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insecurity over turning into an actual green beast, de-
scribed herself as a “monster” because of her forced
hysterectomy and inability to bear children. The line
outraged fans, who called out director Joss Whedon
on Twitter. He left the platform soon after, though
he told Buzzfeed that his departure was unrelated
to the blowback and that “militant feminists” were
always criticizing his work. (Whedon has since been
accused of bullying behavior, particularly toward fe-
male and BIPOC actors, on sets.)
This treatment of Black Widow was not restricted
to the movie scripts themselves. On the press tour
for Avengers 2, actors Jeremy Renner and Chris
Evans, when asked about Black Widow’s romantic
history—she had had flirtations with Renner’s char-
acter Hawkeye, Downey’s Iron Man, Evans’ Captain
America and Ruffalo’s Hulk over the course of a few
films—joked that the character was “a slut,” setting
off another Internet firestorm about the misogyny
directed toward female action heroes on- and off-
screen. Both actors later apologized.
Marvel is far from the only franchise reckoning
with its past treatment of female characters as it tries
to market itself as a hub of inclusive story telling.
After decades of complaints about Bond girls, this
year’s Bond film, No Time to Die, got a script treat-
ment from outspoken feminist and Fleabag creator
Phoebe Waller-Bridge. (She has emphasized that she
does not believe she was hired because of her gen-
der.) And even as Jenkins created practical costumes
for the Amazon warriors in her Wonder Woman
movie, the two subsequent versions of the Justice
League movie, directed by Zack Snyder and Whedon,
respectively, cropped the armor to expose more skin.
Marvel has seemingly become more deliberate in
its treatment of female characters. “I think there is
a conscientious effort to not objectify women,” says
Alonso. Its team-up movies have grown from fea-
turing one woman to several. Avengers: Infinity War
largely centered on the relationship Gamora (Zoe
Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) had with their
genocidal father Thanos (Josh Brolin). Yet female
superheroes continue to be outfitted in impractical
heels and body- hugging suits. Alonso claims Marvel
gets more criticism for objectifying men with “the
shirtless scenes” than women. It’s hard to imagine
this could be possible, though fair to assume that any
flak along those lines has more to do with society’s
sexist double standards than with the studio having
a worse track record with men than women.Shortland had not Seen all the Marvel movies
before she signed on to direct Black Widow. Typi-
cally, she writes backstories for her characters, but
she found Black Widow’s back catalog to be insuf-
ficient. “She was a character created for the male
gaze,” says Shortland. “Initially, even the way she
moved, the way she dressed—it was helpful as a step-
ping-stone. But it wasn’t who she was.” She invented
a history for the character beyond the script, which
she shared with Johansson, and they discussed what
it would have been like for Natasha to grow up in
Russia, watching the Soviet Union get dismantled.
Black Widow opens with Natasha’s childhood,
which could easily slot into a Cold War espionage
show like The Americans. Her “parents” are Rus-
sian sleeper agents living in Ohio, and in the thrilling
opening act, the audience meets a different NatashaRachel Weisz,
Scarlett Johansson
and Florence Pugh
join forces for a rare
female-dominated
spy thriller