Why Black Widow Is the Real Heart of the MCU
Forget Iron Man – it’s Black Widow who is the thematic anchor of Marvel’s sprawling universe.
One may naturally assume that Iron Man has functioned as the heart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, given the fact that it was his film series that started the whole she-bang off 13 long years ago – and that it’s his death that effectively ends its opening storyline, “The Infinity Saga” (2008-2019). Or the argument could even be made for Captain America, who, at 11 movies, has accumulated more appearances than any other character in the shared universe (and whose personal ethos has perhaps done more to shape the cinematic world around him than anyone else in the Marvel pantheon).
In all actuality, however, the mantle belongs to Black Widow, the Avenger who has, thus far, acted more or less as a background player and, indeed, who has been featured in almost the least number of MCU installments.
The reasons for such a grandiose claim are two-fold. Firstly, Natasha Romanoff is a simple, humble human, coming from meager means and overcoming a misspent youth – factors which immediately make her intimately relatable to vast swaths of the audience. Sure, Tony Stark may have daddy issues and a nihilistic streak of his own, but his life story also comes with near-infinite wealth, vast connections to the government and military hierarchies, and a nearly unparalleled intellect – a silver spoon which eventually transformed itself into a suit of armor. Steve Rogers, for his part, is the recipient of supersoldier serums and vibranium shields, while Bruce Banner gets an assist from gamma radiation and Stephen Strange from the multi-dimensional mystic arts.
This is not to say, of course, that Nat is the consummate everyman; her background is still rife with elite, state-sponsored superspy training, including in a variety of martial arts and with a plethora of high-tech weapons (and, apparently, in ballet, to boot), which enables this “mundane” to hold her own alongside the other, superpowered Avengers. Still, the disparity in origin stories is critical not only in her appeal, but also to her very character.
And it is that character that constitutes the second – and more important – of the reasons that make her so thematically central to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If that sweeping collection of films (and, now, television series) can be distilled down to just one element, it would be the role of identity, and, more specifically, how each protagonist tackles it over time. (This is the real reason for the MCU’s enduring popularity, more than all the flamboyant fisticuffs, constant barrage of explosions, and otherworldly locations.) For Stark, it’s his relationship with Iron Man, with leaving his hedonistic ways behind and becoming a decent, functioning adult – and, eventually, parent – willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family, both biological and adopted; for Rogers, it’s never turning away from or otherwise compromising that inner voice of moral clarity, no matter how much he may change physically, thanks to scientific experimentation, or how much the world may change socio-politically, due to ideological ambiguity.
For Black Widow, her relationship with her identity is a bit more ragged and desperate, and it is, at times, punctuated with failure – which, needless to say, makes both it and her all the more heroic. It all starts with Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Avengers (2012), where Romanoff is introduced as the consummate agent, infiltrating one particular group or another (even Stark Industries!) and dispatching adversaries as needed. There are hints dropped right from the beginning about her sordid past, about her previous life as a KGB assassin before being brought in by Hawkeye and being rehabilitated by SHIELD, but she’s never forced to confront it until spending a great deal of time with Captain Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014); his unyielding, deontological insistence on trust and relationships opens the door, and the revelation that SHIELD has been unwittingly harboring Hydra for its entire existence pushes her through. By that movie’s end, Natasha is willing to make the greatest leap of her life yet: to commit not only to just one persona, but her real one, as Natasha Romanoff, with all of her secrets being published online for the entire world to see. From this point onward, she is – comparatively, at least – an open book, with an identity as transparent as Tony Stark’s as Iron Man or Steve Rogers’s as Cap.
And it is this newfound faith in openness that enables her to make her next move, laying all her cards on the table and proclaiming her affection for Dr. Banner in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). This is no small matter – she is willingly placing her heart and future both in another’s hands, even if it requires absconding with him to places unknown (the incredible Hulk’s alter ego, by this point in the narrative, is convinced that he can no longer safely remain within the presence of others and now wishes to find a suitable, distant place to subside in). The life Nat has assiduously constructed, the family she has surrounded herself with for the very first time, is perfectly capable of being left behind, all on the gamble that yet another, better existence can be carved out for herself.
That act of love and hope, unfortunately, ends in disaster, with her being rejected by Bruce, and it leaves her in a somewhat hardened position: to fight to keep the rest of the Avengers together, no matter what (which, of course, means fighting to keep what remains of her life together, no matter the cost). Thus, when the team is split clean down the middle in Captain America: Civil War (2016) thanks to a geopolitical divide, Widow goes against her better judgement and opts to remain with the government-sanctioned side, the faction that she feels has the best chance of maintaining their close-knit group – personal reservations (or ideologies) be damned. It all falls apart, however, when the rubber hits the road and she’s called upon to forcibly bring Captain America’s unit in; she makes yet another leap of faith, defecting to join her most stalwart of friends and entering a state of exile with him (the position she’s in at the start of the prequel Black Widow film that opens today, incidentally).
It wouldn’t be until the two-part Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019) that the ex-KGB operative and ex-SHIELD agent is welcomed back into the fold, to stand reunited against the finally invading Thanos. It is in the wake of the Avengers’ failure, allowing the Mad Titan to exterminate half of all life in the universe, that Natasha Romanoff at last reaches something of an apotheosis: becoming the matron of her family, helming their global (and, at times, interstellar) efforts at maintaining peace and, above all else, stability. Her life has now been fully and completely devoted to those around her – it is no wonder, then, that she ends up literally giving her life to them, sacrificing herself so that everyone who had been lost can be brought back. In this way, Nat is successfully able to atone for her past and embrace her present so that all can find a future together.
The at-times neglected character, the injured individual who endured physical torture and braved emotional humiliation, ended up being the steadfast compass, the shining light that all were able to find their way home by.
If that doesn’t constitute being the very heart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then nothing does.