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Black Widow had a truly heartbreaking storyline that was dropped from 'Avengers: Endgame'

Black Widow and Hawkeye in Avengers: Endgame (Credit: Marvel/Disney)
Black Widow and Hawkeye in Avengers: Endgame (Credit: Marvel/Disney)

Spoilers follow for Avengers: Endgame...

Black Widow's fate in Avengers: Endgame was pretty tragic, right?

Physically fighting with Hawkeye so that she could hurl herself off a mountain on Vormir so he could retrieve the Soul Stone and go on to see his family again.

The family that were all cruelly taken from him in 'the snap', leading him into a tortured, blood-thirsty orgy of vengeance.

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It was a tough scene that left even the most stoic Marvel fans in pieces, particularly given Endgame's slim – but wrenching – death toll.

But it could have been worse. So much worse.

But Director Anthony Russo has revealed a plot line that was eventually dropped would have meant that her loss would have been even more – EVEN MORE - tragic.

(Credit: Marvel/Disney)
(Credit: Marvel/Disney)

Speaking to Slate's podcast The Gist, Russo explained: “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 – 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 organisation 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.”

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So not only would the Avengers have lost one of their most beloved, not only would Hawkeye have had to watch his friend take her own life, not only would Bruce Banner be left completely heart-broken, but the world's orphans would have lost the woman keeping them safe.

Yep, Russo's right. That would have just been far too much.

Luckily, we will see Scarlett Johnasson playing Natasha Romanoff again, in the planned solo Black Widow movie, which is currently in production (and presumably somehow set before Endgame)

Helmed by director Cate Shortland, and with David Harbour and Florence Pugh co-starring, it's said to be filming this summer.