The arguments over Black Widow have gotten vile . Last night , Joss Whedonquit Twitter , with an double that pointed the blame at Twitter haters . But there ’s a real upshot with Black Widow , and her office in Avengers : Age of Ultron , and it ’s deserving talking about . It ’s deserving talk about it like adults .
After Whedon abandoned Twitter , mass were straightaway to level the finger of blame at fanatic feminists and their Black Widow pile - on . Comedian / actor Patton Oswalttweeted , “ There is a “ Tea Party ” combining weight of progressivism / liberalism . And they just chased Joss Whedon off Twitter . ”
Whatever the reasons for Whedon quitting Twitter ( yet again ) , it ’s exonerated the discourse around Avengers : Age of Ultron has make a vile tipping decimal point . That ’s not all right .
But cocksucker on Twitter should n’t distract us from having a tangible conversation about this , so we ’re going to talk about Black Widow … like adults .
A lot has pass ill-timed with the way Black Widow has been regale in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — before , during , and after Age of Ultron . There were signs before the flick premiered that the studio and even Scarlett Johansson ’s co - stars were n’t uncoerced — or able-bodied — to take the fibre earnestly .
Once the film came out , there were a metrical net ton of problems with how the fiber ’s storey bow was presented . And after everyone digested all that , the recoil pop out . A rebound that seemed center on on Joss Whedon as a person , and not on have a substantial discussion about the motion picture .
Some folks are expect , “ How did it come to this ? ” But we ’re left wondering , “ How did no one see this train shipwreck arrive mi ahead ? ” The writing has been on the wall for week .
The reference was tongue-in-cheek slut - shamednot once by her fellow Avengers , buttwice . After already getting into it and being ram to justify , Jeremy Renner was back on TV last night making the accurate same mistake . He apologized on Conan , but he also retell his point that Natasha is still a slut :
“ beware you , we are talking about a fictitious character and fabricated behavior , Conan , but if you slept with four of the six Avengers , no matter how much fun you had , you ’d be a loose woman . Just suppose . I ’d be a slut . Just say . ”
How is it okay to say this about Black Widow — someone who , to be very clear , has not hooked up on screen in any of the movies — but no one ’s going “ Tony Stark ? Yeah , he ’s a total slut . ” We really have see that on screen . As a thing that really take place . He may have reform and find his one and only — but Tony ’s badass self-praise in the first Avengers pic is “ Billionaire playboy altruist . ” He gets “ playboy ” as an accolade , but the Black Widow is somehow a loose woman .
Next up in the long line of Black Widow mishaps was the total lack of Black Widow ware and toys . The character is n’t even admit with most Avengers toy sets , and has fiddling to no mien on the shelves . The Mary Suehas a pretty eye - opening piece on the material reason that Disney ’s toy branch had no interest group in sell to young woman : basically , they ’re full up . “ They already have the girl ’ market on lockdown , ” the piece excuse . not bad . Just nifty .
40 % of the audience for the first Avengers movie was distaff . But , sure , Frozen ’s flummox the girl market on lock — so why vex ?
The want of Black Widow toys was so apparent it even got spue penis Mark Ruffalo to tweet asking to fix this trouble .
.@Marvelwe need more#BlackWidowmerchandise for my daughters and niece . moderately please .
— Mark Ruffalo ( @MarkRuffalo)April 29 , 2015
@EverydaySexismTelling my superhero - jazz fille that they do n’t make any Black Widow toys.https://t.co/53kCzo8axOpic.twitter.com/qRgIBTqKsc
— Heroic Girls @SDCC 2024 – # MoreThanCute ( @HeroicGirls)May 5 , 2015
All of that could just be a few out - of - spot merchandising people , and worker seduce sorry decision . The movie could have a different message , could n’t it ?
As bad as all that was , it ’s the Black Widow ’s literal arc in the picture where things go well and truly off the track .
If the Avengers constitute height Marvel ( in notoriety and public recognition ) then Black Widow by association is the main distaff character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . And quite honestly , that ’s not saying much .
