Picture this: It is a calm Saturday evening spent relaxing at home. The first Avengers movie is playing on the DVD player while you eat dinner with your family. The world is utterly tranquil for a little slice of time.
That's what I felt like at twelve years old when "The Avengers" was introduced to the world. Every character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has impacted my life in on every way or another, but the first lady Avenger stands out the most as a positive symbol for women in my life.
In all honesty, I have been waiting for the Black Widow solo movie ever since the first Avengers movie came out. Natasha Romanoff stood out to me for a number of reasons. Not only was she the only girl on the team (at the time), she was also the one with a sharp dedication for her work. Black Widow never needed for any of her male team members to help her out; half the time, she was the one rescuing them.
This sparked a turning point in my childhood because I had grown up knowing princesses and the whole prince-charming-saves-the-damsel routine. Even now, as I continue to grow older, that routine has been done to death, and I think I am not alone in seeing how boring this male-dominant routine has become. However, Black Widow showed me and other girls of my generation that women have the capability to work and live for themselves without depending on others.
Also, from a writer's perspective, I find the idea of Natasha Romanoff's backstory quite intriguing. As of now, all people really know is she did not grow up knowing her family, and she used to be more of a villainous spy than the hero she became. There's so much more to say about this character, and I don't think the world was ready for a female-led superhero movie in 2012, but now that the world is in a slightly better place for women, now is the time for Black Widow to shine on her own.
Especially after her sacrifice in "Avengers: Endgame", Black Widow has gone above and beyond to show how much of a hero she is, and she doesn't need any element of science or magic to help her either. Black Widow is my favorite heroine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because she shows that women carry a heroic strength within themselves from the beginning.
