Black Widow writer had no idea what the end-credits scene was setting up: 'Who am I screwing over?'

Warning: Spoilers from Black Widow are discussed in this article.

Black Widow screenwriter Eric Pearson is no stranger to crafting stories for the Marvel Universe. Having worked on Thor: Ragnarok and Agent Carter, Pearson brought years of experience to the writing table in Black Widow. But even that didn't convince Marvel to trust him with their deepest secrets.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pearson admitted that when he wrote the end-credits scene of the movie — which features Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova having a cryptic conversation at Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson)'s grave with Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (a.k.a. "Val"). When Pearson wrote the scene, Marvel told him that Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye should be the target that Val presents to Yelena — but that was the only direction he was given.

"I was like, 'What does that mean?' They were like, 'Don't worry about it. You don't have to know that,'" Pearson told THR. "I was like, 'Who am I screwing over? Something is going on! I don't have an answer for this.' They were like, 'You don't need to. We are going to figure that out.' I remember writing it and feeling super guilty. I hope whatever writer is working on this next chapter is going to be okay with what I've done to them."

Pugh's involvement in the upcoming Disney+ Hawkeye series hasn't been a secret, as the actress had previously been confirmed to star alongside Renner's Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop. But until now, exactly how the character was fitting into the show was a mystery. Thanks to Black Widow's end credit scene, we now have an answer to that. And with Val describing Clint as "the man responsible for your sister's death" (in Avengers: Endgame), it's safe to say that Yelena and Clint's first meeting probably won't be a cordial one.

Even though he didn't know exactly what the scene was setting up, Pearson was psyched about having the chance to write for Louis-Dreyfus.

"I was told, and I couldn't get to my computer fast enough," he said. "Maybe they have the tag figured out really early, but in my experience, the tags you tend to get it toward the end of production or maybe it's an additional photography kind of thing. I wrote a few drafts of it. When they told me, 'We have a character named Valentina Allegra de Fontaine who is coming in and she's going to be played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus so we need her and Yelena,' I was so excited. Obviously, just a huge fan."

Black Widow is currently playing in theaters and streaming on Disney+ as a paid Premier Access release.

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