After 'Captain Marvel', it's Black Widow's turn to put Marvel female superhero films back on the map
For the past decade, our beloved superheroes, Iron Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man, The Guardians Of The Galaxy, Thor and Ant-Man (This might be a question mark for many), enthralled us with thrilling adventures, sometimes in the form of standalone films, or epic crossovers that left us breathless.
We cheered them on, we laughed with them, and we cried when they turned into dust in Infinity War. Perhaps we cried and hooted more when they returned in 'Avengers Endgame' and we had to say goodbye to Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr).
One scene that left us heartbroken was Black Widow's death (Scarlett Johansson). The spy sacrifices herself in Vormir, so that the team can acquire the soul stone. It was upsetting to not see Black Widow with the rest of the Avengers in the final battle, especially in the scene with the women.
Much to the excitement of fans, Black Widow is getting her own standalone film. It took 11 years for her to get one, but she's finally here. Slowly, Marvel is breaking through the shackles that bound them and coming up with women superhero-led films and working on their representation of female characters in their films. Last year, it was 'Captain Marvel', and later, 'The Wasp' was mentioned in the same title of the 2018 Ant-Man film. In this respect, DC raced ahead with 'Wonder Woman', and got glowing praise.
So why did it take 11 years for a Black Widow film to release, especially when most of the Avengers had already got several films for themselves? Indeed, she is just as crucial as any of the members and has done the same amount to save the world, over and over again. She has an equally enigmatic past and intriguing history, as the other superheroes.
Black Widow's history
In the comics, Black Widow made her first appearance as the Russian spy antagonist in the feature 'Iron Man', which began in 'Tales Of Suspense' (1964). A couple of issues later, she recruits Hawkeye to her cause. The government supplies her with the first Black Widow costume and high-tech weaponry. However, she leaves for the US,and later becomes a recurring ally of the Avengers team. Natasha's childhood in the comics was retconned, which establishes her as being raised from childhood by the USSR's Black Widow program, rather than just Ivan Petrovich, which was the initial storyline. She was then trained in combat and espionage in the covert 'Red Room' facility She is then biotechnologically and psycho-technologically enhanced. She is also given false memories to ensure her loyalty. Natasha discovers this and realizes that she had never been a ballerina, as she had always believed.
During this time, she is even trained under the Winter Soldier, and the two had a brief romance.
According to the films, Black Widow or Natasha Romanoff, is mostly like her comic counterpart, a talented spy, assassin and one of the original Avengers. She is originally a dangerous assassin, and was recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. by Hawkeye. She is known for her mastery in martial arts, 'widow's bite'. When Loki attacked Earth, Natasha helped in recruiting Tony Stark and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) into the team while they tried to track down Loki. She joined the team during the Battle Of New York, and was crucial in destroying the portal over the city that had been created by the Tesseract. This ended Loki's invasion.
Her solo film 'Black Widow' is expected to be set between the events of 'Captain America: Civil War' and 'Avengers Infinity War'.
The powerful women in the MCU
Women characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have evolved and grown over the course of 11 years and 22 films, starting with Pepper Potts. She wasn't just a secretary and damsel in distress, and commanded respect for herself in the later films. For one, she could put Tony Stark in his place. One of her triumphant moments being her entrance into the final battle in 'Avengers Endgame'.
Black Widow made her presence felt in Iron Man 2. Yet her most powerful moment was when she battled Russian goons while being handcuffed to a chair in Avengers, and her battle with the security guards in Iron Man 2.
Though they are human, Agent Peggy Carter and Maria Hill still have powerful roles to play. Let's not forget Maria redirecting the Helicarrier to take down Ultron sentinels, or even saving Nick Fury's life in 'Spider-Man: Far From Home', Black Panther was revolutionary for its strong integration of women into the narrative essence. The characters are transcendent, powerful and fierce, sometimes even overriding Black Panther himself.
'Captain Marvel' was clunky perhaps and could have been better as a film, but it served as a first for Marvel which let a woman superhero at long last headline a film.
The women go to battle in 'Avengers Endgame', and that scene where they charge might seem like pandering, but yet it has its impact. It could be interepreted as that Marvel is finally going strong with female representation rather than relegating them to the sidelines as paltry love interests.
Of course, not everything is entirely gung-ho, and a lot is still to be done. While 'Avengers Infinity War' and 'Avengers Endgame' did their best to show women power in all the battles, fans were still disappointed. For starters, Black Widow's sacrifice for Hawkeye upset many. Natasha had spent years trying to reconnect the Avengers and save the universe, and then got 'sidelined' in the film, just so that Hawkeye, who had been committing angry murders around the country, could survive and take home the stone. And, in the films, Natasha is just paired with most of the Avengers, because...woman.
Hopefully, in the 'Black Widow' film, the earlier wrongs will be put right, and Natasha gets the justice that she deserves.