Black Widow Writer Felt Guilt Over Hawkeye In Post-Credits Scene

Black Widow writer Eric Pearson reveals that he felt guilty upon realizing that the post-credits scene would be targeting Hawkeye. Set on the heels of Captain America: Civil War, just before Team Cap escaped the raft, the film sees Nat on the run from the government. During this time, she reunites with her Russian family as they revisit unfinished business from their past.

Together, Nat, Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) worked together to take down the Red Room and defeat its head General Dreykov (Ray Winstone). In the end, they successfully accomplished their goal and freed all the remaining Black Widows using the antidote, Red Dust. Despite years of animosity, the family, who spent several years together in a covert operation in Ohio, patched things up. However, they had to eventually part ways again as Nat decided to come back to the Avengers. The Black Widow post-credits scene brings it to the current MCU timeline with Yelena visiting Nat's grave, while Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) giving her a new mission.

As it turns out, Yelena's next target is Hawkeye, and to motivate her, Val indicted Nat's fellow Avenger as the main culprit for her death. Pearson admitted to THR that writing this scene in Black Widow made him feel guilty because it's putting Clint Barton on the spot. When he asked more about what the stinger means, people over at Marvel Studios say that he shouldn't worry about it because it's on them to figure out what's next.

"I felt bad. They told me I got to do it, so I was really excited I got to do a lot to shape Valentina’s personality, but they told me, “and then at the end, this is the target.” And I was like, “What does that mean?” They were like, “Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to know that.” I was like, “Who am I screwing over? Something is going on! I don’t have an answer for this.” They were like, “You don’t need to. We are going to figure that out.” I remember writing it and feeling super guilty. “I hope whatever writer is working on this next chapter is going to be OK with what I’ve done to them.”

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye with Vormir Background in Avengers Endgame

While MCU creatives claim that they are given full creative control, it only makes sense that there are certain aspects of the projects that are mandated by the people over at Marvel Studios. This is to ensure continuity between stories, and in the case of Black Widow, set up Yelena's future. Prior to the stinger reveal, it was already reported that Nat's young sister's next appearance will be in the Hawkeye series on Disney+. It's uncertain when the show will drop, but filming has finished, which means that Yelena's role in it has already been filmed.

It's now curious what dynamic Yelena and Clint will have moving forward. Granted that Nat's death saved Hawkeye from sacrificing himself for the Soul Stone, it's unfair to lay the blame on him. Avengers: Endgame's directors Joe and Anthony Russo explained that letting Nat give up her life in Vormir was their way of giving back her agency. So despite the criticisms of Nat's death, it's her decision. Moreover, it's also interesting to find out how exactly Val knew about what happened on the remote planet in the Black Widow post-credits scene.

More: How Black Widow Changes The Way You See Infinity War & Endgame

Source: THR