‘Black Widow’ Movie Will Address Natasha’s Death Post-‘Avengers: Endgame’

“Black Widow” is being advertised as a prequel, but it sounds like it’ll go well beyond the time period it starts off in. Director Cate Shortland revealed that Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow’s death will be addressed in the film.

“In ‘Endgame,’ the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral,” the director told Empire. “She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”

Marvel Studios has been very specific about “Black Widow” not being an origin story or a sequel. The movie takes place after “Captain America: Civil War” and before “Avengers: Endgame.” That means Natasha is in hiding after violating the Sokovia Accords, so she goes back to her first family, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour).

As previously reported, part of Nat’s past with the Red Room will be explored in the film as well. She connected with this group of spies because they went undercover together as a family for the KGB when she was younger.

Now it seems like the movie will also jump ahead to the future—and maybe even set up a new Black Widow. Shortland teased that this is just the beginning for Pugh’s Yelena.

“We didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be,” Shortland added. “We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”

In the Marvel comics, Yelena does take the Black Widow mantle. It seems likely that the films will follow the same trajectory.

Originally set for May 1, “Black Widow” is set to hit theater Nov. 6.