WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marvel's Black Widow, now playing in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.
Black Widow is the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as such, it contains several references to other Marvel movies and TV shows. With a wide cast in this prequel story to Avengers: Infinity War, there are also some new faces, many of whom were affiliated with Natasha Romanoff's history in the comics as a Russian spy-turned Avenger. Here are the biggest Easter eggs that appear throughout the film as Natasha and her family try to bring down the Red Room.
When Natasha's hiding in Norway, she gets a package from an old safe house that draws her back to a specific location. It's in Budapest, harkening back to the mission frequently mentioned by her and Hawkeye since 2012's The Avengers. When she meets Yelena at the apartment, she notes the arrow markings on the wall, suggesting that this is where Clint Barton first fought her. He was originally sent to kill Natasha, but he decided to offer her a chance to defect to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead.
In Norway, Natasha examines a pack of blonde hair dye in the trailer that Rick Mason has set up for her. She later rocks the blonde hair after eliminating the Red Room and escaping Thaddeus Ross' men, just before she picks Steve Rogers up to go break their friends out of the Raft. She's also wearing the vest from Infinity War. This was given to her by Yelena, and it's quite sentimental because it was Yelena's first ever purchase, and something she bragged about to Natasha in a sisterly moment.
In the opening act of Black Widow, Alexei steals data from the North Institute, where he was working in Ohio in 1995. As he escapes with Melina, Natasha and Yelena, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pursue and fire at them. Later, Melina confirms the North Institute was a front for a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. She name-drops Hydra, who secretly ran the program, working on Winter Soldier mind-control protocols. Melina mentions how she worked with Dreykov to perfect these protocols and brainwash the new Widows. In addition, Dreykov's airbase is a nod to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarriers, while Rick being a fixer is a nod to him being contracted by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comic books, opting not to follow in the footsteps of his villainous dad, the Tinkerer.
In Black Widow's final act, Melina betrays Natasha and turns the family over to Dreykov. But in Dreykov's chamber, he pulls off Melina's Nano Mask, revealing it was Natasha the whole time. The Natasha in the prison cells also had a mask on, as she is really Melina. These masks are throwbacks to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where Natasha used the same technology to impersonate Councilwoman Hawley and saved the council members from being killed by Alexander Pierce.
When Natasha then goads Dreykov into leaking information on how many Widows are seeded across the world and how he's controlling them, she plays on his ego. After she gets all the intel she needs, she tells him, "Thank you for your cooperation," before breaking her nose to circumvent the pheromonal lock and beating him. It's a throwback to The Avengers, when she pretended to be hurt by Loki's insults to get him to confess that his plan was to use the Hulk against them, saying the same line.
When Alexei boasts about how lethal his daughters are, he says their "ledgers must be dripping, just gushing red." It's another nod to the scene with Loki, where he also queried how much "red" was in Natasha's "ledger" and made it clear that she was responsible for many deaths during her days as a Red Room agent. Loki also spoke of "Dreykov's daughter," and Black Widow reveals this to Antonia, who Natasha blew up along with her father as part of her S.H.I.E.L.D. defection. Just before that bombing, Hawkeye can be heard over the earpiece, asking Natasha for clearance to detonate.
Early on, Yelena asks why Natasha doesn't give her "super-scientist friend" Tony Stark a call to help them with the mind control antidote. She also mentions the "god from space," meaning Thor, while Mason mentions the Avengers' "divorce," referring to the team's fracture in Civil War. Captain America gets mentioned a lot by Red Guardian, as Alexei claims to have fought him in the '80s and sees him as a rival. Earlier on, Ross jokes about "the incredible shrinking convict," aka Ant-Man, while the final scene plays Alan Silvestri's Avengers theme as Natasha heads to the Raft in the Quinjet her crew uses in Infinity War.
Taskmaster is Dreykov's perfect weapon, mimicking Natasha's fighting style, especially the hurricanrana, and the iconic landing pose Yelena makes fun of. But Taskmaster also throws a shield similar to Cap's, fires arrows like Hawkeye, does the signature Black Panther pose to unsheathe her claws and last but not least, mimics some of Winter Soldier's knife moves too -- which Yelena has as well, due to her Red Room training.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus once again makes a cameo as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who debuted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, recruiting John Walker to become U.S. Agent. She pops up again in Black Widow's post-credits at Natasha's grave, offering Yelena another job after the Blip. They appear to have been working together for some time, but this mission is of particular importance because she wants Yelena to kill Hawkeye. She makes it seem like he's responsible for Natasha's sacrifice on Vormir in Endgame.
Alexei's codename is the Red Guardian, who was Natasha's husband in the comics before he became a Soviet super soldier. He was also part of the Winter Guard, Russia's equivalent of the Avengers, and Black Widow references a couple of his teammates. The first comes up when Alexei arm-wrestles a man named Ursa in prison, breaking his hand and calling him a "big bear." This is a nod to teammate Ursa Major, a mutant who could shape-shift into a bear. Another member, Crimson Dynamo, gets mentioned when Yelena calls Alexei by that name to annoy him.
When Melina opens her closet to offer Natasha weapons, next to the Nano Masks, there appears to be a silver mask on a shelf. This pays homage to Melina's nastier persona, the Iron Maiden, who debuted in 1983's Marvel Fanfare. There, she was a Russian killer who hated being in Black Widow's shadow, and often took on jobs to assassinate Natasha. It's a nice tribute, seeing as the film makes Melina a regretful adoptive mom who's now trying to do right by the girls.
Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Mason and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff. The film is now playing in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.
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