Black Widow: Does the post-credits scene undo the film? And more WTF questions – CNET [CNET]

Marvel movie in two years spawns a few questions. What’s the deal with Taskmaster? Does the post-credits scene ruin one character’s whole movie? How many James Bond references are in there? And will we ever see Scarlett Johansson do that pose again? 

Out Friday, July 9 in theaters and on Disney Plus, Black Widow is both a prequel and a solo adventure for Johansson’s assassin-turned-avenger. So it isn’t as rife with links to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as some other films in the series (well, at least until the post-credits scene, which does hint at the future of the MCU). But this slick spy thriller still has a few things to ponder. Zip up your utility vest, pull your best superhero pose and join in the search for answers. Warning: Spoilers everywhere! 

How did the Widows escape?

At the end of the movie, Natasha and her surrogate family have crashed the Red Room, freed the Black Widows and are all set to start new lives. Hurray! Now all they have to do is get away. On foot. With a fleet of SUVs bearing down on them. We see Natasha hiding out again in the final scene, so what did the family and the Widows do? Cram onto that fancy hover plane? Hide behind some wreckage until the army of highly trained spec ops guys gave up and went home? What if two of the Widows tried to hide behind the same burning chunk of helicarrier? What if two if them started running in the same direction? Would that be hella awkward? 

Natasha’s got no nose. How does she smell?

Natasha beats Dreykov by severing her own olfactory nerve and short-circuiting his pheromone-based brainwashing. So in Infinity War and Endgame, does Natasha have no sense of smell? And why does the success of the mission rely on her smashing her own nose? Do we smell… a metaphor?

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movies, and it’s performed by musicians including noted string quartet Bond. But that’s not all…

What movie did Natasha watch?

Once safely holed up off the grid, Natasha settled in to watch a movie. Specifically, 1979 James Bond flick Moonraker, in which Roger Moore battled toothy henchman Jaws on a cable car and went to space. Natasha knows the film inside out, so she may’ve been inspired by the villain’s hidden space station and the scene in which Bond dived through the air to steal someone else’s parachute. Perhaps more pertinent to Black Widow’s themes, Moonraker included the nadir of sexism in the Bond series: Moore is surprised at meeting a scientist who is “A woman!“

Who was Taskmaster? 

Under Taskmaster’s task-mask is actor Olga Kurylenko, who provides a neat James Bond connection: She appeared as a Bolivian agent in 2008 Bond flick Quantum of Solace.

Will we see Taskmaster again?

I’ll be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the amount of screen time for Taskmaster. Though the copycat villain gave Natasha and friends a run for their money, they weren’t quite the threat they could’ve been. It was fun to see Taskmaster repeating Hawkeye‘s archery skills, Captain America‘s shield-tossing attacks and Black Panther‘s fingernail claws. And was that a Falcon-style kick flip or a Spidey-flip? Has Taskmaster been watching the Spider-Man movies?

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Did Red Guardian ever fight Captain America?

Speaking of the slightly vague timeline, Alexei regales everyone in the gulag about his run-ins with Captain America during his time as Cap’s Soviet super-soldier equivalent, Red Guardian. While that’s all fine and dandy in the comics, as one of the inmates points out, it doesn’t stack up with the MCU’s timeline in which Cap was on ice from World War II right up until 2012 or thereabouts. TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revealed that other heroes have borne the mantle of Captan America, so did Red Guardian face a Cold War Cap? Or is Alexei just talking a load of balalaikas?

How do you pronounce Budapest?

Natasha is right (“Budapesht”). If you’re used to saying it Mason’s way, just think of how Sean Connery would say it (eyebrow raise optional). 

Read more

• In Black Widow, O-T Fagbenle is like a flirty Q from James Bond
• Black Widow review: Marvel’s spy thriller serves up entertaining family Bond-ing
• Disney Plus: Everything coming in July 2021

Why did Mason’s trailer run out of gas?

He can get ID documents and deadly weapons anywhere in the world, but he can’t check a propane cylinder? Q would never.

When did Valentina recruit Yelena?

As the credits roll, the film skips ahead to, presumably, the present day for the post-credits sequence. At some point in between, Yelena appears to have been recruited by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She was the mysterious figure seen recruiting John Walker (the disgraced former Captain America) in TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But when and how did she recruit Yelena? And why is Valentina scooping up the more morally flexible super-dudes?

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