Warning: This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame!
Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo are defending their decision to kill Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow. A decision which ruffled a whole lot of feathers.
– Russo Brothers : h-
Nat Stans: #AvengersEndgame#BlackWidow— Hani Munive // ⧗ ⎊ Romanoff – Stark ⧗ ⎊ (@hannapriscila6) May 5, 2019
Romanoff, who has been part of the MCU since Iron Man 2, dies in Endgame after sacrificing herself to save Hawkeye in exchange for the Soul Stone.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Joe Russo said, “To me it’s one of the sadder scenes in the movie because it’s really putting two people in a Sophie’s choice, putting two people in the position where, do you let your friend die or do you die?”
“It’s a fight to see who’s going to kill themselves… It’s a crazy concept for a scene. And as you’ve seen in The Avengers, she’s a better fighter than he is. So when it comes down to a fight between the two of them, she wins.”
Many have pointed out that Black Widow was “fridged”, a comic book trope where a woman is sacrificed to motivate a male character. However, Joe said there was another reason for the scene.
“The theme of the movie is, can you change your destiny, and what does it cost to do it? And are you willing to pay that cost?”
“It’s a resounding yes from the Avengers. In [‘Infinity War’] they said, ‘We don’t trade lives,’ and there was a desire to protect. And in this movie, there’s now a desire to sacrifice in order to accomplish the goal.”
“I think that that’s a natural progression, right?”
“‘Well, the first thing we’re going to do is try to protect everybody.’ And then when you realize it can’t work that way, then true heroes step up and are willing to sacrifice for the greater good.”
He added, “When she gets to that [Soul Stone] scene, I think she understands that the only way to bring the community back is for her to sacrifice herself.”
They also said that Natasha didn’t throw her life away, she instead chose to put Hawkeye and the universe above herself.
Many fans have also complained about the fact that Natasha tells Clint he needs to live because when they finally undo the Snap his family will return, which makes it seem like he had more reason to survive than she did because she didn’t have kids.
While Natasha didn’t make it to the end of Endgame, we will be getting more of the character with a Black Widow movie that’s rumoured to begin shooting soon.
Rachel Weisz, David Harbour and Emma Watson are all rumoured to star in the film and while Marvel hasn’t officially confirmed the movie just yet, it does appear to be legit.
We’ll just be over here, waiting patiently for confirmation!