After months of delays and anticipation, Black Widow is finally in cinemas – and fans are only talking about one scene.
The Marvel film sees Scarlett Johansson reprise her MCU role as Natasha Romanoff in a story that explores her dark past as a spy prior to becoming an Avenger.
Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz star alongside Johansson.
Since its release on Wednesday 7 July, the film has garnered mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers. However, it is the post-credits scene that has everybody talking.
*Warning: spoilers ahead!*
The film concludes with Natasha finally defeating Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and dismantling the Red Room – a top-secret Soviet spy program that trains young women to be elite assassins. Afterwards, she heads off to her next mission, which occurs in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
Fans will know that Natasha meets her demise in Endgame and this eventual fate is reflected in Black Widow’s post-credits scene, which jumps to the present-day and sees her sister Yelena Belova (Pugh) visiting her grave.
The tender moment sees Yelena mourn Natasha, a “daughter, sister, Avenger”. Yelena is accompanied by her dog, Fanny – a nod to the alias given to Natasha by Mason (O-T Fagbenle) earlier in the film.
Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh in ‘Black Widow’
(YouTube/Marvel Entertainment)
What has viewers most intrigued though, is what happens next as the camera pans over to Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
MCU fans will recognise Louis-Dreyfus’s character from the recent series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The big reveal is one of the first film-to-series crossovers for Marvel.
As reported by Vanity Fair, Valentina was due to make her debut in Black Widow, however, due to pandemic-related delays, the character instead made her first appearance in the Disney Plus series, starring opposite Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan.
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Those familiar with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier last saw Valentina recruiting the disgraced super-soldier John Walker (Wyatt Russell).
In Black Widow’s post-credits scene, it appears that she has done the same with Yelena, with whom she appears to have an existing rapport.
Scarlett Johansson in ‘Black Widow’
(Marvel Studios)
Yelena complains that she is not supposed to be bothered on her time off when Valentina says: “Maybe you’d like a shot at the man responsible for your sister’s death.”
She passes Yelena a photograph of spy-turned-Avenger Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner. Fans of the MCU will know, however, that Natasha’s death in Endgame wasn’t as simple as Valentina suggests.
It’s a direct path for Yelena to star in Marvel’s forthcoming series Hawkeye, which coincides with reports that Pugh would be making an appearance in the show.
Hawkeye – which stars Renner and Hailee Steinfeld – is scheduled for release later this year. An exact date is yet to be confirmed.
Black Widow is in cinemas and on Disney Plus now
