History Fridge / BlackWidow2021

* In Russia, Christmas was phased out during the Soviet era and only became an official holiday again in 1991. Even if Melina and Alexei had lived ordinary family lives as normal children, they probably wouldn't have grown up celebrating Christmas. It's also observed on January 6-7 instead of December 25, and tends to be celebrated very differently than in the west (primarily with festive family meals instead of gift-giving and decorations, which are features of New Year's Day celebrations instead). Melina and Alexei may not have even thought that the girls would care about Christmas.

* It makes sense that Natasha has blue hair rather than her natural red hair, as she likely chose that color in order to fit the American trend of unnatural hair color, which would allow her to blend in in Ohio. Also, she likely chose to dye her hair blue because it was the one thing she was allowed to have control over while working for the Red Room
* All of Natasha's hairstyles are symbolic. In the beginning, her hair is blue, showing how happy and at peace she was living with Alexei and Melina in Ohio, despite being somewhat aware that it was all fake. Then she presumably let her red hair grow out and got rid of the dyed blue parts, symbolizing the trauma and the "red" in her ledger. Then, two weeks after destroying the Red Room, she dyes her hair completely blonde, as she has wiped out the "red"
* S.H.I.E.L.D. was run by a black guy, wearing black, with a neatly-trimmed goatee, [[BaldOfAuthority shaven head]], [[EyepatchOfPower and an eyepatch]]. Their best known base is in the clouds. Dreykov's Red Room is also an organization of spies, run by a white guy with normal hair, an unshaved face, [[FourEyesZeroSoul glasses]], and he even wears black. Their base is also flying and secret. ''Everyone'' there is mind-controlled in some way, while S.H.I.E.L.D. allows its agents more independence. Fury is so paranoid he sometimes doesn't even trust his own men - for good reason, as it happens - while Dreykov is arrogant and overconfident. And most importantly, S.H.I.E.L.D. is run for actually altruistic reasons, while Dreykov is completely selfish. In many ways it's a {{Foil}} to S.H.I.E.L.D.

*** Taskmaster doesn't really perfectly replicate Natasha, either, but it's because the character was designed to replicate all of the various Avengers in combat style alone. Natasha is never just fighting, though. She is adaptable and pragmatic, goal-oriented and creative about it, even more so than the other Avengers. This is most apparent in their first battle. While Taskmaster is simply copying and one-upping her signature moves, Natasha is quickly evaluating and re-evaluating the situation and making use of changes in her environment. Taskmaster won the physical fight and captured the case, but Natasha knew that the real winner was the one who left the field with its contents. Natasha isn't hard (on the superhero level) to defeat in a straight-up fight. Her greatest asset is her mind, and Taskmaster simply cannot duplicate that, because Taskmaster has to be brainwashed into following the already-provided mission directives.

* S.H.I.E.L.D. was run by a black guy, wearing black, with a neatly-trimmed goatee, shaven head, and an eyepatch. Their best known base is in the clouds. Dreykov's Red Room is also an organization of spies, run by a white guy with normal hair, an unshaved face, glasses, and he even wears black. Their base is also flying and secret. ''Everyone'' there is mind-controlled in some way, while S.H.I.E.L.D. allows its agents more independence. Fury is so paranoid he sometimes doesn't even trust his own men - for good reason, as it happens - while Dreykov is arrogant and overconfident. And most importantly, S.H.I.E.L.D. is run for actually altruistic reasons, while Dreykov is completely selfish. In many ways it's a {{Foil}} to S.H.I.E.L.D.

* Alexei's stories about fighting Captain America are seemingly treated as him making up stories. But the revelations of ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' about further super soldier experiments, it's possible Alexei wasn't lying and actually ''did'' fight another American super soldier fighting as Captain America (possibly William Nasland or William Burnside). In fact, Steve Rogers slept through the entire Cold War.

