The 12 biggest questions we have after watching 'Black Widow'

S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles chase after Melina, Alexei, Yelena, and Nat at the start of "Black Widow." Are Nick Fury or Phil Coulson leading the charge against Alexei/the Red Guardian and his family?

We know Nick was a bit pre-occupied with Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers around the same time in 1995, but they eventually wound up going after Natasha before Clint Barton/Hawkeye spared her life. Nat was initiated into S.H.I.E.L.D. by helping to take down the Red Room, the place where Black Widow operatives were trained.

We're more inclined to believe Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) may have spearheaded the chase.

At the film's start, Alexei stole data from the North Institute before burning it to the ground. Melina said the North Institute was S.H.I.E.L.D. operated. However, it turned out that it was infiltrated and run by a bunch of undercover members of terrorist organization H.Y.D.R.A.

If Val is later revealed as Madame Hydra we wouldn't be surprised to learn that she had worked at the North Institute. You can read more on her character here.

At the film's start, secretary of state Thaddeus Ross claims that he has Ant-Man, the Falcon, and Hawkeye in custody.

Either he's bluffing or he's likely not aware that the three have recently escaped thanks to Captain America. According to the film's production notes, "Black Widow" takes place "on the heels of 'Captain America: Civil War.'"

At the end of "Civil War," Steve Rogers/Cap breaks Falcon and his other friends free from the prison where Ross locked them up.

Don't give me that whole "he was imprisoned in the Raft" bit.

Yes, Secretary of State Ross mentions that he has all of Nat's friends locked up, but it's not clear if he's bluffing at that point or if he's unaware that Cap is in the middle of busting them out at the start of "Black Widow," somewhere during the events of that film, or slightly afterward.

Even if Clint was still in prison, they easily could have had Hawkeye appear in a flashback scene to Budapest, which would have made that reveal much more rewarding.

It's oddly unsatisfying that Renner isn't there for a reveal that's been a decade in the making. He's only heard in a brief moment where his name is seen on screen.

Marvel couldn't afford to show his face for a few seconds? That doesn't sound right.

Natasha conveniently tells Yelena that she assumed she got out of the Red Room and was living a normal life, but is that really believable?

If she really cared as much about Yelena as her childhood self appears to, wouldn't she have wanted to make sure Yelena was actually free of Dreykov's control?

Nat apologizes for this by the film's end, but it feels like a convenient way to tie up a plot hole.

David Harbour's Red Guardian (Russia's answer to Captain America) was one of the best parts of "Black Widow."

In an interview with Insider's Jason Guerrasio, Harbour said he's "down" to continue playing the character, adding that he wants his character to fight Clint Barton/Hawkeye to avenge Black Widow's death.

"When he finds out that [Natasha] was on that cliff with Hawkeye, and maybe the version of the story he hears is that Hawkeye pushed her off or something, it's a moment when Red Guardian turns back to the guy he was. He now wants vengeance for her. That I feel would play well," Harbour said.

If he's not back in his own movie, we could see the Red Guardian getting his own Disney+ spinoff series.

Does she really have peace with what happened to herself at the end of "Black Widow"? We never really get that she has a sense of closure.

Personally, if I were Dreykov's daughter, I'd want some revenge on the person who blew up half of my face and then carried on living their life (in "Avengers: Infinity War") as if it never happened.

At the film's end, the women who were in the Red Room project are set free and go off with Melina, Alexei, and Yelena.

It seemed like they were going to go all over the world on a mission to free the other Widow's of their mind-control spell.

In the end-credits scene, we see that Yelena has been working with Val. Have the other Widows and Taskmaster been working with Val, too?

It felt like Mason was created specifically to help aid Nat throughout her journey and for nothing more.

The "Black Widow" end-credits scene takes place a few years in the future after Natasha's death and Yelena looks like she's never aged a day.

It's never explicitly said, but it makes us think that Yelena could have been among those who were missing for five years.

It's possible she wasn't snapped since Yelena mentions working with Val and wanting a raise. We'll probably get more clarity of this once "Hawkeye" airs since it's hinted we'll see the character appear again there.

In an interview with Variety, "Black Widow" director Cate Shortland said Scarlett Johansson suggested that Natasha should be buried in a low-key, private location, adding that she wouldn't want to draw public attention.

If Nat was so intent on avoiding the public eye, how did a number of people stumble upon her tombstone? Did Nat's grave become a geocaching spot for Avengers super fans to find?

In the film's end-credits scene, Val stirs the pot by telling Yelena that Clint caused her sister's death.

We all know that isn't true, at all. Natasha sacrificed herself in "Avengers: Endgame."

It seems like this should be a pretty easy misunderstanding to fix if someone just clued Yelena — or the world — into how the Avenger actually died. Instead, we'll now see Yelena pointlessly being pitted against Hawkeye.

Hopefully, that's resolved quickly so we can get to the bottom of whatever Val's planning.

Depending on how the MCU adapts Val's comic character, she could either be revealed as a leader of Hydra, have deep ties to S.H.I.E.L.D., be a sleeper agent who was trained in the same or a similar place to Nat and Yelena, or all of the above.

Val may also be assembling her own anti-hero/villain squad called The Thunderbolts. That feels rather accurate.

From her two appearances in the MCU so far, Val certainly feels like an anti-Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who is rounding up her own league of Marvel characters. We've already seen her recruit John Walker (Wyatt Russell) on "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier."

The "Black Widow" end-credits scene showed Val working with Yelena, making us think we'll likely see her again in more movies and shows in Marvel's Phase 4 lineup of content.