Even the most minor aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are dissected by fans to try and uncover Easter Eggs and hidden connections, something that also generates plenty of discussion when more and more pieces are put into play. As a prequel, several of the long term implications from Black Widow have already been felt, but the upcoming blockbuster will also directly affect the complexion of Phase Four.
Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff may have met her demise during the course of Avengers: Endgame, but Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova has long since been confirmed for a role in Disney Plus series Hawkeye, with plenty of rumors making the rounds about how she could potentially factor into the story, and there’s any number of possibilities given the ties between Natasha and Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton.
When the first footage from Eternals dropped, MCU supporters were quick to question where these all-powerful aliens had been during Thanos’ attempts to wipe out half of all living creatures in the universe. That’s admittedly taking the fictional mythology a little too seriously, and it’ll be explained within the context of Chloe Zhao’s cosmic epic, but David Harbour wants you to know that he’s been thinking about where Red Guardian would have been hiding, as he revealed in a new interview.
“I mean the fun thing about this entire thing is that we go back and we build out this structure for something new. So all this new content with a lot of information about the movies that moves forward with these other projects, the new Phase. And you also get to introduce these new characters. Cate Shortland and I had all kinds of speculations about where Red Guardian is, and what happens to him. There was a lot of fun ideas that we had, but I haven’t asked Kevin Feige himself. I’ll do that later.”
Essentially a washed-up Russian super soldier, there’s no word on whether or not Red Guardian will make it out of Black Widow alive, but most actors sign multi-picture deals with Marvel Studios just in case their name pops back up, so it definitely can’t be ruled out. Every time a new face gets brought into the MCU fans will debate where they were during Endgame, so at least Harbour has put some thought into it.