and eventually joined the Avengers before her iconic — and controversial — death in “Endgame.” As a prequel, “Black Widow” takes place between “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” during the years the Avengers disband and Natasha is on the run.
While “Black Widow” is the story of the physical liberation of the Widows, it also tells a story of liberation from society’s narrow definition of womanhood, and women’s worth and morality as tied to reproduction.
But sexist throwaway line aside, the Red Room’s rationale for this violating act was that the only thing a Widow could supposedly have more loyalty to than her mission is a baby; her infertility is what supposedly allows her to transition from human woman with a conscience to an unencumbered killing machine.
Throughout the movie, we see up close how Dreykov’s unsaid numbers of Widows and victims — women and girls of all backgrounds who were stolen or bought — are treated as nothing, empty vessels to be filled.
Parallels between the story of the Widows and real-life human trafficking are rampant and obvious, and it’s impossible to ignore the gutting feeling of sexual violation watching Dreykov exert total control over his Widows’ bodies, and program away their ability to fight or resist him.
In our own non-Marvel world, women and pregnant-capable people are scorned for lacking “maternal instincts,” for having abortions, for being selfish if they don’t want kids, while also being shamed for miscarriages and fertility issues.
The cultural and political coercion, control, and violence to which women are routinely subjected is so intense, so ingrained, so prevalent, that most of us could at least on some level relate to Yelena’s joy at having the freedom for the first time in her life to do something as small as buy a vest.
They just go in and rip out all of your reproductive organs, chop them all away.” Her rebuke and candor are far and away funnier than any misogynist period joke ever told, making Alexei wonderfully uncomfortable — and reminding how many women and survivors like the Widows can find liberation from trauma through humor.
Reuniting with Yelena brings forth a reckoning with how she and Natasha were raised – in a “The Americans”-style sleeper family in which matriarch Melina is a Red Room graduate herself, assigned to play wife to Alexei and mother to the girls.
In a quietly rueful yet otherwise humorous sisterly conversation while they stop for dinner outside a car repair shop, Yelena discloses the fake story about her family that she often gives to strangers.
Natasha’s death in “Avengers: Endgame” drew fierce debate since it was set up as a choice: the death of Natasha or Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye , as a sacrifice, in order to obtain a crucial Infinity stone.
And while the events of “Endgame” can’t be undone, “Black Widow” offers a rebuke to its MCU predecessor, asserting that Natasha’s two families — her adoptive Russian spy one and the Avengers — are families, even if they’re not biological.
“Black Widow” is a complex ode to modern feminism, exploring the chilling ways women are socialized and, in this movie, literally wired to harm other women under patriarchy.
Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited.