Many of you have probably seen that blockbuster summer movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. Besides all of the other glaring issues that I have with that movie (i.e not enough of Captain America’s butt and the overload of information to attempt to tie in Marvel’s future movies), the biggest problem I have is Joss Whedon’s characterization of Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow aka one of the most badass female superheroes that Marvel has created), and the half-assed relationship she was forced into.

If you had seen Avengers (which, let’s be real, literally everyone has), you could assume that Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) and Natasha had a thing. Remember that little comment about Budapest? It was so obvious that some romantic undertones were present in this relationship. Fast-forward to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Natasha wore a small arrow necklace throughout the movie. Both Scarlett Johansson and the directors, Joe and Anthony Russo, repeatedly mentioned that the necklace was an allusion to Natasha’s relationship with Clint. So obviously she had a relationship with Clint! Great!

Spoiler alert (though the movie has been out for months and months and you should have heard about this by now): Natasha has a relationship with Bruce Banner! Yes, Black Widow is in a romantic relationship with the Hulk! Everyone was definitely prepared!

Bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

In Avengers, Natasha was scared of the Hulk. She was fine around Bruce but, like many others, she was worried about how the Hulk would affect her. In the movies following Avengers, specifically in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there was absolutely no mention of the relationship between Bruce and Natasha. If there had been, I wouldn’t have had such a huge issue with it. But instead, their relationship came from left field, was underdeveloped, and was completely unexpected.

Besides that half-assed attempt at a relationship, Whedon royally screwed up all of the great characterization that Natasha had in previous Marvel movies. Whedon uses her infertility to have her sympathize with Bruce, essentially saying that, because Natasha is infertile, it makes her a monster! Now she is only used as a tool for the male character’s narrative to advance! She is only there to further the male’s sense of character! Her character rarely develops!

Natasha Romanoff was a former Soviet spy who knew the Winter Soldier (another spoiler: in some comics, they are in a relationship which is STILL more plausible than the relationship forged between Bruce and Natasha). Though she often takes a backseat to her male counterparts and is often over-sexualized and objectified (shoutout to those low camera angle shots that make her seem like an object as opposed to a human being), she is still presented as a strong-as-hell female superhero who can hold her own against H.Y.D.R.A agents and large aliens. She is Marvel’s only female superhero that is currently on screen, and yet viewers know next to nothing about her character.

Joe and Anthony Russo set up a good starting point for Natasha’s character in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but Joss Whedon threw all of that out the window and just continued to use Natasha as a prop. Whedon screwed up one of the only female superheroes many other young girls and I look up to. He taught young girls that their character can only be defined by their relationship with a guy. There are no words that can describe how much disappointment I feel knowing that so many young girls are going to see their favorite female superhero be so passive.

So here’s a plea to Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors of Captain America: Civil War: please undo all of Joss Whedon’s terrible characterization. Please show me, and so many others, that a female superhero does not have to be objectified and defined by her romantic relationship in order to be badass. If you do feel the need to have Natasha pursue a romantic relationship, make sure that it makes sense.

Please don’t have me wait until Captain Marvel"is released to have a female superhero I’m proud of.