‘Black Widow’s’ End Credits Scene Ties into Two Disney+ Shows

Black Widow is in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access right now! Yes, there’s finally a new Marvel movie out in the world—and that also means there’s another Marvel post-credits scene to dissect. Black Widow’s end credits scene is a can’t miss for everyone who’s heavily invested in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe. And this post-credits scene is unlike every other end credits scene in MCU history. How? Because it’s all about Disney+, baby!

SPOILERS ahead, obviously, since we’re going to break down what happens in the Black Widow post-credits scene, what makes it different from anything we’ve seen before, and how it impacts the MCU moving forward. Here we go!

Black Widow end credits scene explained

After spending the entire movie back in 2016 during the immediate fallout of Captain America: Civil War, the post-credits scene catches up with the modern day Marvel Cinematic Universe… which is actually 2024. Don’t think about it too much. Just focus on the fact that the end credits scene takes place roughly around the same time as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

So, in the post-credits scene, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) visits the grave of her foster sister Natasha Romanoff. Remember how Black Widow gave her life in exchange for the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame? Yeah, this is after that. Black Widow is dead. A mourning Yelena whistles, part of a call and response that she did with Natasha back when they were kids in Ohio. Instead of getting a whistle in response, which would’ve been wild since Natasha’s dead body is presumably still on Vormir, she’s greeted by the sound of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) blowing her nose.

Their brief back and forth reveals that Yelena’s been working with de Fontaine for a minute, and then the Contessa gives Yelena what she wants. She hands her information on the whereabouts of the man who killed her sister: Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye (a.k.a. Jeremy Renner). Now, we know that Clint didn’t kill Natasha. Hawkeye actually tried to sacrifice himself, but Black Widow wouldn’t let him. But all Yelena probably knows is that two heroes went into outer space but only one came back.

How the Black Widow end credits scene impacts Marvel’s Disney+ shows

This is a game-changing post-credits scene because this is the very first one that both continues from and leads into Marvel Studios television shows on Disney+. Usually these bonus scenes tie into upcoming MCU movies. Now that Marvel Studios is making TV shows that tie into the MCU, they can coordinate a back-and-forth like we’ve yet to see.

The end credits scene connects to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because Julia Louis-Dreyfus debuted as the super mysterious, no nonsense but all sarcasm secret agent in that series. She recruited John Walker (Wyatt Russell) to join an outfit she’s putting together and she renamed him U.S. Agent. Now that we know that Yelena’s been working with de Fontaine, it seems more likely than ever that we’re heading towards the introduction of the Thunderbolts in the MCU.

On top of that, the post-credits also serve as a lead-in to Hawkeye—the upcoming fourth live-action MCU series on Disney+. We already knew that Florence Pugh would have a role in Hawkeye, and now we know what that role is: vengeance!

Interesting to point out: pre-COVID, Black Widow was supposed to come out ahead of the premiere of any Disney+/Marvel show. That means that Louis-Dreyfus was originally intended to debut in the end credits scene of Black Widow before a follow-up appearance in Falcon and Winter Soldier.

When will Hawkeye come out on Disney+?

Hawkeye’s already wrapped filming and is currently in post-production. The series doesn’t have a premiere date just yet, beyond the very broad “Fall 2021.” Considering that the next Marvel show, the animated What If…? series, debuts in mid-August, it’s likely that Hawkeye will premiere in September or October.

Stream Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access