Scarlet Johansson Reveals Marvel's Black Widow Will Explore Budapest Story With Hawkeye

By Richard Nebens Updated:
Black Widow and Hawkeye, The Avengers

When the MCU finally returns to the big screen in summer 2021, the first solo movie will finally arrive featuring Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow. After fighting alongside and against her fellow Avengers in seven previous MCU installments (not including her mid-credits appearance in Captain Marvel), the assassin-turned-spy will be off on her first solo adventure, which will give much more depth to her story as she continues her hero’s journey.

The film is set to be a kind of prequel set after the events of Captain America: Civil War while she is on the run from the United Nations, and it’s almost guaranteed that more of Natasha's MCU past will be more deeply explored as well. This is confirmed by a brand new article, which confirms that this movie will finally explore two lines of dialogue that have been talked about for eight years...

NEWS

A new excerpt from “Marvel's Black Widow: The Official Movie Special Book," via Screen Rant, has confirmed that the plot of Marvel Studios’ Black Widow will finally explore the story behind Budapest that was teased back in 2012’s The Avengers. The final battle of that film included a line from Natasha Romanoff that went “Just like Budapest all over again!" to which Clint Barton responded “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

The movie's star and producer Scarlett Johansson gave this quote when reminiscing on the original scene and how it will make its way into her first MCU solo movie:

We all agreed that we had to find out what happened in Budapest. That started out as this throwaway line which Joss Whedon threw into Marvel’s The Avengers as a funny moment between Hawkeye and Black Widow. That’s Clint and Natasha talking about their history, and you get a fun little Easter egg for fans to theorize about. We thought that if we don’t go back to Budapest and find out what really happened there, people will feel unsatisfied. I wondered what did happen there?

We often talked about what is going on in Natasha’s head. I really think that Natasha is haunted by the fact that she has this past that she feels so guilty about. Unfinished business is that sense of guilt that follows her around, which all stems from what happened in Budapest. 'Black Widow' is not about what happened in Budapest, but it’s a huge jumping-off point for us to understand the heaviness of Natasha’s burden.

WHAT THIS MEANS

There is still a great deal of mystery clouding Natasha Romanoff's story throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, but no line of dialogue has started more questions and fan theories than this one reminiscing about her adventure with Clint Barton in Budapest. The story gained even more prominence when Jeremy Renner's Barton brought up the story once again when he and Nat were flying on the Benatar on the way to Vormir in Avengers: Endgame with the incredibly simple remark "This is a long way from Budapest," to which Romanoff simply laughed and smiled.

Even though Black Widow is mainly centered around what Nat is doing while she hides out from the United Nations and rediscovers her roots after the events of Captain America: Civil War, more of her backstory is set to be fleshed out through flashbacks and other plot lines in the movie. The film will almost definitely go into her early days as an assassin, her switch to the good side before the Infinity Saga ever began, and even other stories such as the interaction with Dreykov's daughter that was also teased in The Avengers. It will also mean at least a likely cameo from Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, which should give another exciting team-up between the fellow SHIELD agents and close friends.

Needless to say, the excitement level for this movie has gone up significantly knowing that the Budapest story will finally make its way into the light, and now all anybody can do is wait to find out the details upon the film's release. Black Widow will make its way into theaters on May 7, 2021.

- In This Article: Black Widow
Release Date
July 09, 2021
Platform
Theaters
- About The Author: Richard Nebens
Richard Nebens joined The Direct in March 2020, now serving as the site's Senior Writer and also working as an assistant editor and content creator. He started his journalism career as a hobby in 2019 and is passionate about sharing news and stories from the entertainment industry, especially comic book movies, comedy, and sci-fi. Richard looks to expand his knowledge about movies and TV every day, and he is eager to stay locked into the latest releases and breaking news at every opportunity.