There has been talk of the original line-up of Earth's Mightiest Heroes appearing in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars since shortly after the projects were officially announced, but of the six characters who made up the team that assembled in the first Avengers movie, Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff always seemed the least likely to return.
Romanoff was killed off in Avengers: Endgame when she sacrificed herself so that Clint Barton could acquire the Soul Stone, and although the former assassin did return for a solo Black Widow prequel movie, Johansson has claimed to be done with the character on a number of occasions.
Even so, rumors persist that the Jurassic World Rebirth star will be back as Black Widow for the upcoming Avengers films, potentially joining the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans as "evil" variants of their original characters. Johansson wasn't part of the initial Doomsday cast reveal, but we know another announcement is imminent.
Thunderbolts* writer Eric Pearson, who also penned the Black Widow movie, was asked if he's heard anything about Natasha's return during an interview with THR.
“I will preface by saying that I have no idea, but I don’t think so. I feel like her end in Endgame and then her epilogue with our Black Widow prequel were so lovely. So I would be surprised, but I know nothing about that. I have very little knowledge of what’s going on with Doomsday right now.”
Pearson was also asked about Yelena going after Clint Barton in the Hawkeye series after Val convinced her that the archer was responsible for her sister's death, and it turns out Thunderbolts* did originally feature a scene addressing this.
"Early drafts began with Yelena confronting Valentina about ordering the Clint Barton hit, which was one of my favorite scenes that eventually became not entirely relevant to the Thunderbolts* story. I loved it because it emphasized Valentina’s manipulation. Yelena entered the scene on fire, furious, accusing Valentina of setting her up to take out her sister’s killer, when, in reality, he was her best friend. Then Valentina completely flipped the script on Yelena. I believe the line was: “Set you up? You mean paid you to do a job that, by the way, you didn’t even do? So I heard some bad gossip, pardon me for trying to motivate you. But this is your job, and asking questions isn’t a part of it.” And then that led into the conversation about how Yelena is unhappy with her job/life and wants to make a change towards something more constructive."
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
Returning to their Marvel Cinematic Universe roles are Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The cast also includes newcomers to the MCU—Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer and Wendell Edward Pierce.
Jake Schreier directs Thunderbolts* with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek and Jason Tamez serve as executive producers.