Avengers: Endgame: Scarlett Johansson defends her polarizing death scene

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Avengers: Endgame was full of emotional moments but one scene in the film was met with mixed reactions from fans. Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson) journey ended on Vormir when she decided to give up her life for the Soul Stone. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) tried to sacrifice himself but Natasha intervened to protect her friend, thus ending her life for the greater good. The moment was met with a divisive response from fans but Scarlett Johansson is defending Black Widow's ultimate sacrifice.

During a set interview with ET Online for the upcoming release of her standalone Marvel film, Black Widow, Johansson admitted that she was aware of the polarizing response to her death scene but she explained why it made sense for her character to be the one to sacrifice herself:

"It's funny because I've had kind of a lot of mixed reactions to her ultimate fate in Endgame. But for me, it made so much sense that she would sacrifice herself not just for the greater good of humanity, but actually for her friends, which was really at the heart of it. She's a good one."

The Russo Brothers offered up a bit of a different reason as to why the decision was made for Natasha to sacrifice herself. The filmmaking duo admitted that there was a back-and-forth between Black Widow and Hawkeye as to who will get to sacrifice themself on Vormir. They ultimately opted for Natasha to give sacrifice herself because she decided her fate and that's something she rarely had the luxury of doing before in her arc across all of the films she has appeared in. Johansson's reasoning differs in regards to why the ultimate choice was made but Nat's eagerness to see her friends resurrected after they were snapped away by Thanos does show that she knows the survival of everyone else is much bigger than her own life. It's a noble end to her journey as a hero.

The mixed reaction to the scene seems to have less about why she did it but more about whether or not she deserved to die in the first place. She really had been the only Avenger that remained committed to their cause in the five years after Thanos' snap. While the other members of the Avengers went their separate ways, Natasha kept things going, even when her cause continued to look bleak. Hopefully, Black Widow will justify Natasha's demise and give us an opportunity to truly learn how she gets to that place in Avengers: Endgame to know exactly what she needed to do for the greater good.

Did YOU like how Natasha's journey ended in Avengers: Endgame?