Many fans disappointed by Marvel’s failure to portray a solid female superhero
Following the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon was attacked via the cyber sphere. Directing and writing for the film, Whedon was criticized by fans for his portrayal of Marvel’s Black Widow character (one of Marvel’s few successful female superheroes). Following the backlash, Whedon closed his Twitter account for ambiguous reasons.
Having seen the movie, Black Widow’s character development kind of sucks. I wasn’t happy with her in the first film, since she was super low-key and didn’t seem to do anything cool (aside from her crazy leg-maneuvers). In Age of Ultron, her character was reduced to an unfulfilled woman with a weird romantic subplot.
In the first Avengers film, Loki and Black Widow have an interesting conversation that subtly foreshadows a juicy backstory for Black Widow, however, nothing was done about it in the second film.
There was little-to-no chemistry between Black Widow and the Hulk, making the romance between them feel a little out of place.
Furthermore, Iron Man makes a rape joke early in the film, which also threw off a lot fans. It was coming out of Ironman’s mouth, which did not surprise me, as his character has already been depicted as a nauseating alpha-male with an overcompensation complex. When Ironman tried to lift Thor’s hammer, he claims that the first thing he would do during his reign over Asgard is reinstate Prima Nocta, which is a law claiming that a leader can sleep with whatever bride he wants on her wedding night.
Despite popular belief, the film itself did not slut-shame anyone. Outside of the film, however, Chris Evans (Captain America) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) decided to put their intelligence on hold by blatantly calling Black Widow’s character a “slut” and a “whore” in an interview. This, of course, reflected itself onto the film’s values. This is why actors are told to represent themselves outside of a film as appropriately as possible, because everyone knows that anything a person does in the public sphere may directly represent the organizations they are involved with. Obviously these two actors were not aware of this rule, and that is why Public Relations jobs are still available.
The biggest problem with Black Widow’s character was her reference to being a “monster” after a disappointing revelation. Black Widow reveals that her big secret – that she was sterilized by the people that built her into an assassin during her graduation ceremony as a child. She seemingly longs for motherhood, however, as the way this information is relayed gives the audience the impression that she is empty and damaged due to her inability to have children. She also refers to herself as a monster directly after explaining that her inability to have children was “one less thing to worry about” to her trainers. Many interpreted the scene as blatantly portraying women without children, or women who cannot have children, as monstrosities.
It is understandable why so many people were offended by Black Widow’s revelation, as women without children are constantly ostracized in real life. Whedon, however, has a reputation for placing female characters in male-dominated societies and indirectly commenting on a female’s struggle in reality through that character’s downfalls. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example, Whedon portrays a female’s struggle for sexual agency through Buffy’s inability to sleep with the person she loves (due to a curse that will turn her lover into a soulless being). Buffy’s struggle with sexual fulfillment is popularly viewed as a comment on a female’s constant struggle to achieve full sexual agency in a society that doesn’t support it, regardless of how strong a character she is.
Perhaps Black Widow’s inability to have children was an indirect portrayal of the struggle women have to balance womanhood and careers, due to society’s inability to change the system. Black Widow could also represent the constant struggle women face for complete control over their reproductive system, since Black Widow’s choice was stolen from her at a young age.
Regardless of whether it was Whedon’s fault or not, Marvel screwed up royally when they decided to exclude Black Widow from merchandising. In toy stores, you can find sets that come with every member of the Avengers team except for Black Widow, which is a little ridiculous. Apparently this was caused by the fact that Disney claimed that they already had the girls’ toy market down-pact (whatever that means), so they did not need Black Widow merchandise….hmm.