One of the more interesting aspects of Avengers: Endgame is that most of the film takes place 5 years after the snap… five years after the Avengers kill Thanos. By making this creative choice, writers Markus and McFeely and directors Joe and Anthony Russo allow us to feel at least to some degree, the aftermath of Thanos’ snap. We see Captain America running a support group for people who have lost their loved ones and we see Black Widow managing the remaining Avengers as a way to distract her from letting her emotions flow.
In fact, there’s so much more we could’ve explored. How many people who lost their loved ones after the snap committed suicide? How many moved on and remarried? We may never find out. However, one minor plot we almost got was that of Black Widow leading an organization for orphan children. Speaking to Slate’s Podcast The Gist, the Russo brothers had this to say:
“One thing that we talked about a lot—and I thought was really profound, but it was almost too large of an idea for us to wrangle, but we did try for a while—is just the idea that one-quarter of all children have no parents. Assuming you started with two parents. So that’s a lot of global orphans. Just the staggering number of that.
I believe at one point really early in development, Black Widow was actually leading the organization in D.C. that was in charge of orphans, basically. That was what she was heading up five years later. But yes, it’s fascinating when you start running it down.”
This would’ve added an interesting layer to the character indeed. But one can’t help but wonder what the reaction to Black Widow’s death would’ve been had this plot been introduced. After all, Black Widow’s sacrifice is effective because Hawkeye has a family. However, if Black Widow is a pseudo-mom to hundreds of children, it wouldn’t make sense for her to sacrifice herself to save her best friend Clint Barton.
Avengers: Endgame is currently screening in Malaysian theatres.
