. Avengers: Endgame really push the Marvel Cinematic Universe forward? No, but Black Widow’s post-credits scene surely tries. The long-awaited film centered on the Avengers’ Natasha Romanoff — Marvel’s longest-tenured female superhero — is finally in theaters. I liked a lot of things about it, but even if the pandemic hadn’t delayed the film’s release by more than a year, its story would still feel long overdue. Black Widow is a prequel whose chronology in the MCU falls years before Endgame, where the character ultimately dies a dramatic (and controversial) death. Unlike a lot of Marvel’s other solo Avengers films, it doesn’t really advance her individual story forward; instead, it fills in the gaps of a life we’ve previously heard about but rarely seen in the MCU.