Black Widow Movie Ending Explanation: Avengers Link & Sequel Advice

Black Widow landed in theaters and on Premier Disney Plus Access on Friday, giving Scarlett johanssonis a superhero Marvel Cinematic Universe solo mission that forces him to face his dark origin. The story unfolds between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

The film reunites Natasha Romanoff with her former “family”, including Yelena Belova, Melina Vostokoff and Alexei Shostakov (Florence pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbor). It also pits him against the deadly Taskmaster, a seemingly unstoppable killer who can mirror anyone’s fighting style.

Let’s take a look at the film’s final moments and find out what they could mean for the future of the franchise (more on that in our separate post-credits explanatory note). SPOILERS hang in front.

Save the enemy

Before the explosions kick off on the floating fortress of the big bad Dreykov (Ray winstone), he reveals that Taskmaster is his daughter Antonia, who was said to have already been killed in Natasha’s failed attempt on Dreykov’s life in Budapest, Hungary. Antoine (Olga Kurilenko) takes off his mask to reveal his scarred face.

It turns out that the little girl was seriously injured in the explosion, so her father implanted a chip in her so that she could instantly mirror anyone’s fighting style and turned her into a slayer having brainwashed – much like Yelena. Dreykov orders the other Spirit-Controlled Widows to put an end to Natasha, but she doses them with the antidote and releases them from her grip.

Finding Antonia trapped in a cell as the Floating Fortress collapses, a culprit Natasha chooses to save her from certain death by letting her out. Antonia relentlessly pursues her hero as her lineup demands, but Natasha eventually manages to dose her with the antidote.

Meanwhile, Yelena almost sacrifices herself to kill Dreykov once and for all, forcing Natasha to save her as she crumbles from the sky.

Back on the ground safely, Yelena, Melina and Alexei set off with Antonia and the freed widows, intending to find the other brainwashed women in the world and set them free. Natasha awaits the arrival of General Thaddeus Ross (Guillaume wounded) and his team, apparently agreeing to be arrested for siding with Captain America’s faction in Civil War.

Two weeks later

After a quick jump in time, we find Natasha free. Her hair is dyed blonde in Avengers: Infinity War, and she wears Yelena’s jacket (with all of her handy pockets). She meets her mate Mason (OT Fagbenlé), who proves how resourceful he is by providing her with a Quinjet and asks where she’s going.

“All my life I never thought I would have a family – it turns out I have two,” she told him. “So one of them is a bit of a mess right now. I’m going to get a few out of jail, see if I can’t help sort things out.”

What this means

Melina and Alexei leave with Antonia, and the freed widows are still there, apparently working to dismantle the rest of Dreykov’s operations. The post-credits scene reveals where Yelena ends up after Avengers: Endgame, but the fate of the others is unknown – their story could continue in a Black Widow follow-up.

Despite Natasha’s last words to Mason, it is not known if she actually participated in the operation to free Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff and Scott Lang from Raft prison. We only see Cap take them out at the end of the Civil War, but Natasha is nowhere to be found – she could have been there, as we know she teamed up with him around the time of Avengers: Infinity War.

We do know, however, Natasha’s ultimate fate – she sacrifices her life to obtain the Soul Stone and undo Thanos’ genocidal genocide in Avengers: Endgame. We see the fallout from his decision in this film’s post-credits scene.