How Avengers: Endgame Writers Factored in Black Widow Movie

Avengers: Endgame revealed an interesting fate for one of its main heroes considering they are one of the few with a movie expected on the Phase 4 slate. While certain elements of Avengers: Endgame have claimed themselves to be permanent, Black Widow is still guaranteed to have her own standalone film next year, something Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were forced to consider.

Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame follow. Major spoilers!

In order to obtain the Soul Stone, either Hawkeye or Black Widow had to lose that which they loved. Having a long relationship and history together, the two had a deep love for one another. After fighting for who would make the ultimate sacrifice, Black Widow came out victorious, and leapt from the cliff on Vormir to give Hawkeye and the Avengers the Infinity Stone which they needed. With Black Widow dead, how can she have her own movie?

"We weren't fully aware of [the Black Widow movie], but, even when that became clearer that it was one of the things that they were intending to do, no one told us not to do what we were doing," Markus explained to ComicBook.com.

"Right, and that's function of her arc, right?" McFeely added. "Her finally finding a purpose, a family, and being willing to sacrifice everything for that family. I think of her as perhaps the strongest person in the whole movie. She's the woman on the wall in the five years. And even when Captain America has doubts, and remember he says to her, 'Maybe we don't need to be doing this.' She does not share that opinion."

From there, it was an easy decision for the writers in terms of character decisions when it came to obtaining the Soul Stone. "So, then when she gets to Vormir and is faced with this choice, it is what she's been working toward for a full five years, is to get that sense of family back, to get all these people back," McFeely explained. "And you'll just put yourself in our spot too. We had created these rules, whereby you're going to have to sacrifice someone that you love in order to get the soul stone. So, in terms of candidates to go to Vormir, Hawkeye and Widow were sort of the only ones that would make sense, and hopefully would tear your heart out."

Heart successfully torn out. Now, the big question is how the writers of the Black Widow movie will handle the character's death. Will they explore the past such as the "Budapest" lines which Hawkeye and Black Widow have now exchanged twice?

What do you want to see in the Black Widow movie? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter. Also, tune into ComicBook.com's Game Over: An Evening With Joe Russo on May 6 for a chance to get more of your questions answered!

Avengers: Endgame is now playing in theaters.