Marvel’s next big project gearing up for release is Black Widow‘s first standalone movie in the MCU, which places Natasha Romanoff in the curious position of being dead in the current cinematic timeline while her own movie explores her past roots. But did Widow really die in Avengers: Endgame? It certainly looked that way, but a scene from her new flick might tell a different story.
A leaked photo – seen below – first brought to the internet’s attention on Reddit appears to feature Natasha with her hair tied back in a ponytail, in almost the exact same style we saw the superheroine’s hair in Avengers: Endgame.
This might seem like too minor a point to confirm that the new film will feature Natasha alive and well after her demise in Joe and Anthony Russo’s epic blockbuster, but remember that Black Widow has sported drastically different hairstyles throughout her various appearances in the MCU. As such, the fact that the filmmakers went with this particular one could mean that the scene has something to do with the events of the last Avengers movie.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time an MCU character has returned from the dead. Folks like Loki and Nick Fury have made something of a fad out of having people think they’re dead before jumping out from behind a secret door with a “just kidding!” That being said, it might cheapen Widow’s heroic sacrifice to have it turn out to have been her Skrull doppelganger who died in her place instead.
Another possibility though is that the scene this leaked photo comes from takes place during the events of Endgame, and we’ll get to see how things played out from Natasha’s perspective. This approach would placate many MCU fans who felt that Black Widow wasn’t given her fair share of the spotlight in her final Avengers feature, but for now, all we can really do is speculate until Nat’s solo pic arrives in May.