You Didn’t Appreciate Black Widow Enough. Here’s Why.

Black Widow is one of the most underrated films in the MCU. Spoilers ahead!

Photo: Marvel Studios

It has been over 3 months since Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theatres but I’m still thinking about Black Widow. This movie was criminally underrated in my opinion — I can’t believe how quickly everyone stopped talking about it. Yes, there were no Avengers-style cliffhangers or major MCU plot developments, and maybe it didn’t live up to the long-awaited hype in some ways, but this movie was as thrilling, emotional, and heartbreaking as any quality MCU movie. Honestly it’s worth watching just for Florence Pugh’s performance as Yelena Belova. Here are some of my favourite elements of the film:

An Imperfect Family

An important aspect of the movie is the fake family made up of Natasha, Yelena, Alexei, and Melina. We see Natasha and Yelena as children, happily growing up in Ohio. Unbeknownst to Yelena, this picture-perfect family structure is a ruse for an undercover spy assignment. Natasha and Yelena are stripped from their fake life and thrown into the Red Room Academy, shedding any remaining innocence they still had through a gruelling widow training process.

When this family reunites years later with a shared goal of taking down the Red Room and its notorious leader Dreykov, Yelena can’t help but feel betrayed, as the 3 other members of her “family” appear to have completely moved on from the past.

Photo: Marvel Studios

“You are my mother. You were my real mother. The closest thing I ever had to one. The best part of my life was fake. And none of you told me.”

Ultimately the rest of her family admits it was real to them too — just in time for them to come together to take down the Red Room for good.

Yelena Discovering Her Freedom

There is a great scene where Natasha and Yelena get drinks after a fight, and talk about how they have been coping with the very traumatic events of their childhood. Yelena tells Natasha about her made up fantasy family backstory, and muses over what she might do now that she has control over her life for the very first time.

Afterwards, we get an absolutely adorable scene of Yelena enthusiastically talking about her vest to Natasha, and all of its pockets. At first Natasha is amused by Yelena but after seeing how important this small moment of freedom is to her, she softens and admits to liking the vest to make Yelena happy.

This is literally one of my favourite Marvel scenes of all time because it’s both very heartwarming and incredibly sad. If you haven’t seen it, watch it below:

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Female Liberation

We get a pretty clear picture of the themes the movie explores from the first 15 minutes. The opening credits give us a terrifying glimpse into what its like to be a widow for the Red Room, all to the tune of a haunting cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” This scene was so unlike anything I’d seen from an MCU movie before. Check it out below:

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In my opinion this movie does an excellent job of touching on some very dark topics including child abuse, human trafficking, and neglect. Despite everything these young women go through, they are able to come together and free each other from the shackles of the Red Room, leaving the viewer hopeful that the cycle really will be broken for good.

Photo: Marvel Studios

While this story may not be essential to the overarching MCU plot, these themes establish Black Widow as an MCU film in a class all on its own. If you were left underwhelmed or disappointed at the end of Black Widow, I hope this article offered a different perspective!