Infinity What-Ifs: A Deleted Scene That Would've Perfected Nat & Bruce's Arc
Why did the writers ignore the Natasha/Bruce romantic storyline?
Ever since Natasha Romanoff managed to de-hulk Bruce Banner in Age of Ultron, the massive MCU fanbase has been divided. Some fans were rooting for the relationship arc of Brutasha (Natasha and Bruce) to move forward, while others thought it was ridiculous and felt forced.
But even those who hated the romantic storyline were not prepared for how it was eventually handled.
Marvel's writers never seemed to know what to do with the romantic plotline. After Age of Ultron and Bruce's departure from Earth, the pairing went completely unnoticed. Apart from a suggestive look, Natasha and Bruce did not even share a few meaningful lines after their reunion in Infinity War.
And though both characters survived the Blip, Endgame proved that they were out of touch for the long five post-Snap years. And then Natasha went to Vormir to sacrifice her life and prevent Brutasha viewers from getting any closure whatsoever.
As it turned out, the writers were trying to bring the Brutasha storyline to a conclusion, but the Avengers movies were too crowded with other storylines that were much more important to the main plot revolving around the fight against Thanos.
"In Infinity War we have scenes — we wrote them, we shot them — of [Natasha and Bruce] sort of hashing that out," co-writer Stephen McFeely told Empire (via IndieWire).
McFeely explained that the scenes that never made the final cut were meant to end the romantic storyline with the characters discussing their situation and realizing it was too late for their relationship.
"'You've been gone, I've moved on,' that kind of stuff," the writer explained.
He added that this was the conclusion that the writers genuinely wanted to give to the fans. But with Infinity War featuring more than 40 MCU characters and picking up on endless storylines, the precious moment never made it to the big screen.
It is unclear whether fans would enjoy such a conclusion to the beloved pair's storyline, but at least it could provide some sort of closure. Aside from the unsatisfying romantic arc, the majority of fans seem to feel that Black Widow was robbed of a proper sendoff. She was one of the original Avengers, just like Iron Man and Captain America, but her departure seemed much less meaningful than theirs.