Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and joins the Avengers as one of the original six founding members of the crime-fighting team. She has a somewhat mysterious past as a K.G.B. operative in Russia, but she moves on from this as best as she can. She’s a successful and deadly agent who is known as one of the best.
She grows throughout the movies and slowly becomes close to everyone and becomes a trusted member of the team. Here are some of the moments when fans felt bad for Black Widow and some of the moments when they hated her.
Felt Bad: Her Past Before S.H.I.E.L.D.
Natasha had a traumatic upbringing as a K.G.B. agent and was treated terribly and tortured and forced to turn into a spy. She tries to get move on from her past and finds a family in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, but her past still haunts her. The audience and fans feel terrible that she was forced to go through such a traumatic childhood that changed her life forever.
Hated: Undercover Introduction
Black Widow goes undercover at Stark Industries to keep an eye on Tony Stark. She reveals herself as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on assignment instead of a an ordinary new Stark Industries employee. Although this was a clever reveal, this action could be read as she’s not one to be trusted because she lied when she first met Tony and showed allegiance to S.H.I.E.L.D., which could have given the characters pause when putting together the Avengers team.
Felt Bad: Fighting Against Clint
Natasha has to fight against her partner Clint when he was brainwashed by Loki. In the first Avengers film, Loki takes Clint and brainwashes him to fight on his side against his allies including Natasha.
Natasha and Clint have to fight each other and Natasha apologizes as she knocks him out. Thankfully, they’re able to break Loki’s hold on him and bring him back.
Hated: Blindly Following S.H.I.E.L.D.
It’s revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated by the evil organization, Hydra, but it’s not clear how long or how many missions agents went on that were ordered by Hydra. Although Natasha Romanoff helps to take down Hydra in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before this she seems to be a dedicated agent to them. Although it’s not clear if she was a part of any of the Hydra missions, she doesn’t seem to question any of the missions before knowing of Hydra’s presence.
Felt Bad: Sacrificing Herself For Clint
In Avengers: Endgame, the remaining Avengers attempt to change the past and reverse Thanos’ act of killing half the people in the universe. Clint and Natasha go to Vormir to get the soul stone and realize that one of them must sacrifice themselves so the other can get the stone.
Natasha and Clint fight to try to save the other and Natasha wins in sacrificing herself to save Clint. It’s a heartbreaking scene that had fans feeling bad for both Natasha and Clint.
Hated: Her Relationship With Bruce
This was more of an issue with the writing in the MCU that tried to introduce a random relationship between Bruce and Natasha. The pairing wasn’t popular and most fans didn’t understand why these two would want to be together. This was especially frustrating because the MCU had built a potential romance between Natasha and Clint and hadn’t spent any time building a Bruce and Natasha relationship.
Felt Bad: Feeling The Pain Of The Snap
Natasha shows raw emotion after the snap and she talked about it with Steve in Avengers: Endgame. She talks about her past and how she had nothing until she found the Avengers group and S.H.I.E.L.D. and she finally felt like she had a family.
She says the family she found made her want to be a better person, and although they’re gone, she’s still trying to be better. This is a rare moment of emotion for Natasha and it had the audience feeling bad for her.
Hated: Knowing About Clint’s Family
It’s revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron that Hawkeye has a wife and kids and the only member of the team who knew about it was Black Widow. Everyone else is surprised that Clint has a family except Natasha, who knew and has met his wife and kids before. Fans didn’t like this random introduction of his family in general, but it is also curious that Natasha would know about them and still have chemistry and a potential romance with Clint in earlier movies.
Felt Bad: Can’t Have Kids
In a conversation with Bruce, Natasha reveals that she was sterilized as a teenager as part of her traumatic past, so she cannot have kids. She tells Bruce this as they discuss their relationship and after they’ve seen Hawkeye’s kids. Even if she never wanted to have kids, she makes an odd sexist remark that seems to say she feels like a monster because she can’t have kids, it’s still traumatic and the audience feels bad for her that she was not given the choice and was forced to go through with the sterilization.
Hated: Chose Team Iron Man
Natasha and Steve become incredibly close as they take down Hydra in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the next Avengers film, Natasha chooses to support Tony instead of Steve in their Civil War fight. It doesn’t make much sense for Natasha not to support Steve after they work well together and become close, fans were upset by her choice to be on team Iron Man.
