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WARNING : Major spoilers in front forAvengers : Endgame .
retaliator : Endgameutterly fails Black Widow . For a motion-picture show that give such a fitting send off to MCU establish zep Iron Man and Captain America , allowsThor an exciting future with the Guardians of the Galaxy , and leave Hulk and Hawkeye with the stories they ’ve always needed , it ’s shocking the founding distaff Avenger is yield such a short shrift .
Natasha Romanoff dies halfway throughAvengers : Endgame . During her and Hawkeye ’s part of the team ’s time change of location mission to pluck the Infinity Stones out of the past , they understand one of them must give themselves on Vormir to reach the Soul Stone . After one of the pair ’s now - typical tussles , Black Widow terminate up falling to her death just as Gamora did three hours prior . And , like Thanos ' favorite daughter , come the motion-picture show ’s end , she rest deadened .
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Considering how muchAvengers : Endgamegets mighty - make no misunderstanding , it ’s a really great movie and surely close to the good something so straggly could be - its pachydermatous handling of Black Widow put up out . It ’s a sorry final stage to one of the MCU ’s eternally underserved characters .
Black Widow Was Always Underserved By The MCU - And Avengers: Endgame Changes Nothing
Scarlett Johannson joined the MCU inIron Man 2under last - minute lot . The part had been offered to director Jon Favreau ’s first alternative , Emily Blunt , but she had to clear due to Fox exercising a declaration clause fromThe Devil Wears Pradato have her star inGulliver ’s Travels . In come in Johannson , who ’d blind - tested for the part . From there , she became one of the core six inThe Avengers , had a central supporting role inCaptain America : The Winter Soldier , then was once more anAvenger in Age of Ultron , Civil WarandInfinity War . That ’s seven movies countingAvengers : Endgame .
If there was one word to account Black Widow across these films ( a run that lasts longer than Christopher Reeve ’s Superman ) , it ’s discrepant . In fairly much each pic , Johansson was playing a dissimilar character : sultry spy inIron Man 2 ; badass fighter inThe Avengers ; secretive cavalryman inThe Winter Soldier ; smite captive inAge of Ultron ; indecisive game - player inCivil War ; limit funding inInfinity War ; and now plot - necessary ritual killing inEndgame . None of this is to say she ’s a bad character ( although Joss Whedon ’s mate her off with fellow"monster " Bruce Banner was a bad choice ) , but it ’s unmortgaged there ’s a want of definition to Black Widow and constantly changing direction as new directors take her on or panoptic enfranchisement headache come in .
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Black Widow’s Death Sees Avengers: Endgame Betray Infinity War
For reason that are never explained , Black Widow and Hawkeye are the ace prefer to collect the Soul Stone from Vormir duringAvengers : Endgame ’s time travel gambit . No matter that they ’re the two most grounded character , they ’re off on a space mission on their own . Once there , they derive across Red Skull , who namedrops Natasha ’s unidentified father ( devious setup for her solo movie just asThanos ' father A’larswas forThe Eternals ) and then the brace are drive to ruminate how to get to the gem .
So much here make no narration sense . From Nebula ’s check ofGamora ’s dying inInfinity War- " He took her to Vormir . He issue forth back with the Soul Stone . But she did n’t . " - she understandably has an savvy of the barter aspect of this Infinity Stone , meaning she ’s willingly sending one of this pair to their death . For Clint and Nat to arrive without any noesis of what expect feel fabulously shortly - sighted .
But beyond that , for one of the Avengers to have to die undermines the entire point ofInfinity War . Thanos win because of Captain America ’s militant decree " we do n’t trade life story " , essentially the zep ' unfitness to display the unshaking will to become victorious;Doctor Strange give up the Time Stoneto save Iron Man and the decision to ultimately kill Vision comes too late . This was best see in the Soul Stone scene where Thanos pour down his " favorite " girl without much pause . Yet when the Avengers get their counterpoint moment inEndgame , the answer is still to trade a life . There ’s no victory here , just the heroes sinking to the villain ' floor out of despair .
Choosing Black Widow To Die Instead Of Hawkeye Is Arbitrary
Even accepting that selection , unexplained on a thematic horizontal surface , there ’s an denotative choosing of Black Widow to be the one to exit . Not all - devoting family man Hawkeye who has buy the farm full dingy asRonin , but the ransomed super undercover agent who was precede the Avengers . It ’s arbitrary , shown in the pair ’s scrap for the right wing to croak .
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It ’s an singular quirk of Marvel moving picture to give Black Widow and Hawkeye development in two ever - contrast forms : they struggle and then they speak . InThe Avengers , they fight down on the Helicarrier when he ’s under the Mind Stone ’s influence , then reflect ; inCaptain America : Civil War , their political disagreement comes out in a fight wherein they admit they ’re pulling punches ; and inAvengers : Endgamethe fighting is a spar scaffolding of their argument over sacrifice . In theory , each of these thought can be powerful , yet when it ’s the default for their interaction there ’s a sentiency of going through the motions .
This is highlighted in theirAvengers : Endgamebout , with the ultimate winner / loser decided entirely on the basis of storyteller decision . reckon Clint ’s daybook is now just as red , there ’s a character abstract thought for him to make a sacrifice and , without a proper family reunion in the movie ( they ’re just back together atTony Stark ’s funeral ) , no narrative justification to not . Conversely , to have Hawkeye make it explicitly because of his home , it makes theAvengers : Age of Ultronreveal that Black Widow is infertile ( and , in Whedon ’s parlance , a " monster " ) find even dirtier .
