One year after the unimaginable losses of Avengers: Endgame, fans may have to deal with another death. The latest Black Widow trailer features a curious, brief moment between Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and her sister, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) that gave some MCU fans Endgame flashbacks. At the trailer’s 1:34 mark, Natasha sits with Yelena on a boat, cradling her sister’s head in her hands. Yelena doesn’t look like she’s doing well, and Natasha appears to be crying. They’ve clearly been through a brutal fight. “At some point, we all have to choose,” the rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent says in a voiceover as she presses Yelena’s forehead to her own.
Fans pointed out that this mirrors what this same gesture happens in the final Avengers film, right before Natasha sacrifices herself to save the world. In Endgame, Black Widow and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) find out that one of them has to die in order to obtain the Soul Stone, the key to stopping Thanos. The best friends have a poignant, devastating moment together, pressing their foreheads together as they cry. Natasha jumps off a cliff, saving Hawkeye so he can be reunited with his family when it’s all over.
With that image in mind — is Yelena going to sacrifice herself to save her sister? Fans are already attached to the character, and we haven’t even seen her onscreen yet. As one MCU fan put it on Twitter, “if something happens to Yelena i’m gonna burn Marvel studios to the ground.” Black Widow takes place between Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018), while Cap (Chris Evans) and Natasha are still on the run from the law. Yelena’s act could be a major foreshadowing moment that influences Natasha’s fate on Vormir.
This is all a theory, and there’s still hope for Natasha’s sister. Yelena Belova becomes the new Black Widow in Marvel Comics’ Inhumans #5. Now that we know Natasha’s dead, could Yelena take up her mantle and assume the role of Black Widow in future MCU productions? We’ll find out when Black Widow premieres on May 1, 2020.