To cite Jen Yamato inDaily Beast , “ In 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe film thus far , warm distaff co - leads have only appear in larger ensemble team - ups , chiefly as lethal and emotionally impenetrable femme fatales who double as beloved interest ( shoutout to Guardians of the Galaxy ’s Gamora ) . ” By the time Marvel makes a standalone female superhero film ( Captain Marvel ) , Captain America , Tony Stark and Thor will all have had three standalone separate films . That ’s 19 films before a curious film that stars a cleaning lady superhero .
Yes , there are other female person - driven Marvel Studios properties ( Agent Carter , Agents of SHIELD ) , but Black Widow is the only female Avenger , and she ’s the only recur female case in the MCU who ’s see real character growth . Avengers : Age of Ultron was hypothesize to feature her big character reveal . Whedon was teasing her character reference arc back in 2014 viaMTV :
Joss Whedon : “ Natasha is a huge part of the sequel because you do want to concentrate on the mass who do n’t have their own franchise . Although she in ‘ Cap 2 , ’ [ and ] she ’s bang-up . She was the most play for me because she ’s not a sub , you lie with , and it ’s something that I take — and I experience bad that I ca n’t remember who wrote the book — but it ’s in one of the books explain , ‘ These guys are poor boy , you are a undercover agent . It ’s a dissimilar matter — it ’s a dissimilar science set — and you do n’t have their moral high ground or any of that good material . ’ And that just makes her so interesting to me . So yeah , the hooey I ’ve got going on with her in the second one is killer . ”
think the whole ( fairly baffling ) accounting tour of phrase “ crimson in my ledger ” that was referenced way back in the first Avengers movie by both Black Widow and Hawkeye ? This was ( presumptively ) what Whedon was talking about . This “ red ” was Black Widow ’s way of admitting that she ’s not like the others , and that her character in the Avengers is an seek to right the flaming damage from her past . Pair Whedon ’s late quote with the confrontation between Black Widow and first Avengers villain Loki , and you ’ve acquire one hell of a backstory :
Natasha Romanoff : It ’s really not that complicated . I ’ve got red in my ledger , I ’d like to wipe it out .
Loki : Can you ? Can you pass over out that much ruddy ? Dreykov ’s daughter , Sao Paulo , the infirmary fervor ? Barton order me everything . Your ledger is dripping , it ’s GUSHING red , and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will deepen anything ? This is the basest sentimentality . This is a youngster at prayer … PATHETIC ! You lie and pour down in the help of liars and killers . You pretend to be separate , to have your own code . Something that score up for the revulsion . But they are a part of you , and they will never go away !
Too bad none of that set up was in reality come after up in Avengers 2 .
She does get some great second in Age of Ultron . Black Widow ’s the one who gets the Vision body away from Ultron . She saves Cap ’s Baron Verulam by amaze his shield back to him . All of that could have been part of her being an assassin working off her past — she even talks about how being an Avenger is a aspiration , and the realness is that she ’s a lusus naturae .
When Banner tries to tell her it ’s not their fight and they ’ve got to run , she kind of betrays him by work the Hulk out to get together the battle . That would have been a more interesting story — the assassinator so caught up in pass over out her bad deed , she ’s uncoerced to give personal happiness for the great good . That all would have tied into what we ’d seen before . Would it have been double-dyed ? in all likelihood not . But it would have been in force .
But instead , all of that was aggressively push away for a novel phenomenon : Mommy Widow .
For months we scanned trailers picking out promises of a Black Widow ’s soon to be reveal backstory . So imagine our dashing hopes , when Black Widow ’s secret backstory , about grooming as a cold-blooded full-blooded undercover agent , was roil down to a forced sterilization . A horrifying reveal , but not really the “ red ledger ” reveal we ’d been promised . Julie Delpy appears in a forced Black Widow flashback , show her young spy training culminating in one appal gesture . Would Black Widow have to defeat her parent ? Her friends ? Her puppy , Kingsman - mode ? No her “ gradation ceremony ” would be that she would be sterilized . Foisting a frustrated desire for motherhood and self execrate onto this graphic symbol . It makes her feel for good alone . We know this because that ’s what she tells Hulk during a quieter character reveal moment for Black Widow .
