Does The ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Trailer Hint At The End of One MCU Ship?

Despite all of the critical and financial accomplishments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one realm in which it’s been severely lacking is in any romantic relationships between its heroes, something prevalent in a vast amount of Marvel comic book storylines. Based on brief shots in the new Avengers: Infinity War trailer, it’s possible that our best chance at romance, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), might have already fizzled out.

“I just finished Avengers: Infinity War. The first one,” Johansson told Bravo earlier this year. “My character has this ongoing relationship with Mark Ruffalo’s character. I had such devastation that day. I don’t know why. I was so devastated. It was something about this character that Mark plays, and this is something that should feel so solid and suddenly doesn’t or there’s… And it reminded me of so much of the things going on in my own life at the time…”

When the shots of the duo’s reunion are combined with Johansson’s quote, things aren’t looking too good for Natasha and Bruce.

Since her debut in Iron Man 2, Natasha has always been able to easily capture the attention of men, but this was often a tactic used to exploit men for information. While seeing men fawn over her became the norm, we never saw her reciprocate those feelings.

The relationship was first on display in Avengers: Age of Ultron, demonstrated initially with Natasha’s ability to calm the Hulk down into reverting to Bruce Banner. Later in the film, those feelings were further confirmed at Hawkeye’s farmhouse where, despite Natasha’s best efforts to make her feelings for Banner clear, he rejected those advances due to his uncontrollable rage.

In Age of Ultron‘s climax, Hulk embarked on a journey alone, cutting off the jet’s communication systems to prevent the team, and specifically Natasha, from interfering.

The events of Captain America: Civil War confirmed that Natasha still doesn’t know Banner’s whereabouts while Thor: Ragnarok enlightened audiences on how Hulk ended up on Sakaar.

Between the time apart from one another and Banner’s cold rejection of Natasha’s feelings, the two have both likely moved on with their lives, never having gotten the chance to explore that connection.

We’ll see what’s in store for Black Widow and the Hulk when Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018.