Avengers: Secret Wars should be an Endgame-like event in which superheroes from all over the multiverse will help the Avengers we know and love defeat Kang. That’s not really a spoiler at this point. We assumed as much even before Marvel unveiled the titles of the Multiverse Saga’s two Avengers movies. Secret Wars is, therefore, the perfect place for the return of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).
Yes, these are dead or retired superheroes, and bringing them back won’t be easy. Marvel risks ruining the stakes of Endgame, which completed their character arcs. But we’ve already explained how Marvel can use Tony Stark without affecting the end of Endgame. The same goes for old Cap. And if you’re bringing these two original Avengers back, you can’t ignore Natasha Romanoff.
While I’m speculating how Marvel can bring Black Widow back, nothing is official. However, some spoilers might follow below regarding other Secret Wars rumors.
Why Marvel has to bring Black Widow back in Secret Wars
Those Secret Wars rumors say the Earth’s Avengers will lose to Kang (Jonathan Majors) in Kang Dynasty. But they won’t stop fighting this massive multiversal threat and will recruit superheroes from across the multiverse to help. It might be a Kang variant that does the recruiting, the type of Kang who will eventually become He Who Remains.
It’s not just Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff that the Avengers will get back. Other heroes from the larger multiverse might join the Avengers, including Sony’s previous Spider-Men, and Fox’s mutants. Word on the street is that Marvel wants Secret Wars to be as big as Endgame. But instead of picking up Infinity Stones from the past, the Avengers are going after superheroes from other realities.
Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). Image source: Marvel Studios
Once you bring back Iron Man and the former Captain America, you can’t ignore Black Widow. If anything, Nat deserves prime placement. She’s one of the original Avengers and the first to die in Endgame. Not only that, but Black Widow didn’t get the same kind of recognition in Endgame as Tony Stark did.
Also, Nat kept the Avengers working together after Infinity War while grieving the loss of her families. That’s both the Black Widows and the Avengers who got snapped away. It would be amazing to see her realize that her sacrifice worked.
Add to that what happened between Scarlett Johansson and Disney after the Black Widow premiere, and you got another key reason why you can’t ignore Nat’s return in Secret Wars.
How Nat can return without ruining her Endgame death
Like Iron Man and Steve Rogers, Black Widow can’t just return in Secret Wars because fans want her to. It must make sense and can’t ruin her Endgame story.
With Iron Man, we explained that the Avengers could snatch him from the past, have him fight Kang, then put him back to live his destiny. That’s how Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) arc works in Deadpool 3. He will help Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in the multiverse. Then he will return to his timeline to die in Logan.
The problem with Iron Man and Black Panther is that you need an excellent extraction point. And you need to ensure they survive the battle. While it’s unclear where Iron Man will come from, we do have a great extraction point for Nat.
Iconic Avengers scene from The Avengers. Image source: Disney
A Redditor wondered what would happen if Steve or someone else traveled back in time to take Natasha moments from her death and bring her to the main timeline. If that were to happen, they’d just create a different timeline. You can’t change the past. Black Widow will stay dead for good even after she appears in Secret Wars.
There’s also the deal that Nat and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) made with the universe. They exchanged a life for an Infinity Stone. And you can’t undo that deal.
But this question made me realize that’s the perfect place to take Nat from the past. You remove her from the timeline just before she dies so she can fight Kang. She will still have to return to die as she did in Endgame. But she’ll likely be even more motivated to do it once she sees that her work paid off and she saved everybody.
Again, all of this is speculation. But you can’t have a massive Avengers reunion in Secret Wars without Black Widow. And Marvel has a great way to take her from the primary reality’s past.
