The black widow spider: a venomous, female spider, most commonly known for its habit of of killing and eating its male counterpart after mating. Anyone who’s seen a Marvel movie knows that the character named after this dangerous predator, more than lives up to its treacherous reputation.
Natasha Romanov, a.k.a the Black Widow, was the most ruthless, independent female lead I had ever seen. She was a master manipulator, capable of getting the most hardened perpetrators to give up information to her. Whether she fooled them into it or fought them into submission, she always got what she was after, tossing them aside once she got what she needed from them in true black widow form. She worked for the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency but always had her own agenda, making sure to put herself first when entering any mission. She never needed to be rescued because she was the one doing the rescuing. This was the Black Widow I knew and loved. The Black Widow that enjoyed shameless flirting with her male cohorts, knowing she could make them blush any time she wanted. She was confident, cunning, and an absolute badass.
Sadly, with the release of the latest Avengers film, "Avengers: Age of Ultron," her wickedly wonderful persona has been tainted by the newly implemented theme that’s loomed over her female character since the first Avengers: true love.
For "Age of Ultron," Marvel writers decided to pair up the previously independent, capable female lead with the monstrous Hulk, adding yet another cliché; “beauty and the beast” story to the movie universe, pulling in the small portion of the public who hadn’t yet been hooked by the franchise, drawing them in with that irresistible ingredient of a beautiful woman being the only one to understand and control the beast within a man. A lovely and romantic notion, no doubt; but disastrously wrong for Black Widow’s character.
Her swooning over the Hulk completely went against everything Black Widow’s character is supposed to portray, and the way she acts towards the Hulk in "Age of Ultron" is downright embarrassing. Captain America says it perfectly after Widow’s first attempt at letting the Hulk know she’s interested, “I’ve seen her flirt, up close. And this aint’ that.” He’s right; the way she speaks to the Hulk is very different from how she usually tantalizes men. She makes it blatant that she has strong feelings for him, letting him know every chance she gets. She doesn’t resort to her usual flirting; instead she lays out her personal life, telling him all about her dark past and her current emotions towards herself. The cherry on top was when Hulk rescues her from Ultron, causing more pouring out of her affections for him. It was completely out of character, and on the verge of pathetic compared to her dominant persona up until then, making her out to be just another love struck female character who’s happiness can only come out of being with the man she loves.
Everyone I’ve expressed this opinion to tries to argue that they added in this romance to show how Widow has become more humanistic since joining the Avengers, and that she is growing to be more comfortable with her emotions after becoming part of a team that actually trusts and looks out for one another. I completely agree that this display of character development needed to take place, but not to the extent of her falling head over heals for a guy. It just wasn’t believable for her confidently devious personality.
The scenes with Hawkeye and his family were more than enough to show that Widow had grown capable of feeling emotion for other people. She had already been seemingly close to Hawkeye in previous movies, him being the only person she truly trusted after years of fighting side by side together. However, it was never a romantic relationship, which would have gone against her character’s fierce independence like her new love for the Hulk does. Her newly revealed love of Hawkeye’s children and wife would also have been sufficient evidence in showing she is capable of trust, love, and friendship. There was no need to throw her into the stereotypical role of a woman in need of a man to be happy and complete. Her falling in love with the Hulk was overkill.
The main reason this new romance frustrated me was not that the character’s story line had deviated from its original path, or that the confident, deadly persona of my favorite Marvel character had been obliterated into a wilted pile of emotion every time this male character came around. It was mainly the fact that, before this new romance, young girls had this strong, independent, incredibly capable female character who knew how to take care of herself, to look up to. Now she’s just like every other cliché princess (except Merida from Brave, but we all know a sequel is most likely coming soon, featuring a new male love interest since it was negated in the first movie). Finally there was a female character who’s ultimate happiness, well-being, and success did not depend on being with a man. Marvel wrecked the strong image of that role model in "Age of Ultron" as soon as the Black Widow gave that wide-eyed, timid look to the Hulk in the beginning of the movie. It was the most disappointing cop out I had ever seen. Marvel knew better.
