Black Widow Screenwriter Confirms Tony Stark Appeared in an Early Draft

It’s probably for the best that Black Widow omitted cameos from any other Avengers in order to keep focus on the story of Natasha Romanoff and her family. Regardless, in late 2019, months after his character met his valiant demise in Avengers: Endgame, rumors swirled that Robert Downey Jr. was going to briefly show up in the movie as Tony Stark. This didn’t actually happen. But in a new interview with ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast, screenwriter Eric Pearson revealed that Downey almost did make an appearance, albeit not in the way fans might think.

Apparently, Tony was featured in a draft of the script written well before Pearson came along. However, it wouldn’t have required Downey to shoot any new footage. Instead, the film would have recycled the scene from Captain America: Civil War where Tony reprimands Natasha for helping Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes escape after the airport battle in Leipzig. According to Pearson, this was to remind viewers where Black Widow fit into the MCU timeline.

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“I do remember now that one version of the script, prior to me, literally had written into it the end moment of Civil War with Tony and Natasha,” said Pearson. “‘I’m not the one who needs to watch their back.’ But it was old footage. It would’ve been ‘Hey audience, remember where we are. We’re going to key off this moment of her.’ So, it wouldn’t have been Robert Downey, at least, to the best of my knowledge. That’s the only time I saw Tony Stark’s name in it. And it was just kind of a flag-planted reminder, like ‘Hey we’re right at the end of Civil War.’”

Pearson also shared his own reaction to hearing the rumors about Downey’s possible cameo.

“I remember when those rumors came out,” added Pearson. “I was in London in our war room office. And I just looked around and was like ‘Are we- Am I supposed to be- I have the script right here and Tony Stark is not in it.’ I don’t know where it came from unless someone got a very old version where this kind of scene, which wasn’t even a new scene. I don’t know where it came from.”

Black Widow is now playing in theaters and streaming on Disney+ Premier Access.

Would you like to have seen Downey return as Tony Stark in the film? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!

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