It is the time of year once again when theaters see the outpouring of Marvel fans to their doors for new superhero movies. This year Captain America and Iron Man are going to be butting heads over (*spoiler alert*) Bucky Barnes and the government trying to force a registration of all superhumans.

One thing that a lot of people are still lamenting, however, is the continued absence of a solo film for Black Widow. She is one of the most popular, yet underrated characters in the series and we have only learned her story in bits and pieces through her interactions with the male characters. In light of all this, here are three reasons to love Black Widow:

She’s got one of the most amazing redemption arcs ever

Although Natasha does not have an origin movie, we do know how she became the assassin she is today. Natasha grew up in an elite training school for girls in Russia that was designed for one reason: to train girls to be killers. This school was known as the Red Room, and its mission was an effective one. Natasha grew up as planned, and became a killer. In "The Avengers" she is quoted a couple times saying “I’ve got red in my ledger, and I’d like to wipe it out.” After Clint Barton made the call to recruit her instead of kill her, her life mission became to make up for the wrongs she has done in her life.

She’s basically a female Batman

OK, so basically everyone agrees that Tony Stark is the Marvel counterpart of DCs Batman, with Stark being the playboy, genius, philanthropist and all. However, his powers come from the things he creates and he makes those things because he has the money to do so. Natasha—like Batman—is trained in combat, has no superhuman ability, and is still a kickbutt superhero. However, unlike Stark or Batman, she became all of these things without a fortune to back her, and often preforms the same kinds of tasks the Bat does, while wearing high heels.

She’s undeniably human

Very often in the superhero world the women are prone to “Mary Sue” syndrome, which allows more character depth to be shown by the male lead. Take for example Jane Foster in the first Thor movie: intelligent, attractive, driven, no real flaw shown or explored and all of that is added on to a forced movie romance that feels like that’s the main reason she’s there. Up until "Age of Ultron," the Widow didn’t have any of that forced romance thing going on. She moved gracefully between the different heroes movies, forming relationships on screen with Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. The only two Avengers she has not had significant screen time getting to know are Thor and Bruce Banner.

This doesn’t become an issue until the relationships that have been built over the entire franchise are torn down in "Age of Ultron," to make way for a Natasha/Bruce romantic relationship. However, she still flows into the role of “Aunty Nat” with Hawkeyes children, giving her character another layer that had not yet been shown to audiences. We also know that she feels guilt over her past from her dialogue in the first "Avengers" films, and over the course of "Captain America: Winter Soldier" we see that she also has trust issues, and more to her past than we have been told.

So while we may not see a solo Black Widow film anytime soon, she should truly be more appreciated than she is at the moment. Natasha is a well thought out character who needs to be shown in a better light and her story deserves to be told as something that is more than an explanation for why she is screwed up. In just four films we have learned so much about her, but there is still so much to be seen.