Naturally, the aftermath of that moment had many fans wondering how it would impact that long-in-the-works Black Widow standalone movie the MCU had been batting about for the better part of a decade. It's worth noting, of course, that Black Widow wasn't officially announced until after Endgame made its premiere. While it's now clear that the solo flick's narrative was already well in place prior to the character's heart-rending Endgame goodbye, the fact that the character was truly dead at the end of the film left Marvel diehards wildly theorizing how Endgame's time-traveling shenanigans and Soul Stone uncertainties might be used to set up the Black Widow movie.
As it turns out, the character's death will likely not factor into the standalone movie's narrative at all. That's because Black Widow's story is reportedly slotting into the MCU via Romanoff's uncertain days between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.
As a quick refresher, Civil War saw Captain America (Chris Evans) and a handful of his superpowered pals facing off against Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his own faction of heroes in a full-on battle to decide whether or not the Avengers (or superheroes in general) should be registered with and monitored by the world's governments. That battle is further complicated by Cap's continued protection of his old pal Bucky (Sebastian Stan), who'd been re-programmed by a serious new baddie to take part in the assassination of the Wakandan King.
The aftermath of that battle found Team Cap either scattered and on the run, or headed to super-prison the Raft. Though she had initially been down with Team Stark, we next saw Romanoff flying around with Cap in the early stages of Infinity War, with her time in between a veritable blank slate. Black Widow will indeed focus on that part of Romanoff's story. Though little is known about what's in store for the character in Black Widow, the film will apparently find her on the run, and dealing with some of the nefarious characters from her KGB past.
Black Widow will also take a more grounded approach to its narrative, and should serve as a welcome respite from the intergalactic insanity Marvel has unleashed over the past couple of years, opting for espionage-tinged intrigue and visceral, small-scale action in lieu of big budget bombast. By all accounts, Black Widow will attempt to shed some light on Romanoff's Endgame sacrifice, probably by exposing some of that "red" in her ledger that she keeps bringing up. With any luck, we might even get a peek at all that crazy Budapest action Widow and Hawkeye referenced in The Avengers.
Directed by Cate Shortland, and featuring supporting turns from Rachel Weisz (The Fountain), Florence Pugh (Midsommar), David Harbour (Stranger Things), and possibly even the brief MCU return of RDJ himself, Black Widow will officially kick off Phase 4 of the MCU when it arrives in theaters on May 1, 2020.
