Black Widow’s “Just Like Budapest” Avengers Line Now Makes No Sense

First referenced in 2012’s The Avengers, Black Widow reveals exactly what went down between Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton in Budapest – and the truth makes Scarlett Johansson’s original line seem nonsensical. Fans had been clamoring for a Johansson MCU solo movie years before Black Widow finally landed in 2021. Directly by Cate Shortland, Natasha’s post-Civil War diversion answers plenty of mysteries about SHIELD’s most formidable agent, including her Red Room origins, her Avengers: Infinity War costume, and her stolen Quinjet. Most intriguing of all, Black Widow explains the almost decade-old mystery of what happened in Budapest.

Back in The Avengers, the MCU established a close connection between Black Widow and Hawkeye, and it’s later explained that SHIELD’s resident archer was the man who recruited Natasha Romanoff from the Russians. Once the Battle of New York begins and the Avengers are pitted against an entire army of Chitauri invaders led by Loki, Natasha quips to her bow-wielding pal, “just like Budapest all over again,” to which Clint replies, “you and I remember Budapest very differently.” And after Black Widow, we’re with Hawkeye on this one.

As revealed by the MCU’s latest cinematic offering, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton visited Budapest to assassinate Red Room chief, Dreykov. They did so by blowing up a five-story building and (apparently) killing Dreyvok’s young daughter in the process, before holing up in a train station vent to play tic-tac-toe and evading Hungarian special forces for over a week. Natasha specifically says “it took almost destroying the entire city just to get to [Dreykov]” but all Black Widow confirms is the destruction of a single building and an intense subsequent firefight. Given that Dreykov isn’t in a bunker by the time Clint and Nat find him, it seems the “entire city” comment is an exaggeration of the bombing. So, quite what part of repelling an alien invasion reminds Natasha of murdering schoolchildren and taking down an infamous Russian general is unclear. Now that the Budapest story has been explained, there is absolutely no correlation whatsoever between that mission and the Battle of New York. Indeed, only seconds before Natasha’s line, Hawkeye is seen helping children escape a smashed-up bus – exactly the opposite of what transpired in Budapest.

Only with the elongated reach of Reed Richards can a potential explanation be deduced. Perhaps Natasha simply meant that Budapest and New York were both “Black Widow and Hawkeye vs. everyone” scenarios, and standing side-by-side against insurmountable odds was enough to remind Black Widow of the time they spent together in Hungary. As Nat’s exact quote explains, the mission involved “imploding a five-story building and then shooting it out with the Hungarian Special Forces. Took 10 days in hiding before we could even get out of Budapest.” At the most simple level, even without confirmation of how long that battle took place (though logically, it was within hours of the explosion), Budapest might just have been the last time Nat and Clint were in such an intense firefight alone together – although, given their line of work, that seems unlikely.

Of course, the real reason The Avengers and Black Widow both remember Budapest very differently is that each film was written years apart by completely different people. In The Avengers, it’s clear that Joss Whedon intended Budapest as a lighthearted scrape Natasha and Hawkeye escaped like a plucky Butch-and-Sundance-style double act. Black Widow ultimately went in the total opposite direction, turning Budapest into a traumatic turning point from Natasha’s early SHIELD years. Turning Budapest into a serious milestone instead of a comedy caper makes sense, considering how Johansson’s character has evolved since 2012, but the result is a very awkward moment in future Avengers re-watches, where Black Widow jokes about an event that should haunt her very soul. Still, at least Hawkeye’s reply makes sense.

Hopefully, Black Widow can make “just like Budapest” the next great MCU meme, with characters using the line in the most inappropriate situations possible. Robert Downey Jr. uttering “just like Budapest” before Tony Stark sacrifices himself against Thanos, for example. Or Vision explaining grief to Wanda by telling her it’s “just like Budapest.” And Groot adding another 3 words to his vocabulary? “Just. Like. Budapest.”