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Natasha Romanoff’s entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) became a favorite to many as she easily took on an army of men, all while Happy took on only the front guard. She is a former Russian spy turned S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent who joined a group that was eventually called the Avengers, who quickly became her family. This was when the idea of ‘family’ became a big deal for Natasha as she was trained from a young age, never having a family the way most people do. Natasha Romanoff, as the first female badass in one of the biggest comic book films of the past decade, gives women everywhere a role model to admire.
In many ways, Natasha Romanoff was the first woman in a Marvel film that is a hero herself and not a love interest. While using her seductive expertise to get closer to Tony Stark in her first appearance, she does not have a love interest until her fourth movie in the MCU (( Whedon, Joss. Avengers: Age of Ultron. 2015. Marvel Studios. )). After that, the love story diminishes and is mentioned only in passing. This puts the focal point back on the action and heroic elements of Natasha throughout the rest of the MCU franchise. A favorite Avenger of many, Romanoff is dependable, strong, and always follows through with what she believes.
What Makes Fans So Attached To Natasha Romanoff?
There are many reasons to love the Black Widow. She is confident, calm in stressful situations, has strong bonds with all of her friends, and has no problem protecting herself. Growing up, a lot of women in movies were weak and scared during fights, and even when they could fight, they’d usually misstep and be saved by a man. Natasha leads the fight. She uses the help from her comrades, but the situation rarely gets to where she wouldn’t be able to figure out a solution on her own. Even when she is kidnapped in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015; Joss Whedon), this seems more like a way to find where the compound is for Ultron.
She finds a way to contact Clint and then waits for Dr. Banner to find her. This could have been because either she actually couldn’t get out or because she wanted to get Dr. Banner to change into the Hulk in a controlled environment. In Avengers: Endgame (2019; Anthony and Joe Russo), we see just how far Natasha went to keep the world as normal as possible. She sacrificed her need to move on from the people they lost in the snap to figure out how to get them back. We also see how smart she is when trying to help Scott (Ant-Man) figure out time travel. Natasha Romanoff is a strong, independent woman that can hold her own in a battle against literal aliens, all while carving herself a Natasha Romanoff-sized spot in Marvel fans’ hearts.
Iron Man 2 (2010; Jon Favreau)
Natasha Romanoff first appears in the Marvel cinematic universe as Natalie Rushman, a notary who is notarizing Tony, making Pepper Potts the CEO of Stark Industries. She is undercover as Natalie by orders from Nick Fury (Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.) to assess whether Tony would make a good addition to the Avengers initiative. Natasha later becomes Tony’s personal assistant and keeps a closer eye on him as he becomes more reckless with his impending death. She later helps Pepper figure out where the movie’s main villain is being held, only to defeat his bodyguards and find his bunker empty.
We can tell the difference between Natasha Romanoff’s undercover and her own personality when Tony finds out who is actually Natalie Rushman. The annoyance at Tony’s antics rolls off her in waves but is quickly forgotten when Pepper Potts walks back into the room. We know she is smart when she tells Tony to leave in Latin, which is a dead language. She also thinks on her feet as Justin Hammer tries to leave before they figure out he is helping the main villain, Whiplash (( Wiki Targeted (Entertainment. 2021. “Whiplash.” Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki. 2021. )).
Avengers (2012; Joss Whedon)
This is where we see Natasha Romanoff in her element. She is manipulative and confident in what she does, as she is pulled away from an investigation she is conducting while tied to a chair by her captors to find her best friend Clint Barton, who was abducted, leading many fans to say that Natasha Romanoff’s hold music is breaking bones. She recruits Dr. Bruce Banner and reveals that she started as a spy at a very young age, hinting to the audience about her level of skill as a spy. Natasha Romanoff shows how skilled of a fighter she is when fighting brainwashed Clint Barton and is able to subdue him without killing him.
Romanoff manipulates Loki into giving them information much as she did with the bad guys initially. She is the damsel in distress, crying and flinching at his threats until Loki gives her the information, and she flips like a switch back to agent mode. She also manages to get the hulk to leave workers on the ship alone until Thor shows up to help.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014; Anthony And Joe Russo)
This movie is the first time we interact with Natasha Romanoff outside of a loose plan of saving the world. We begin with seeing her blow through sailors on a boat that are holding S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents hostage and continuing to run her own side mission while Captain America saves the rest of the agents. She goes on the run with Steve Rogers to keep him out of a corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands while trying to figure out how deep the corruption of Hydra goes.
The first time we see Natasha Romanoff break is when she believes Nick Fury has been assassinated. She watches as he is operated on after being shot in the chest and says;
“Don’t do this to me, Nick.”
When he seemingly passes away on the table, she is seen in the reflection blinking back tears and later seems to be the one most affected when seeing his “dead” body. This says a lot about her relationship with Fury. Obviously, it is more than just a boss/employee relationship, leading me to assume it is closer to a friendship, maybe leaning towards a paternal relationship. Seeing as in later movies, we find out that Natasha does not really have a family other than the Avengers. This speaks to how deep the bond is between Natasha and Nick Fury that she is openly showing her emotions and letting her guard down when his life is in danger.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015; Joss Whedon)
We get a lot of background information on Natasha in this movie. A lot of her past, until now, is a mystery to the audience until Wanda Maximoff influences Natasha into a nightmare. This nightmare includes the Red Room, where she was raised and trained to be the spy and killer before going to S.H.I.E.L.D. We also learn that the Red Room took away her ability to have children, trying to make sure there would never be something more important than the mission they send her on and likely the person they were ordering her to kill.
