Though Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, was never one of the biggest stars in the comics, the MCU has turned her into an iconic hero. She is one of the original Avengers and will finally be getting her own solo film later this year (hopefully).
Despite her lack of superpowers, Black Widow has always been a very important member of the Avengers. She is cunning, strong, and grounded. However, that doesn’t mean she is perfect. Natasha’s secrecy in her life as a spy and her sometimes reckless behavior has caused problems in the past. She is always there to save the day, but she can make some pretty big mistakes in the process.
Feeding Stark’s Recklessness
Natasha is first introduced in Iron Man 2. She presents herself as Natalie Rushman, a young professional who becomes Tony Stark’s assistant. Of course, she is really a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who has been assigned to keep tabs on Stark now that he has publicly announced himself as Iron Man.
While Natasha does a great job of playing the spy, she actually seems to make Tony worse. As he is in the midst of a life crisis, it seems like Natasha encourages him to embrace his most reckless ideas.
Testifying
After it’s revealed that Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D, Natasha works with Captain America to bring the whole thing down to prevent any further trouble. Dismantling the biggest intelligence agencies in the world doesn’t sit well with everyone and Natasha is called to testify on the matter.
Seeing as Captain America himself avoided going to the hearings, it wouldn’t have been wrong for Natasha to skip them as well. Instead, she arrogantly tells off the various politicians and generals. Though she may have been in the right, such an aggressive display would likely only make matters worse.
Lying To Banner
When Loki comes to Earth and takes the Tesseract, Nick Fury decides it is time to bring the Avengers together to stop him. Natasha gets the unenviable task of recruiting Bruce Banner. She tracks him to a small Indian village and finds a remote location to confront him.
She tells him that they are alone, but it is later revealed that the place is surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Taking back-up to the meeting was wise, but not telling Banner about it was a huge mistake. The last thing you want to do is surprise the Hulk.
Going To Space
In Avengers: Endgame, the remaining heroes come up with a plan to travel back in time and steal the various Infinity Stones so that they can reverse the damage Thanos had done. The team breaks into teams with Natasha and Clint going to Vormir to get the Soul Stone.
With the fate of the universe on the line, it seems ridiculous that they would send the two members of the team without superpowers into space to get the one stone they know the least about.
Relationship With Banner
Romances have always been a little hit-or-miss in the MCU. The unexpected and unnecessary attraction between Natasha and Banner was certainly one of the misses. Though the characters have good chemistry, a romance was the wrong way to take the relationship.
It also feels like a misstep for Natasha. It doesn’t seem like she would put herself in a situation like that. She is one of the most intelligent members of the Avengers, so it seems odd that she would put herself in such an obviously chaotic situation.
Choosing The Wrong Side
In Captain America: Civil War, the heroes find themselves split over the issue of government oversight for the Avengers. Much to everyone’s shock, Natasha sides with having oversight.
This seems out of character for her and, sure enough, she eventually abandons that stance and sides with Captain America instead. It seemed pretty clear from the beginning that she had chosen the wrong side for herself and things could have gone much smoother if she had thought her decision through some more.
Releasing Classified Secrets
In an effort to bring down Hydra for good, Natasha has all of their secrets leaked out to the public, exposing their hidden agents all over the world. However, in order to do this, she was also forced to leak all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets as well.
While this did help to defeat Hydra, the ends may not have justified the means. With so many secrets made public, surely innocent lives would have been put in danger. It also gave information to people like Zemo who used the data for nefarious purposes.
Choosing Hulk Over Banner
Part of the struggle in Natasha’s relationship with Banner was the fact that the Hulk was always going to be an obstacle between them. Natasha makes it clear that she is willing to work out that relationship as best they can.
But when the final battle with Ultron begins, Banner suggests they run away together. Natasha responds by pushing Banner down a pit to summon Hulk. That’s the moment their relationship ends and it’s not hard to see why Banner might have been upset by that.
Going Behind Steve’s Back
Steve and Natasha prove to be a pretty solid spy team, although Steve is far less enthusiastic about the deceptive aspects of the job. He is especially annoyed when it is people on his own team going behind his back.
When they are sent on a mission to save the crew aboard a hijacked S.H.I.E.L.D. ship, Natasha sneaks off to retrieve classified documents. Her own secret mission puts the rescue mission in jeopardy and allows their target to escape.
Sacrificing Herself
When Natasha and Clint arrive on Vormir, they discover the truth about the Soul Stone. In order to obtain it, one must sacrifice something they love. Seeing no other option, Natasha and Clint realize one of them will need to die. They fight to be the one to throw themselves off the cliff in order to save the other and Natasha ultimately gives her life.
However, this could have been a worthless sacrifice as the two heroes seemed to be playing fast and loose with the stone’s rules. Killing herself to save Clint means Clint didn’t sacrifice anything so her death might not have even gotten him the stone.
