‘Avengers: Endgame’ Almost Gave Black Widow A Heartbreaking Subplot

Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) originally had a very different subplot than what ultimately made the cut in Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame had to do more than wrap up the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga, it also had to set up a new world created by Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) actions in Avengers: Infinity War. After Thanos killed half of the universe’s population, lives across the cosmos were affected. Because of this, Avengers: Endgame almost featured Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow doing a very different kind of clean up work than what made it to the big screen.

Avengers: Endgame features Scarlett Johansson’s character Black Widow working hard to keep the world safe from anything she can, with the help of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and more of the surviving heroes. According to Avengers: Endgame co-director Anthony Russo, Scarlett Johansson’s assassin-turned-hero was originally supposed to have a different job involving the world’s newly-orphaned children.

This is what Anthony Russo had to say about one of the film’s original subplots to Slate.

“One thing that we talked about a lot–and I thought was really profound, but it was almost too large of an idea for us to wrangle, but we did try for a while–is just the idea that one-quarter of all children have no parents. Assuming you started with two parents. So that’s a lot of global orphans.”

Russo then went into more detail about how Scarlett Johansson fit into the storyline.

“Just the staggering number of that. I believe at one point really early in development, Black Widow was actually leading the organization in D.C. that was in charge of orphans, basically. That was what she was heading up five years later. But yes, it’s fascinating when you start running it down.”

Scarlett Johansson’s fan-favorite MCU character has revealed her tragic backstory over her many film appearances, mainly regarding her childhood training to become a young assassin. Although the orphan subplot would have made sense for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, it was eventually cut from the movie.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all news regarding Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Avengers: Endgame as soon as more information becomes available. Are you a fan of Scarlett Johansson’s character arc in the MCU? What have been some of your favorite moments featuring Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow since her debut in Iron Man 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame is expected to star Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, Josh Brolin and Chris Pratt.

“A culmination of 22 interconnected films the fourth installment of the Avengers saga will draw audiences to witness the turning point of this epic journey. Our beloved heroes will truly understand how fragile this reality is and the sacrifices that must be made to uphold it.”

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now, featuring Scarlett Johansson in her latest appearance as Black Widow!

Source: Slate