You’re a spy, not a soldier.HEY GUYS REMEMBER THAT TIME NATASHA HIJACKED AN ALIEN FLYING JETSKI
AND FIGURED OUT HOW TO CLOSE THE PORTAL
AND SAVED THE WORLD?
(Source: finching)
Quinn: What? You’re bulletproof now?
Natasha: Find out.From Daredevil #63, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev.
The Avengers storyboards by Jane Wu.
AND NOW, BLACK WIDOW META.
So here is a thing I’ve been wanting to talk about since I saw The Avengers and haven’t been able to because I was too busy writing we were emergencies: Natasha Romanov? Is terrified of the Hulk. Let me stop right here and address the comment I least want to receive in response to this statement, and, unfortunately, the comment I believe I am most likely to get:
- No she’s not, because that fear would make her less of a badass/Yes she is, and that fear makes her less of a badass/any permutation of the idea that being afraid of things somehow negates badassery:
What? No. Human beings are afraid of stuff, the end. It’s part of the human condition. People eat, sleep, breathe, shit, and fear things. Like, universally. Even Chuck Norris, wherever he may roam, has at least one thing that is his mental equivalent of something going bump in the night. Having fear is not a determinate of strength of character; how you handle that fear is. DONE.Okay, with that out of the way, let’s first establish how we know Natasha is afraid of the Hulk. There’s the scene in the helicarrier, yeah, definitely, where she tries to keep Bruce from Hulking and then has to deal with him while Hulked; then there’s the scene afterwards, where she is visibly freaking the fuck out until she stands up and goes to beat the brainwashing out of a close friend, and yep, that’s fear, no question. But, you know what, I’m pretty sure any reasonable human not-immortal-like-Thor person would be a little bit like HOLY SHIT THAT WAS TERRIFYING AS FUCK JESUS GOD in the wake of being the target of an indestructible giant green rage monster. So, really, I think the more telling scene in her reaction when Bruce screws with her at the beginning of the movie—the degree to which her reaction is visibly, palpably one of fear is something we’ve never seen from Black Widow. And it’s not because the Hulk has showed up; it’s because there’s been the suggestion that he might. Or, to be more accurate, it’s because she’s just watched what she thought was Bruce losing control.
Because that’s what this is about, guys; that’s what it’s always about, with Natasha. Go grab yourselves some artist formerly and currently known as Prince, because this is a story about control.
Okay wait.
I just facepalmed about this “mewling quim blah blah Joss is a sexist moron” stuff myself so hard that I bruised myself. Seriously?
Warning: lots of opinions and Widow/Pepper/Hill love and Avengers movie spoilers.
Okay guys…
Learn the word “joke.” Think about whether it could possibly apply to a writer saying that his greatest achievement in a film is inserting a piece of raunchy archaic vocabulary.
Think about how interesting and actually empowering that line was when seen in context. Loki mocks her in a sexist way for what he perceives as her innate lack of strength, which she was consciously faking (while possibly still showing some real emotional complexity and weakness which is not inherently sexist it is interesting writing) in order to manipulate him into telling her exactly what she wants to know. Loki is punished for those sexist thoughts, and Joss simply was able to find a creative and completely in-character way of expressing them. ”Shakespeare in the Park,” remember?
“Mewling quim” is a fucking fantastic insult from a screenwriting standpoint - horrible and uncomfortable and infuriating and Joss should be proud of coming up with something so viscerally affecting. I already knew what “quim” meant when I saw the movie, and when it came out of his mouth, my jaw dropped because it was really shocking. And horrifying. And cruel. You know why? Because Loki as a character is often shocking and horrifying and cruel. Joss wrote successfully for a character. Learn to separate character from writer.
As egos collide, Black Widow—street name, Natasha Romanova—is the only character who does not throw a monstrous hissyfit. The only character to gather actionable intelligence against Loki from Loki. The character who not only literally kicks sense back into the brainwashed Hawkeye, but then absolves him of any sins performed while under the loony god’s spell.
You want fearless? When midtown Manhattan is swarming with thousands of robo-aliens, the dreaded Chitauri, Black Widow commandeers one of their slippery aero-sleds and flies it to steal Loki’s glowing phallic scimitar so as to save the world so Iron Man can blow up the aliens.
― From an article about the reviews downplaying/ignoring the importance of Black Widow in the film, and the role of women in action in general. (via honeyspider)
(Source: manticoreimaginary)
What I love about Black Widow:
It’s not hard to notice which members of the Avengers have special powers. It’s a classic superhero construct to have either a preternatural skill, or a signature weapon, or advanced technology, that aids them in their fight.
Obviously, in The Avengers, it’s easy to pick out that Black Widow is the exception to these Superhero Tenets. Of the fighters, Iron Man has his technology, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America their supernatural strength, and Hawkeye, while he has no powers, has his signature bow and arrow. They each have at least some of the trappings of a classic superhero.
Natasha Romanov has only herself.
She is a spy, and carries no specific weapon of choice. She bears no special strength other than physical and mental training. She uses a gun when she has one. She manipulates others’ perceptions of her when it’s useful. She throws her body on that evil flying alien soldier thing (okay, I’m not expert) because she needs to get to the portal and shut it down.
She relies on her body, her brain, and her circumstance - because it’s all she has. And you know what? It’s usually enough.
She does not need a weapon. She is a weapon.
♣ natasha romanova
it’s not the length of a life that matters…just the depth of it. the chances we take. the paths we choose. how we go on after our hearts break. hearts always break. and so we bend with our hearts. and we sway. but in the end…what matters is that we loved…and lived.
(Source: captainsulus)
#the greatest #i’ve got red in my ledger. i’d like to wipe it clean. #she manipulates people’s gendered expectations of her to extract information#she conducts interrogations by letting people think they’ve bested her #by letting men think they’ve bested her #because she’s small and fragile and female and she is emotional and easy to snap in half #and then she tears them apart #and it’s the greatest thing and you’re the greatest thing and i love you #get your own movie
(Source: roseeverdeen)
on the character of Black Widow and misogyny
vague spoilers
I’d make the argument that she was a main POV for most of the movie - I was really invested in her arc with Hawkeye. Everyone else had to figure out how to work together, but her arc concerning Hawkeye was for them alone, and it was a real, tangible thing that she was worried about and wanted to fix, not a clash of personalities that had to be solved. And because of this, it boggles me that anyone could think she was useless. I, too, was worried beforehand that she would simply be there to be the token woman, but she was so, so much more.
(Source: captainsulus)
