When history looks back on the epic success that was Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, one would be hard pressed to find any major flaws or regrets with the film. While hindsight is 20/20, the film that incapsulated over a decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing about a climatic end to nearly two dozen films with an interwoven storyline (something completely unheard of in Hollywood). It borders on cinematic perfection, but everyone can find issue with something, even the writers behind the film itself.
In an in-depth interview with Vanity Fair, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely talked about the conundrum that was killing off the MCU’s first female hero, Black Widow. It was a tough decision for sure, and not one that they feel 100% ok with, even to this day.
“Not without some controversy. We certainly thought long and hard about it. We knew we were killing the first female hero of the Marvel Universe. We stupidly came up with these rules in the first movie—someone’s going over that cliff. So we had to decide. By the way, you had to easily love the person next to you, so we couldn’t send Steve Rogers and Hulk. So it’s a puzzle of our own making, but it felt like it was the resolution of her arc, that if she could sacrifice herself for her new family and for half the universe, that was worth it to her. She jumps on the grenade. I’m really proud of that moment. I don’t have any regrets. The only regret is that it comes at the end of Act Two. So you can’t really roll around in the grief because we’ve got another hour of movie and we haven’t solved the A-plot problem. So that’s the downside.”
While the timing of her sacrifice didn’t allow for much genuine mourning from our heroes, it couldn’t have come at any other time in the film. But, fans of Black Widow will get to see her one more time as her solo film is set to hit theaters in May of 2020.
Do you agree with the writers’ timing regret for Endgame and Black Widow’s death? Let us know in the comments below!