This is also where we see the first love interest for Natasha Romanoff, which is seemingly arbitrary. Dr. Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff flirt and gravitated towards each other whenever the fight is not the main focus. This shows Natasha’s softer side and showing how when she was undercover with Tony and Steve, both times she was not flirting out of interest but out of necessity to get a job done. We also get to see her interact with Clint Barton’s children. As they call her Auntie Nat, they draw pictures for her, hug her, and bring her out of her Wanda-induced nightmare enough to get her head back in the game.
Captain America: Civil War (2016; Anthony & Joe Russo)
This movie is stacked with heroes, more like an Avengers movie than a Captain America movie. Natasha constantly battles with herself over her choice at the beginning about the Hero Registration Act (( “Superhuman Registration Act.” 2021. Marvel Database. 2021. )), ending up supporting Tony, and Steve is on the other side. She goes to Agent Carter’s funeral for Steve, seeing as she was one of the only people left from his time and his love interest. This moment shows that no matter what, Natasha will always be there for her friends.
With the battle getting more personal, Natasha finds herself wavering over which side she is on, understanding the reluctance of Steve more than the unwavering decision Tony had made over the Act. She even says at one point that sometimes it’s easier to go with the path with the least resistance, saying that she doesn’t necessarily agree with the decision, but it’s what seems easiest.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018; Anthony And Joe Russo)
In this movie, we go into more depth on just how strong a bond Natasha forms with her teammates. After going on the run with Steve, Sam, and Wanda, Natasha has a new haircut and color and no longer cares what the politicians say. She also seems to have taken on the mother hen position in Wanda’s life, scolding her for not meeting her promise of checking in and staying close with Vision. She’s taken to helping with the lead role as well. When part of the Avengers meet Proxima Midnight and her army in Wakanda, she joins Captain America and Black Panther at the front lines to talk to Proxima before the battle begins.
This is also where Natasha noticed that Wanda was against Proxima, and after she claims that Vision will die alone, as will Wanda, Natasha comes up behind them and says, “She’s not alone,” as Okoye joins in the fight as well. This is later reflected in Avengers: Endgame in the final fight as Captain Marvel is about to fly through the battlefield with the infinity gauntlet, and Peter Parker asks how she will get through it. Okoye says, “she’s got help,” as all of the women of the MCU come within view, giving a tribute to Natasha as the first woman of the MCU, and this is after her death.
Avengers: Endgame (2019; Anthony And Joe Russo)
This is our final movie with Natasha in the Avengers team, as it is with Steve and Tony. The movie starts by showing what happened five years after the snap that wiped half the universe at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Natasha has seemingly taken over Nick Fury’s job, now watching over what the rest of the Avengers are doing along with the biggest problems that seem to be occurring in the world. Next, she has a pep talk with Steve about how they have handled things since the snap and, after a heart-to-heart, how the world has less pollution, more fish in the sea, but they both agree that this isn’t better than before the snap.
Natasha and Clint go to Vormir in search of the soul stone, and after the Guardian explains to them that someone needs to give up what they love to get the soul stone. After an intense fight that seems like it’s between siblings instead of friends, Natasha pushes off the cliff to save Clint for his family. Sadly, the team doesn’t seem to have time for a proper funeral for her, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have hopes for a funeral at the end of Black Widow (2021; Cate Shortland) or the series Hawkeye (2021-; Disney+) that will be about Clint Barton.
Fan Theories
Fan theories are just theories but some of them are extremely convincing. Tumblr user velesque points out that Natasha Romanoff may be alive after Dr. Bruce Banner tried to snap her back, but still in the past and on Vormir. Since everyone that was snapped back into existence came back to the place that they died, this could very well be true. There were a few theories going around that Natasha Romanoff is in the Loki series trailer but it is more than likely Lady Loki.
There is another theory that Natasha was not actually Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame. As seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there is a technology to disguise your face and voice to look like an entirely different person. So the theory is that Yelena, Natasha’s sister in the new movie, is disguised as Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame. With the hair color change and the vest that matches Yelena’s in Black Widow, this could be possible.
Natasha Romanoff’s Future In The MCU?
Sadly, since she died in Avengers: Endgame (as far as we know), her future will end with Black Widow. Whether Yelena takes over as the new Black Widow in the MCU will probably be confirmed in the upcoming movie. Natasha Romanoff held her own against so many villains with unnatural abilities, aliens, and her own allies to keep the world and her friends safe. I think it’s safe to say she wiped out the red in her ledger she was so worried about in Avengers.
Natasha Romanoff places her friends’ welfare prior to her own. Furthermore, she is powerful and skilled in her job to the point that she can keep up with literal super-soldiers, gods, and a billionaire with a flying suit. I also find it thrilling to see a woman in a group of men demonstrating what she can do without needing approval. Her life was difficult before joining the Avengers, but she still finds time to be Auntie Nat to Clint’s children and keeps in touch with her fellow Avengers.