Spoilers! How that 'Black Widow' end-credits scene ends one story and begins another

Spoiler alert! This story includes important plot points and the ending of Marvel’s “Black Widow,” so beware if you haven’t seen it yet.

Black Widow is dead. Long live Black Widow, or White Widow, or whatever Yelena Belova prefers to call herself now as she makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe hers.

Marvel fans have known the fate of the Avengers’ resident secret agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) ever since she gave up her own life to help save the universe in “Avengers: Endgame.” The new spy thriller “Black Widow” (in theaters and streaming on Disney+ Premier Access, $30) reveals what the title heroine's been up to between “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Endgame”: She not only takes down the villainous Russian organization that brainwashed her at a young age but also reunites with her “family,” most notably Yelena (Florence Pugh) who needles her older sister and needs her in many ways, too.

"Despite her being a fantastic assassin and just a lethal weapon, she's also a baby who is trying to figure out how to do the next steps," Pugh tells USA TODAY.

In the climax of “Black Widow,” Yelena decides to join a crew of freed Widows, including the formidable Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), revealed as a young woman Natasha thought she killed years ago. And Natasha heads off on her own, brandishing a new hair color (blonde instead of the usual red) and her sister’s beloved vest, seen in “Infinity War.”

A key scene revealed in the credits, though, brings us to the present day of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where an older and more somber Yelena visits Natasha’s gravesite, which is full of tributes to the fallen heroine. Yelena rearranges teddy bears and whistles her part of their call-and-response when she’s interrupted by a woman blowing her nose: Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the snarky and sinister mystery woman last seen recruiting super soldier John Walker (Wyatt Russell), aka U.S. Agent, in the final episode of Disney+’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

“Sorry. I’m allergic to the Midwest,” Valentina quips. “What this woman did… honestly, I can’t even imagine.”

Yelena apparently works for her now, complaining that Valentina is not supposed to be “bothering me on my holiday time” and that she looks “desperate” doing so. “I want a raise,” Yelena adds.

“Oh yeah, you and me both,” Valentina says, reaching into her purse to pull out a tablet device. “Believe me, you’re gonna earn it. I’ve got your next target – thought I’d hand-deliver it. Maybe you’d like a shot at the man responsible for your sister’s death.” She shows Yelena a picture of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Natasha’s former partner and the man she took a fatal jump for on the planet Vormir in “Endgame” so he could get an important Infinity Stone – though Yelena may not know this cosmic truth yet.

The sequence sets up Yelena’s next appearance in Disney+’s “Hawkeye” series (premiering later this year), and a potential conflict with Renner’s ace archer as well as his new protégé, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). And like a twist on Nick Fury in the early MCU films, Valentina appears to be putting together her own dark Avengers squad.

Now that she’s going to play a major role in the MCU going forward, “Black Widow” director Cate Shortland says Pugh brings an important sense of “authenticity” to this superhero landscape.

“People don't want to see perfect people who are Teflon-coated, because that doesn't reflect who we are,” the filmmaker says. “Young people have evolved really, really quickly. It's really beautiful how they're exploring their flaws and seeing them as positives. She speaks to that, and she'll speak to young women. Nothing can define her. No one can define her. It's pretty rare. Just being that person is heroic.”

As for Johansson’s Natasha, “Black Widow” appears to be her swan song: The actress has played the character for more than a decade, and her “Avengers” co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans have also moved on, although she could return in future prequels. “She's got endless possibilities really as an actor and as a character,” Shortland says. “It depends on what happens within the Marvel universe, but she loves doing it.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Black Widow' spoilers! How the new Marvel film sets up a future fight