The following article will contain spoilers for Black Widow.
After over a year of delays, Black Widow has finally released in theaters and on Disney Plus with Premier Access. And as with all movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film’s post-credits scene offers a very interesting tease for future MCU projects.
In general, Black Widow is a largely self-contained story focused on the titular Avenger as her mysterious past comes back to haunt her. This makes sense, considering the film serves as an interquel taking place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Since Marvel fans have already seen what happens after this film, it’d be unusual for Black Widow to offer any earth-shattering revelations about the MCU.
However, true to form for a Marvel film, the post-credits scene of Black Widow still sets up future plot points in an incredibly surprising way. The scene in question begins simply, depicting Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova visiting Natasha Romanoff’s grave following her death in Avengers: Endgame. By Yelena’s side is a dog she calls Fanny, referencing two jokes from earlier in the film: Yelena telling Natasha she wants a dog, and one of Natasha’s fake identities being named Fanny Longbottom.
The scene begins as a somber, poignant moment as Yelena stands before her sister’s grave. However, things quickly get more interesting with the arrival of a truly unexpected character. Yelena is visited by none other than Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld and Veep fame. The Contessa — or just Val for short — first appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as an ally of John Walker, offering him a new job and a new identity as the U.S. Agent following his discharge from the military.
It turns out that Walker isn’t Val’s only operative: judging by Yelena’s familiar tone, it seems that she’s been working for Val for quite some time between the events of Black Widow and Avengers: Endgame. As Yelena mourns Natasha’s death, Val offers her a new mission with a new target, who she describes as the man who killed her sister.
This line surely came as a shock to anyone who’s seen Endgame, considering Natasha willingly sacrificed herself to help the Avengers acquire the Soul Stone. In that case, who could be the target of Yelena’s blame? Thanos wouldn’t make sense, he’s already dead — twice over, in fact. Maybe her target is the Red Skull, the Soul Stone’s guardian? Not impossible, but there’s still no information on what became of him after he was relieved of his duty as Stonekeeper.
No, the man Val refers to as Natasha’s killer is none other than Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye — Natasha’s partner and best friend. That’s right, Yelena will be gunning for Hawkeye in his upcoming TV show on Disney Plus. This comes as quite a shocking development, considering Yelena’s consistently heroic behavior throughout the film. But sure enough, it’s already been confirmed that Florence Pugh will be reprising her role as Yelena Belova in the Hawkeye series, set to release sometime later this year.
It’s currently unknown why Val wants to kill Hawkeye, or how she even knows that he was involved in Natasha’s death. In fact, practically everything about her is still a complete mystery at this point. In the comics, Contessa de Fontaine was introduced in the original Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comics. Created by Jim Steranko in 1968, the Contessa was initially depicted as a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, as well as Nick Fury’s love interest. But decades later, in the 2010 Secret Warriors series by Jonathan Hickman, it was revealed that she was a double agent for Hydra all along, and the Contessa ends up taking up the mantle of Madame Hydra after her traitorous nature is revealed.
As with any character with such a tangled history in the comics, it’s likely that the MCU will go in a completely different direction with Val’s background. For the time being, there’s no telling whether her allegiance lies with Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., or another faction altogether. But whatever her agenda is, if she has a reason to want an Avenger like Hawkeye dead, it’s clear that she’s no friend of the MCU’s heroes.
However, the post-credits scene of Black Widow does make one thing abundantly clear — Val isn’t working alone. Between Yelena and John Walker, it seems that she has her own network of anti-heroes in the making, possibly recruiting them towards some larger goal. It’s been rumored for quite a while now that a Thunderbolts adaptation could be coming to the MCU in the near future, featuring a team of reformed villains joining forces to take on threats even worse than themselves. If Marvel really does intend to create their own anti-hero Avengers as an answer to DC’s Suicide Squad, then Nick Fury’s former comic love interest is a perfect candidate to be the one who brings the team together.
It’s still too soon to say for sure what role Yelena and Val will play in the wider MCU. Only time will tell if the Thunderbolts rumors have any truth to them. But if the ending of Black Widow is any indication, there’s going to be big things coming from both of them — not just in the Disney Plus shows, but quite possibly in future films as well.