Of naturally , the thought of trading living is not only against the Infinity War assumption , it highlights a bigger problem with theSoul Stone .
Black Widow’s Death Makes The Soul Stone Problem Worse
WhileAvengers : Infinity Warwas roundly praise for how it translated the laughable issue to the big screen , if there was one consequence that proved divisive , it was the treatment of the Soul Stone . In something approaching a retcon ( or at least an element not prepare up fully ) , it was revealed that the final Infinity Stone was hidden on theplanet Vormirand only approachable through the substitution of a soul , specifically that of a enjoy one . Thanos sacrificed Gamora , his pet daughter , to get the jewel , something that questioned the musical theme of " love . "
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Black Widow ’s demise isEndgame ’s mirror constituent . Ignoring any temporal issues from time travel ( for example , Captain America ’s return of the Soul Stone and reunion with Red Skull ) , that another distaff character must die to attain it is certainly ill - meet . Beyond that , it play up an over - vagueness of the Vormir automobile mechanic , with " forfeit " and " love " so badly - delineate that any greater signification or reflection on the characters who survive too open to viewer interpretation for excited lynchpins of both photographic film ' respective in-between acts .
All of this is made weaker by the fact thatAvengers : Infinity War ’s vamper ofSoul World- Thanos go to an orange - hue dimension after the snap where he encountered a vernal Gamora - terminate up moot . The tease of that comic element was a tantalizing one and ply a orderly map for Gamora ’s - and , subsequently , Black Widow ’s - return . However , it was merely a peachy visual , and had no plot exercising weight . That ’s acceptable enough but a loose element of a wet story .
Black Widow’s Death Weakened Avengers: Endgame’s Finale
What makes Black Widow ’s dying all the more galling is how much it leaves a fix in the middle ofAvengers : Endgame ’s final struggle . This is the MCU ’s biggest comic book spread yet , a sequence that involve every single hero imaginable , from Captain America to Valkyrie , Wong to M’Baku . It ’s the return of the vanished and the concluding stand of the original hero . And yet one - sixth of the OG Avengers is absent from it .
Any outlandishness you may have felt with Black Widow ’s death is made all the bad by the fact that she is n’t there to be a part of the final stand against Thanos . Yes , she gave her living for this cause , but the conflict is about emotive spectacle and so a lack part stands out . Hawkeye gets a cardinal role in protect the Infinity Gauntlet : how much more spectacular would that have been if Clint had been fighting alongside Nat , another callback to their partner off foreign mission in Budapest ?
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This is really highlighted in the movie ’s all - distaff beat . When Captain Marvel grabs the Stark Infinity Gauntlet , all the distaff Marvel heroes tack to clear her path . In an expanding shot , Scarlet Witch , Nebula , Gamora , Mantis , Okoye , Valkyrie and Shuri , all appear to help the strongest hero . It’sAvengers : Endgame ’s approximation ofA - Force , the all - female Marvel bomber squad created during theSecret Warsevent in 2015 . And yet the import is just one of many in a massive action sequence so , like the Widow - Okoye - Wanda squad - up inInfinity War , feel more tokenistic than empowering , which is only heighten by the fact that the only woman from the original Avengers has already been sacrificed .
Black Widow is n’t the only graphic symbol missing fromAvengers : Endgame ’s final battle . Gamora was killed by Thanos to likewise attain the Soul Stone ( although her 2014 counterpart does take part in the fight ) , Vision is yet to have his stone - pulling death undone , andLokiremains unresurrected ( although did make his own timeline due to the prison term travel ) . But none of these are quite as galling as the seven - picture solid Natasha .
Black Widow’s Solo Movie Is No Excuse For Her Death
Of course , unlike Chris Evans or Robert Downey , Jr. , Scarlett Johansson has an immediate time to come in the MCU . Although Marvel is yet to announce it ( no succeeding films are being affirm until afterSpider - Isle of Man : Far From domicile ) , it ’s all - but set that theBlack Widowsolo moving picture will release next May . The pic , directed by Cate Shortland , will star Johansson alongside David Harbour , Rachel Weisz , Florence Pugh and type O - T Fagbenle .
right away , the doubtfulness of floor continuation comes up , but is explained by plot reports . Black Widowwill be a prequel , showing Natasha ’s time as a spy and how she got just so much flushed on her ledger , with a story that ’s rumored to necessitate aspects admit Y2 K , the Winter Soldier and , hopefully , Budapest . That ’s sure as shooting the most interesting view of Black Widow ’s write up , and allows the MCU to essentially pause forward impulse while still releasing film in 2020 ( the other film out next year isThe Eternals , also wait to be a prequel ) .
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But continuing Black Widow ’s front on the big projection screen does n’t calculate for her death . A posthumous prequel may be a effective film yet it offers very small in the scope of the share universe . The old two period movies in the MCU -Captain America : The First AvengerandCaptain Marvel- introduced heroes who would be essential to directly following movies . Black Widow ’s film is a eulogy ; it tells her story and that ’s certainly interesting , but it ’s alreadytoo little , too later , and Marvel ’s only exasperate it .
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It ’s easy to bet atAvengers : Endgameas a celebration of the MCU so far , but what it really is is a distillate . It ’s everything that Marvel Studios has done across all their motion picture in the microcosm of a single runtime - both good and bad . And , alas , that on the face of it must also think of a unadulterated disregard for its founding female case .
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