Black Widow’s Ending Retcons Captain America’s Civil War Jailbreak

Warning: This post contains Black Widow spoilers.

The final moments of Black Widow retconned Captain America’s raft prison breakout by explaining a key Civil War mystery. While Natasha Romanoff’s belated solo movie is very much a stand-alone with few links to other MCU narratives – and rightly so – that tie-in is a smart addition to the pre-Infinity War timeline.

Black Widow is very much Nat’s opportunity to tell her own story. Seeded mostly in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, the movie finally answers key questions about Nat’s past. That not only ties up what really happened in Budapest but also the truth of the red in Black Widow’s ledger and also how she came back into the Avengers fold. And it cleverly does so without really offering a true origin story, because the actual events from her time in the Red Room are left out entirely in favor of telling the story of who she was around the assassin.

The question of how she came back into the fold as an Avenger is arguably the most important for other MCU movies as it fills in some events between Captain America’s departure from Wakanda and breaking out the other heroes from General Ross’ submerged super-prison, the Raft during Civil War‘s ending. The final moments show Nat linking up one last time with MCU fixer Mason and him gifting her an Avengers Quinjet, that he presumably stole from under Tony Stark’s nose. Not only does that confirm just how good Mason is at his job but it also explains the logistical nightmare of rescuing prisoners from the middle of the sea. No longer was it just Cap turning up to rescue his fellow heroes: he came prepared thanks to Nat, who was, for whatever reason, hidden from view in Civil War‘s ending.

The mystery of how Captain America arrived at the raft and broke his fellow Team Cap members out was always a loaded one. Despite his superpowers, being able to carry several Avengers on his back to dry land was never likely and it was clear something was missing from the explanation. Black Widow ferrying Cap to the raft is the perfect answer given the inventiveness offered by the Quinjet and also because it fits Widow’s deception of Team Iron Man. Having previously worked for Stark on the pro-Accords side, her gaining the intel on where the Raft was located makes perfect sense, after all.

It’s something of a shame that the Raft breakout wasn’t given the full set-piece treatment in Civil War but not showing Captain America in Black Widow is a lot easier to justify. This was Natasha’s film and having other MCU characters turn up prominently would have been a betrayal of the occasion. There are already enough accusations leveled at Iron Man’s heavy-handed appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming (and the forthcoming use of Doctor Strange in No Way Home) for another MCY movie to fall into the same trap.

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Simon Gallagher
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Simon is a veteran editor who has been writing online since 2010 – long before anyone wanted to read his work. He loves Clueless. Like, a lot.

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