My second blog post is another Avengers-themed one. This time, I’ll be discussing the fate of Black Widow. Like Thor, there has been an outcry against her treatment in Endgame.

Some have accused her suicide/sacrifice as ‘fridging’. For those who aren’t aware of the term, ‘fridging’ is where a female character dies to give a male character a reason to feel and drive the plot forward.

When I watched Endgame in the cinema and that scene came up on Vormir, I felt she was resolved. She was comfortable in letting go and giving her life to not only save Earth, the Universe, defeat Thanos and let Clint see his family again but she did it to save her family. That’s important. She mentioned earlier in the film that the Avengers were the only family she had and I think she’d go full mama bear if it boosted their chances of survival.

Another important point to note was that her death was her choice. Leading up to that fateful moment, Clint initially volunteered for the task then Natasha stopped him and went for the edge herself thus leading into the friend vs. friend fight over who stopped the other from killing themselves. Both wanted to save the other and both wanted to serve their purpose for the good of the mission. That is what they’re trained to do, after all. They are assassins working for the most secret government intelligence agency. Death is part of the job whether it’s a targets or their own. They need to be comfortable with that and, as Nick Fury said to Cap in Winter Soldier, Agent Romanoff is ‘comfortable with everything’. She certainly looked it whilst Clint struggled desperately to save her.

From a narrative standpoint, Black Widow was perhaps the only option. Both she and Hawkeye (I’ll be swapping between their real names and hero monikers throughout) are the least powerful, the most trained in dangerous missions and they’re used to laying their lives on the line. To go back to Tony Stark in Avengers, ‘We are not soldiers’ he told Steve Rogers. And its true. The core Avengers team aren’t soldiers and that includes Captain America. He was an experiment that worked but, ultimately, wasn’t meant to be used in battle. He was a guinea pig that had been refused military service therefore not officially a solider.

So, the core team is made up of a God,  a successful military experiment, a scientist and an engineer.  Black Widow and Hawkeye are effectively the SHIELD reps to make sure Nick Fury’s ballsy Avengers Initiative doesn’t go off the rails.

Back to the narrative reasons – For the Vormir mission, you could have had Cap and Black Widow but the moment wouldn’t resonate as well because they don’t have the history. Cap could have sacrificed himself but we would have missed on the ‘holy trinity’ moment and seeing Cap wield Mjolnir.

If Cap let Natasha die, he’d have understood her reasons but it would grate him. Allowing a person to fall to their death goes against everything he stands for. And it would have brought back memories of Bucky in The First Avenger. A lot of pain which would have surely multiplied with the fact that it’s Red Skull who dictates the terms of the transaction. Vormir would be a bad place for Steve.

If Banner was used, again I don’t think the moment would have had the same gravitas because they’re relationship hadn’t formed fully. If it was Natasha and Banner on Vormir with Nat dying, that would have been fridging as Banner would be mourning the loss of his only real love interest in several years. He’d also be mourning the loss of the potential relationship he could have had. Allowing Natasha to die could have seen a full conversion back to Hulk where he’d be less useful. A raging, uncontrollable Banner would be the last thing the Avengers need with the universe in the balance.

If it was Banner who died in that scene, however, we wouldn’t have had the first ‘Snap’ with Banner bringing everyone back and trying to bring Nat back. You could have swapped Hulk for Thor where he might have survived the ‘Snap’ and the audience would have bought Thor’s grief given that he’d have endured another failure in trying to bring back someone he’s only just really bonded with.  

If we take Iron Man, it wouldn’t work because Tony wouldn’t be resolved in what’s been the main cause of his paranoia since the first Avengers. Thanos. Everything Tony has done since he sent that nuke into space has been driven by the fear of threats from beyond Earth.

And Tony wouldn’t let Nat die because he’d have some kind of awesome gadget to haul her back up whilst he takes her place.

Having Thor in that scene just wouldn’t work. Thor dying would have been sad and miserable and would have been a worthy reason for the fat shaming I discussed in my first blog. Throwing an overweight, depressed alcoholic off a cliff would have been extremely bad taste and not at all a fitting way for Thor to leave us.

Similarly, having Thor let Natasha die would have been unlikely as well. He could fly down, rescue her and sacrifice himself faster than she could throw herself off the mountain again.

If we look at the other characters of Rocket, Carol, Okoye, Scott, Nebula and Rhodie, Natasha has no relationship with them whatsoever. Her main relationships are with Tony, Steve, Clint and Bruce.

Hopefully, I’ve resolved that element of the debate. So, coming back to Natasha and Clint. As mentioned before, both are the least powerful and so have the least to bring to the table. It would be stupid to sacrifice any of your most valuable members just when you’d need them the most.

Ultimately, what it comes down is what Natasha wants most of all. Redemption. She wanted the red in her ledger wiped out and she chose to sacrifice herself to save her family and half the universe. If that’s not an empowering act, I don’t know what is.

And it had to be Clint and Natasha because Natasha owes him a debt. He saved her life which led her to being part of a family. Now, she’s saving him so he can be part of his.

Her ledger is wiped clean and her books balanced. She can complete her mission knowing she owes no one anything and that the Soul Stone has been secured.

Her funeral, or rather lack of, was also a bit of a sore point for many. I can see why but I think there’s a simple explanation. She was doing her job. She wasn’t being a hero. She wasn’t making big, flash displays of power. She did her job and that involved her traversing the lines of ethics and morality. She wasn’t a God, a Supersoldier, a giant green rage monster or a man in can. She didn’t take the limelight because that’s not what she was about. She dealt in stealth, deception and espionage and because of that, she didn’t really connect with anybody. Nobody knew her because she could be anybody and she liked to keep it that way.

After an Avengers event, the private individuals all go back home. Natasha’s home was SHIELD which meant she went back to being a spy when she was done doing something for the outright good of the human race.

In the end, her death was quiet, respectful, a little tricky but it certainly had impact. Much like the woman herself. The only reason there wasn’t more pomp and circumstance is because she just didn’t have the reach that Tony did. Everyone knew exactly who Tony Stark and Iron Man were but very few knew Natasha.

And, frankly, she’d want it kept that way.

She’d have been a terrible spy otherwise.