Avengers: Endgame might be one of Marvel's biggest films, but directors Anthony and Joe Russo received a bit of backlash from fans who felt that Black Widow's (Scarlett Johansson) death wasn't given as much attention compared to Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in the film.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight during the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, the Russo Brothers tried to explain why Iron Man received his own onscreen funeral and Black Widow didn't, saying that fans shouldn't feel that Natasha is being neglected because the Avengers spy is going to star in her own movie soon.
"Well, Natasha has another movie coming out. Tony does not have another movie coming out," Joe explained, "When you're dealing with storytelling real estate in a three-hour movie, there's only so much of it, and someone else has another film coming, there's always the opportunity to bring closure in that other movie. In this movie, we had to bring closure to Tony Stark."
In a separate interview with the New York Times,Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely also defended their decision against giving Natasha any sort of moment outside that brief scene showing the Avengers gathering together by the lakeside and mourning her loss.
According to Markus and McFeely, it wouldn't make sense to give Natasha a funeral, because unlike Tony who is a massive public figure, Black Widow was a spy, a chipper. Instead, the film needed to address the big question whether the Avengers just bring her back using the Infinity Stones.
"That's the everlasting exchange. You bring her back, you lose the stone," explained McFeely.
Then again, that's not something that Black Widow would have wanted. Bringing Natasha back would just undo everything that the team worked so hard to get on.
Black Widow is set to release on May 1, 2020.
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