Avengers: Endgame co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely considered giving Black Widow an onscreen funeral, but couldn't find a way to make the scene work for the audience. Black Widow was one of the two major Avengers characters that died in Endgame, with Iron Man being the other. But only Iron Man was given an onscreen funeral with all of the other characters seen in mourning.

Of course, Avengers: Endgame wasn't going to be the last time audiences saw Johansson as Black Widow on the big screen. Black Widow, a solo movie starring the character and set between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, was originally set to open theatrically this coming weekend, but has been pushed back to November 6 due to the COVID-19 shutdowns. The fact that audiences would see Johansson as Black Widow again in the near future may be a factor in why she wasn't given an elaborate onscreen sendoff in the same way Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man was, considering Downey Jr. currently has no known plans to portray the character on screen again.

In a Twitter #QuarantineWatchParty of Avengers: Endgame put on by ComicBook.com, a fan asked about the absence of a Black Widow funeral in the film, and whether there were plans to the contrary. McFeely fielded the question himself, stating that he and Markus tried to work such a scene into the film, but felt they couldn't do it in a way that "didn't take you out of the moment in front of you."


Even still, some fans view this as an unforgivable slighting of Black Widow, a character many feel was never given enough focus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite being just the fourth major superhero to ever appear on screen in the MCU. Black Widow first appeared on screen in 2010's Iron Man 2, which was preceded only by the first MCU appearances of Iron Man, the Hulk (in his Edward Norton incarnation), and War Machine. Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye all made their first MCU appearances the following year.

Because of the three-hour runtime and all of the various time jumps in Avengers: Endgame, it's sometimes difficult—yet extremely relevant—to remember that, within the context of the film, Iron Man and Black Widow both die on the same day. So the idea that the heroes would all gather at the end for an elaborate funeral for Iron Man but have nary a mention of Black Widow was at least a little odd. Whether or not that qualifies as a plot hole is up to every individual viewer, but it's at least understandable why it would rankle some.

But even though Natasha didn't get an onscreen memorial, and her solo film has been delayed through no fault of anyone associated with the production, fans can take solace in knowing that she'll have another chance to shine on the big screen, in the hopefully not-too-distant future.