Black Widow ended on an emotional note with its post-credits scene. Major Black Widow spoilers follow! After showing the audience Natasha Romanoff’s backstory, the film quickly reminded viewers that the character Scarlett Johansson has been playing since 2010’s Iron Man 2 made the ultimate sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame. A moment of closure was offered for Natasha’s fans when Black Widow took them to her grave with it labeled, “Daughter, Sister, Avengers.” Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova offered a whistle but it wasn’t met with her sister’s return melody as seen earlier in the movie. Instead, Yelena and her dog Fanny were greeted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Valentine Allegra de Fontaine. Black Widow writer Eric Pearson opened up about crafting this scene in an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com.
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“I loved the idea right from the beginning that we opened the movie with Ohio and this kind moment at peace where Natasha’s a kid,” Pearson said. “She’s basically living as a kid, forgotten her whole mission as a secret, Russian spy. And then we end the movie with the fireflies again and she’s gone through this, she’s reconciled with her past, she’s at peace again, ready to go on and make that ultimate sacrifice. So, the idea that this family, whether it’s Yelena or the family, erected a tombstone for her in Ohio, I felt was very touching, and I loved that.”
The moment of tribute was short-lived, though. Valentina did not seem to offer much care for Yelena’s moments of mourning when she burst into the scene blowing her nose and pulling out and iPad to accuse Clint Barton of being responsible for Natasha’s death.
“As soon as they told me that there’s this character in Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and it was going to be Julia Louis-Dreyfus, I couldn’t have gotten to the computer fast enough,” Pearson recalled. “I was like, ‘Yes! Let me at it.’ That’s me. I want to take a serious moment and then flush it down the toilet. Like, I want to take that great moment where Yelena is truly having a moment of quiet reflection with her lost sister and then have Julia Louis-Dreyfus blow her nose and just be so ruthlessly pragmatic about everything.”
Rumors and reports have long been claiming Pugh will be reprising her role as Yelena for the Hawkeye series on Disney+ which is expected to debut later this year. “As far as where Yelena is off to, I can’t speak to that,” Pearson said. “I hope it’s everywhere. I really just wanted… and also just the two of them together, honestly, that scene might’ve been five pages long because I couldn’t write enough of those twos dialogue. We ultimately went for a much shorter version of it, but seeing them together made me very, very happy. And I think they had great chemistry so I hope there’s so much more to come.”
What did you think of Black Widow? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! For a deeper dive into Black Widow with Pearson, subscribe to ComicBook.com’s MCU podcast Phase Zero on any major podcast platform to hear the 30-minute spoiler-filled discussion on Wednesday’s new episode. Black Widow is now playing in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access.
