Taskmaster gets to live and fight another day.
The most interesting part is when Nat tells Ross that she acted alone, taking down the Red Room by herself. Nat chooses not to reveal any details about her Russian family. Again, that’s another great bit that helps us understand who Nat is. The deleted scene also shows how Nat escapes Ross, something we already assumed happened off-screen.
Separately, a different deleted scene shows us Mason (O-T Fagbenle) warning Nat that Ross is onto her. This is also a completed scene that Marvel could have included in the movie.
We have no idea why Marvel chose not to use these scenes in the final Black Widow cut. Like the deleted scene with the alternate ending, these are finalized scenes that don’t need any extra visual effects.