* Natasha watching Moonraker near the start helps foreshadow part of the climax, in that movie there is a floating station that the protagonists have to get into, which foreshadows that that what the Red Room is and what the heroes have to do as well.

* The mind control is terrifying when you think of the other purposes it was likely used for, especially by someone like Dreykov

* The mind control becomes even more terrifying when you realize the other purposes it could be used for...

** ''Hawkeye'' reveals Yelena saved many Widows before she was snapped. But whether there are enough on the loose, specially with the reveal that some are not brainwashed, but still dangerous as contract killers...

* The stinger showcases Yelena being recruited to hunt down Hawkeye and kill him for his part in Natasha's death. This does not bode well for Hawkeye's family. Given [[Series/Hawkeye2021 his solo show]] is about Clint PassingTheTorch, who knows if Kate Bishop will be there for him to get atonement for whatever Yelena causes?

* Think about how many Widows just got deprogrammed. No past, nothing in their heads but a lot of bad memories and the skillsets to be some of the most dangerous spies/assassins on the planet. What's to say they all go straight? Even one or two could cause some major damage if they go into business for themselves....

* Hundreds of people likely died in the avalanche because of Yelena shooting that rocket, and that's not even mentioning how hundreds of feet of snow are now covering the entire prison. It's incredibly likely that power and communications were knocked out, and since this prison is likely far away from civilization, the chances of anyone inside getting help are slim at best.

** Her equipment and her move set show that she is a mere knockoff of the people she copies. She is not able to replicate Steve because her shield is not only not made of the right material, but is also smaller. Because her shield isn't the right material, it doesn't rebound back to her. This is shown in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where John Walker's scrap metal shield doesn't rebound well when he throws it and Karli Morgenthau kicks it away. Furthermore, because she is much shorter and less muscular than the super soldier Steve, she can't replicate his physical prowess as well. This is why she is also unable to replicate Bucky properly either. Because she is lighter than Bucky, a more muscular and lighter super soldier, she gets easily disarmed by a forearm block by Alexei, a heavier and bigger, and as such, physically stronger super soldier. For her knife, her knife is not even the right type. Bucky’s knife from his right holster is double edged, while hers is single edged, which will reduce her rate of attack. She is not able to replicate Clint simply because she is not left handed, and as such, has to wield her bow with her left hand instead of her right, like Clint. She probably doesn’t try to replicate T’Challa because she doesn’t have a Vibranium suit or claws, and as such doesn’t have the benefit of very sharp claws or complete protection from bladed weapons and guns. The hero she can perfectly replicate is Natasha. This makes sense, because not only did she most likely receive red room training, she gets to scan Natasha up close and personal instead of viewing video footage, which could likely be slowed down because of the camera’s framerate.

* Dreykov designed Taskmaster to copy several heroes even though, as stated earlier, she won't be able to efficiently mimic them. Taskmaster is a copycat because Dreykov is one. He's copying from more powerful people to look more powerful but also doesn't do as good of a job. He stole the technology and science for perfect mind control from Hydra. His base can be seen as a copy of SHIELD's helicarriers and his plan can be seen as a knockoff of Project Insight, especially because it doesn't take as much effort as Captain America and his team needed to stop Project Insight.

* The stinger showcases Yelena being recruited to hunt down Hawkeye and kill him for his part in Natasha's death. This does not bode well for Hawkeye's family. Given his solo show is about Clint PassingTheTorch, who knows if Kate Bishop will be there for him to get atonement for whatever Yelena causes?
* Judging by Dreykov's dialogue, the number of black widows could well be in hundreds or thousands, taking into account, according to Yelena, only 1 out of 20 survives the training, so who knows how many thousands of girls died because of Dreykov and how many more he planned to kill to achieve his purposes.

** This movie takes place roughly after Natasha goes on the run during ''Civil War'' and before Steve breaks the other Avengers out while Infinity War takes place two years later. Hopefully Yelena, Alexei and Melina found and freed most of the brainwashed Widows before that.