Black Widow Director Gives Away Marvel’s First Major Phase 4 Spoiler

Marvel fans finally have their first major spoiler to Black Widow.

While this new spoiler may not come as much of a surprise to those who've been following Marvel reports the past few months, this interview that Black Widow director Cate Shortland has with Empire seems to confirm a major fan theory – Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova will be taking on Scarlett Johansson's role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking with Empire about her upcoming Marvel movie, Shortland decided to touch upon the dichotomy between Yelena and Natasha. Noting Black Widow as Johansson's last film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the director hints that things are only beginning for Pugh.

"[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction," Shortland told the entertainment news outlet, "And we didn't know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn't know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I'm handing her the baton.' So it's going to propel another female storyline."

Based on Shortland's comments, it seems like Marvel is grooming Pugh as the new Black Widow of the MCU. It would make sense, of course. After all, Marvel wouldn't want to bring Natasha back from the dead after her heartbreaking sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame. Instead, the studio would want Natasha's legacy to continue by having another heroine take her place as the MCU's Black Widow.

Phase 4 of the MCU is set to begin once Black Widow premieres on November 6, 2020.

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