MCU Theory: Will The Black Widow Prequel Introduce A New Version Of The Character?

2. The Avengers Need To Replace Black Widow

Black Widow may not have had any super soldier serum, the ability to fly or lift an ancient Asgardian hammer, but she was integral to the Avengers.

Endgame's biggest travesty wasn't that Nat died, but rather that it spent so little mourning her loss. Up until that point, the film had done a spectacular job of conveying Romanoff's unique relationship with the Avengers, and what she contributes to the team as not just a spy, but as a friend.

It remains to be seen how the team move forward (there are no Black Widow murals in Spider-Man: Far From Home... for some reason), but the Avengers have long had a tradition of including members with experience in espionage and subterfuge. Black Widow and Hawkeye filled this position during phases one, two and three, but with the former dead and the latter set to train a successor in Kate Bishop on Disney+ - away from the Avengers - Earth's Mightiest Heroes are currently lacking in the super-spy department.

So, who else has filled that position in the comics? Well there's Mockingbird, for one. She was portrayed by Adrianne Palicki in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and was even set to feature in her own spin-off series before ABC pulled the plug, but it seems the ship has sailed on her ever joining the Avengers.

The next logical candidate to replace Natasha is Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman. Jessica is rumoured to be in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but with no signs forthcoming from either Marvel or Sony - the latter of which are keen to feature the character in their Spider-Verse films first - it could be even longer before that character comes to the MCU.

This leaves Marvel with few other options, and given how there've been multiple Black Widows in the comics, to the point where even a clone of Natasha is currently the 'main' Natasha. It's somewhat contrived, but the point is that there is still plenty of scope for another Black Widow to join the big screen, especially with Endgame having already laid the groundwork for legacy characters.

Yelena Belova isn't a legacy hero in a traditional sense, but there's nothing currently stopping Marvel from redefining the character so that she can fulfil more heroic requirements. The MCU has diverged from the source material more drastically in the past - the Skrulls a noteworthy example - and having Belova on the team would make up for the dearth of tributes that were sent Romanoff's way following her death.