Why Black Widow Replaced Tony Stark’s Cameo With Ross?

Surprisingly, Black Widow showed up as an ensemble movie. While it brought many new faces on-screen to prepare a plot for the future, MCU fans expected some familiar and old characters to pop up as well. Some of them could have been Clint Barton or Nick Fury, or even Tony Stark. A few years ago, it was confirmed that Tony Stark’s screenplay from Captain America: Civil War would be recycled. But, in Black Widow, we have seen Natasha Romanoff getting chased by Secretary Ross. As a result, it shows up as a central question that why Black Widow replaced Tony Stark’s cameo in the movie?

One of the early drafts of the movie showed Tony Stark reprising his role. Since Black Widow is set after the events that happened in Captain America: Civil War, it was expected that Tony Stark would appear on screen to help Natasha Romanoff. Even in Iron Man 2, he helped Black Widow to get a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Keeping that in a loop, Tony Stark should have appeared this time to set Black Widow in Civil War. But surprisingly, the very first scene of Black Widow showed Secretary Ross and not Tony Stark.

Black Widow has fought alongside Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War. But it still remains a doubt that whether she supports Sokovia Accords or not. The Baron Zemo and Sokovia Accords made Avengers fight among each other. Even during a scene, Natasha Romanoff told Steve Rogers that staying together is better than how they stay together. But post the fighting sequel with Captain America at the Airport, Black Widow realized her mistake and helped Steve and Barnes escape. Meanwhile, T’Challa informed Ross, and Natasha Romanoff was forced to evade the authorities.

The Co-Writer of Black Widow mentioned in an interview that the movie’s first draft included the ‘end moment of Civil War with Natasha and Stark.’ However, Robert Downey Jr. said in 2019 that he will not be a part of Black Widow. But even if Tony had to make a cameo in Black Widow, there was no requirement for Downey to shoot any new scenes with the makers.

Secretary Ross’s appearance in Black Widow made more sense than the current MCU scenarios are concerned. Ross was first introduced in The Incredible Hulk and then played the role of Secretary Ross in Captain America: Civil War. That was the optimum time for Ross to make Avengers feel that they have done wrong things against each other. As a result, he fit right for the role of an enforcer of Sokovia Accords, who later hunts Natasha Romanoff.

If Tony Stark had appeared in Black Widow, it might have become emotional for him to hunt an Avenger. While there is no sign of Tony and Natasha sharing any kind of bond, Black Widow spied on Stark on the orders of Fury in Iron Man 2. When Tony stepped down after what happened in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Rogers and Romanoff trained Wanda Maximoff, Colonel James Rhodes, Vision, and others to recruit by team Avengers. Later, Stark took over when Black Widow and Captain America becomes the enemy of the state.

While Tony Stark’s role in Black Widow was almost confirmed, the makers found it pretty unnecessary. It was more important to keep the focus on Natasha’s character to make her film standalone. However, the cameo of Ross proved that the timeline of Black Widow takes place after Captain America: Civil War. Tony Stark was there but had nothing to do with Romanoff’s storyline.