In the trailer for the next episode of Marvel’s What If…? we are confronted with the reality where Ultron wins. But in that reality, it seems as if Natasha Romanoff heads into Avengers: Endgame with a little more than just her sister’s green vest. The promo shows a computer rewriting history while the Watcher tells us what is happening.
And in a world where Ultron wins and gets the Infinity Stones, it seems as if everyone has a bit of a different journey to stopping him from succeeding, including Natasha and Clint Barton. Because really, what does a world with Ultron mean for Bruce Banner and Tony Stark and their standing with the rest of the Avengers? Because it can’t be good.
Changing history from Ultron “going rouge” and being destroyed by the Avengers to going rogue and gaining the power of the Infinity Stones, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it can be changed thanks to this single reality. And it clearly changes enough to make characters have completely different arcs.
While that looks like a terrifying world with Ultron in control, it does give me a little bit of hope for Nat. We know in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe, they take down Ultron and they all go on to fight Thanos, and Natasha Romanoff sacrifices herself in order for Clint Barton to take the Soul Stone back to the Avengers.
In this teaser trailer, though, Ultron seems to have all the stones (which also begs the question of how he got the Soul Stone), but it also shows Clint Barton and Natasha fleeing while Nat uses the Red Guardian’s shield as cover—a shield she very clearly did not have in the MCU at all.
Does this mean we can see Alexei Shostakov in this episode of What If…? or is he dead and Nat took on his shield to honor her adoptive father? Is this her ode to her family instead of wearing the green vest like she did in Infinity War? Why does she have this shield at all?
I have so many questions about this brief moment, and I hope the show actually expands on it because what Black Widow did was set up so much history for Natasha and her family, and with her death, we don’t really have that much opportunity to explore it. We know that Yelena Belova is going to come back into the MCU, but it isn’t the same as taking this journey with Nat.
So having her hold the Red Guardian’s shield while running away with Clint? That seems like a pretty big change in Natasha’s story, and I can’t wait to see what it leads her to. Hopefully, it’s survival, because if Natasha Romanoff still has to die for the Soul Stone, I want my money back.
(via ComicBook.com, image: Marvel Entertainment)
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