"It was real to me."
Spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.- Alexei and Melina's every interaction is adorable. They never condescend to each other, banter playfully, and give every impression that they are a genuinely loving couple. After the Time Skip, he has a tattoo of her face above the word "love" in Cyrillic on his left collarbone.
- Also among Alexei's many tattoos are the names Natasha and Yelena written in Cyrillic on his right arm. His interactions with his adoptive daughters often end up being incredibly awkward but it's clear he really did love them.
- When Yelena and Natasha are having their initial standoff, Yelena is being forced to walk backwards. Natasha, like any big sister, tells her to watch her step before she bumps into a table.
- After Yelena explains that her vest is the first piece of clothing she chose and bought for herself, Natasha smiles and admits that it is pretty good. Then Yelena adorably talks about how many pockets it has and how many things it holds.
- Later, Yelena gives Natasha her vest. It's the same one she wore in Infinity War.
- Melina naming one of her pigs after Alexei. She says it is because they resemble each other, but the fact that she wants to keep the memory of him with her is sweet.
- Natasha objecting to Melina's cruelty in stopping the pig's breathing as a demonstration, insisting they get the point and to let the animal breathe again.
- Alexei attempts to bond with Yelena and show he sincerely cares about her, but everything he says has an It's All About Me attitude, leaving her angry and/or disgusted by him. Frustrated, not knowing what to say, and on the verge of tears, he stands up and looks as though he's about to launch into a tirade...and starts singing "American Pie", Yelena's favourite song as a child, a fact he remembers after all these years. Yelena first looks astonished, then smiles in happiness, even joining in. They don't say anything else to each other, but their expressions clearly say they don't need to.
- David Harbour revealed a few days after the film’s release that the script originally had no such moment, and left Alexei and Yelena in the same sour relationship at the end. It was his own idea for Alexei to show he still remembered her favorite song, which the filmmakers loved so much that they got the rights to the song, and added it to the opening sequence.
- Natasha discovering that her belief her birth parents abandoned her was wrong: in fact, as Melina explains, she was involuntarily sold off from her family (due to having ideal genes) and her mother relentlessly searched for her until her tragic death. This helps finally bring Natasha closure that her birth mother never abandoned her, but genuinely loved her.
- Melina's sweet "Yelena, it's Mama" when alerting her to her and Natasha's ploy to bring down the Red Room. It could have come across as condescending from any other actress but Rachel Weisz's delivery does wonders to show that Melina genuinely sees Yelena as her baby girl.
- The Widows, free from Dreykov's control, come back to pick up Yelena, Alexei and Melina and save them from the authorities. They also come for Taskmaster, another victim of their enemy, and take her with them. As they say, "We wouldn't leave you".
- While talking to Natasha about things they were denied in life due to being raised as Widows, Yelena mentions that she always wanted a dog. In The Stinger we see she's finally got that wish and has a dog of her own, and it's named after one of Natasha's aliases.
- The memorials on Natasha's grave. It's evident that not only the Avengers mourned her, the rest of the world also mourned her. Despite being in a more secluded site, her gravestone is adorned with flowers and various trinkets.Daughter - Sister - Avenger
- Val's crack about being allergic to the midwest means the Avengers had Natasha laid to rest in the Ohio town where she and her family were undercover. It may have just been a mission, but it was the closest to a home and a real childhood she ever had, and her Family of Choice understood how much it meant to her.
- Natasha is buried under a tree, just like her birth mother.
- Natasha asserting to Yelena that their family was real to her too. Saying, in Russian no less, "Forgive me, little sister." The look on Yelena's face is what really sells it.
- In a deleted scene, while en route to meeting Mason to pick up the Quinjet at the end of the film, Natasha drives through the town in Ohio she lived in as a child. There are kids playing Avenger, and some of them are still openly portraying themselves as the disgraced Avengers from Cap's faction even though Civil War has been and gone. A little girl living in Nat's old house is even wearing a mock Widow's Bite made from crayons and rubber bands. The government may have disavowed half the Avengers, but the people haven't.
- Even when the Black Widows attack Natasha and Yelena in Budapest, Natasha shows compassion towards them, trying to stop Ingrid falling off the pipe and then wanting to help her even Dreykov forces Ingrid to kill herself.
- Natasha wears an Arrow Necklace in early scenes.
