Warning: This post contains spoilers for the What If...? season 1 finale.

The creation of the Marvel multiverse doesn't ruin Black Widow's death according to What If...? writer A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews. Prior to the one-two punch of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the MCU had suffered few substantial losses; those who died in Marvel movies were often supporting characters instead of leading heroes. That was what made the two Avengers movies hit as hard as they did, as they featured big deaths like Tony Stark and Black Widow. In the latter's case, Natasha Romanoff's demise is still being debated two years later as fans wonder if someone else should've perished in her place.

In the What If...? season 1 finale, it's actually Black Widow who gets another shot at life. The episode, which arrived on Disney+ Wednesday morning, finds the Natasha of the world where Ultron won faced with the prospect of returning to that barren, empty universe. When she refuses to go, the Watcher grants her the opportunity to take the place of another Black Widow in another universe. As fans will recall, an alternate Black Widow died in What If...? episode 3 like most of the Avengers, so the Ultron-world Nat was able to find a new calling in her place.

Related: Every MCU Easter Egg In What If? Episode 9

Some might say that loophole created by the multiverse lowers the stakes of the MCU. But according to the creative team of What If...?, Natasha's story there hardly negates what happened elsewhere. In a post-finale interview with Variety, Bradley and Andrews revealed the thought process behind Black Widow's new life and explained how the multiverse doesn't ruin the MCU's stakes:

Bradley: When it came to resolving Dystopian Natasha’s story, we realized that keeping her on that Ultron world was a fate worse than death. Everyone’s gone. And the Watcher, as he says to her, these stories have become everything to him. It didn’t come from a place of like, ‘Oh, what are we saying about Marvel and the MCU?’ It came from a place of, ‘What are we saying about the Watcher?’ He loves these characters. He loves these stories, these people, these heroes. He would never banish her back to a planet to basically starve to death by herself. We wanted to put her in a world where she could be the Natasha Romanoff that he has watched in different versions and loves. So that’s where the idea came from. Whether or not that’ll be reflected in the greater MCU? Who knows. They always have plans.

Andrews: When it comes to the challenge of a multiverse, it’s like, ‘Oh, well, this person’s alive in a thousand different ways in different universes,’ and doesn’t that cheapen the stakes? I don’t think so, because you’re only still watching one story at one time, and hopefully we’re doing our job enough where you’re compelled by what these people on the screen are doing at that time, and surprised at what may or may not happen to them. So, if we’re doing our job and engaging the audience, it shouldn’t matter that there could be some other person that’s alive or dead in some other universe. It’s what’s happening right there in the present, right in front of your face — that adventure. And if you can connect in some way, then awesome. Then it’s always gonna work. And you never know what you’re gonna get, which I think is part of the fun, and that was one of the great things about doing the whole series. We can go dark. We can go into comedy. We can really lean into the genre, which was part of the joy.

What If Watcher Black Widow

The question of how the multiverse affects the stakes of the franchise is a fair one, and also one the MCU will have to reckon with as it gets deeper into this thorny concept. In a show such as What If...?, it's easier to consider all the possibilities of this world. The anthology format allows the series to focus on different universes and mess with the characters in any way it wants. That's why Tony Stark died so many times, and why there's a Black Widow from one world now living in another.

And yet, when it comes to the broader MCU, the impacts of the multiverse will be more lasting. If the prime MCU timeline were to bring in another Black Widow in order to fill in the place of the one who died in Avengers: Endgame, not only would that sacrifice feel dimmed, but the story surrounding the character would have to reflect the implications of her arrival. It isn't impossible, but it could get messy. For now, though, it sounds like the MCU will be keeping these universe-altering twists to What If...?. The broader franchise will surely see some of the fallout of the multiverse, but it'll be in a way that doesn't negate the events that came before.

More: What If...? Season 1 Ending: MCU Multiverse Future & Season 2 Setup

Source: Variety

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