It's no secret that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic curtailed a lot of film and television productions behind-the-scenes, sometimes resulting in certain on-screen elements having to be modified, changed or otherwise removed. However, according to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, only one major on-screen element of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was "twisted" due to the pandemic.
During an interview with On The Red Carpet, Feige discussed some of the Easter eggs present in Black Widow, Marvel Studios' first theatrical release in two years. "There's also an Easter egg that originally was going to appear first in Black Widow and then show up in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and because [of] the pandemic, [it's] the only thing in our Phase Four that's twisted a little bit," he said. "So, for fans that watched Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there's an Easter egg waiting for them in this film."
While Feige did not specifically reveal what the Easter egg is, it can be inferred that he's referring to the Marvel Comics character Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Valentina made her MCU debut earlier this year in the Disney+ original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Shortly thereafter, Vanity Fair reported that Louis-Dreyfus was originally supposed to debut as Valentina in Black Widow, though that obviously changed when the film -- which was once slated to be Marvel's first Phase Four release -- was delayed multiple times as a result of the global health crisis.
For a time, it was unclear if Louis-Dreyfus would still appear as Valentina in Black Widow since the movie's premiere was pushed to after Falcon and Winter Soldier's six-episode run. Based on Feige's comments, however, it appears fans can still expect to see the Contessa pop up in Natasha Romanoff's long-awaited solo film. Furthermore, it appears that while most of Marvel's upcoming films were delayed due to COVID-19, just about everything still seems to be going according to plan from an on-screen perspective.
Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Mason and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff. The film arrives in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access July 9.
Source: YouTube, via The Direct