Given the events of the past year, it feels like an eternity ago when Marvel Studios’ Black Widow launched its first promotional campaign, but if you were paying attention back in 2019 you may recall a report circulating which suggested that Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark would be making a cameo appearance in the film, potentially via unused Captain America: Civil War footage.
Now that the Scarlett Johansson-led blockbuster has finally arrived, we’ve seen there are no other Avengers popping up as guest stars in Natasha’s solo adventure, but it seems that a Tony Stark appearance was indeed planned, with writer Eric Pearson confirming the original reports during an interview with EW:
“I do remember now that one version of the script, prior to me, literally had written into it the end moment of Civil War with Tony and Natasha. That’s the only time I saw Tony Stark’s name in it, and it was just kind of a flag-planted reminder — like, ‘Hey, we’re right at the end of Civil War.'”
Meanwhile, director Cate Shortland went on to reveal why they chose to avoid any cameos from Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, stating that: “Initially, there was discussions about everything, about all of the different characters,” said Shortland. “What we decided was, and I think [Kevin Feige] was really great, he said, ‘She doesn’t need the boys.’ We didn’t want it to feel like she needs the support. We want her to stand alone. And she does.”
In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller “Black Widow,” Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
Black Widow is directed by Cate Shortland (Lore) and sees Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff alongside William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross, Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family) as Yelena Belova, O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Mason, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) as Melina Vostokoff and Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) as Dreykov.