Instead of an assassin constantly struggling with finding moral line she did n’t know existed , we obtain a fair sex who feels incomplete because she can not have babies :
“ You screw what my net examination was in the Red Room ? They sterilized me , said it was one less affair to worry about . You think you ’re the only monster on the team ? ”
That ’s what the Red Room did to her . It ’s not the loss of innocence through killing or being force to hold up a life of betraying people . The greatest loss is maternity . That ’s why she ’s a lusus naturae like the Hulk . Poor Black Widow . She leaned in , and where did it get her ? She ’s a lonely , incomplete , monster .
But it ’s OK because The Avengers : Age of Ultron is go to give Black Widow a baby . A mammoth baby named The Hulk , and a brand unexampled superhero magnate of “ the cradlesong . ” Not a voicelessness or a song or a knock - out succus — a lullabye to coax her sister to sleep . This new power is trot out over and over again , as if to say : Black Widow do n’t be distressing — you have a baby Hulk .
And her part as the mother of the squad , as a whole , is also implied when Black Widow ruins a perfectly great empowerment moment after picking up Captain America ’s shield and stating , “ I ’m always pluck up after you boys . ”
This blows . rather of wading into the “ red ledger ” of a complicated individual who did seriously flagitious acts and is trying urgently to buy redemption with good human activity , we get the persona who feels ruin by her bare womb . And even worse , the film tries to fix it by infantilizing another character into her big infant . This stings even worse when you equate the great scenes that Black Widow did have in Avengers 2 . For example when all the boys are squabbling over who was worthy to entertain Thor ’s pounding Black Widow just kicks back and note , “ That ’s not a motion I need answered . ”
Also great : her new escrima - stick weapons , her light up lawsuit , and the whole activeness aspect where she takes on Ultron after start out of a spirt on a bike . ( There were some complaints online about Black Widow being a “ damozel in distress , ” because Ultron kidnaps her and brings her back to his lair . But after her general ass kicking , see her get temporarily charm did n’t bother us . Plus , once kidnapped , Black Widow cobbles together a signal to tell apart the squad where Ultron was , so she kind of saved herself and also saved the day . )
So Black Widow gets plenty of heroic moments in this film — but they ’re overshadowed by her with child “ no kids ” reveal , and the fact that the Hulk becomes her backup man tyke . How did this happen ? We can only assume that the secret plan morphed over prison term ( as many movies do ) in various script drafts . But it ’s sad , because it really casts away all the dull work the previous movies did teasing out that Black Widow ’s past tense was built on bloodshed .
She ca n’t just be the coolest auntie , or have made the valid choice that , as an assassin and undercover agent , maybe kids are not in the cards for her . Or even the more revolutionary selection that she just does n’t want them . No , she ca n’t ever have babies , so her life is ruined . She is an incomplete cleaning lady . Of naturally , only Hawkeye has kids — although he has to have them on a orphic farm .
Black Widow is barren and therefore dead within . Poor , empty - nested Mommy Widow , who even loses her dearest interest and imposter - babe in one fall swoop at the terminal of the movie . The Hulk vanishes , to have more solo dangerous undertaking later . Meanwhile , Black Widow is what ? Captain America ’s number two in The Avengers : The New Class . Sigh .
3. The Backlash
But or else of sit down at the table of the Internet and talk about these issues like calm , hoard folk , the cyberspace responded as only the Internet knows how : with voltaic pile - ons and expiry threats .
The people who criticized Whedon publically — which may or may not have spurred Whedon leave the net — are , themselves , amaze death threats . It ’s a snake corrode its own stern .
People have been write about the many way that the treatment of Black Widow has take in , but that ’s all go to get lost now . Instead , everyone ’s going to let the cat out of the bag about the abuse . And about Whedon , personally , instead of the body of work . But that ’s just play into the Internet ’s many on-going refinement wars , and it ’s conk out to ruin everything .
So , it ’s time to sit down like big boys and girls at the grownup mesa — and talk about this , without flipping the goddamn thing over .
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