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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Here is the thing about Black Widows "arc" in Age of Ultron: She didn't really have one. It was Bruce's arc, not hers, she was just there to get him to the place he was supposed to be at the end of the movie. And I honestly would have preferred if she didn't have any arc at all over letting play second fiddle to the needs or another character. The whole thing made me dislike Bruce (don't worry, I'll most likely get over it). That's not saying that she can't have a romance, but it should be HER romance, just like the relationship with Pepper is about Tony and the one with Jane is about Thor. But that's not what they did with Natasha. And she really deserves more than that as a character.
Actually she did have an arc. Her arc is a continuation of the "red ledger" aspect of her character, trying to make up for her numerous sins. In Avengers she was cynic and not willing to believe in her redemption, in Age of Ultron she is actually trying to redeem herself, by allowing herself to open up to Bruce and live a happy life with him.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."![]()
It's not an arc if you hit exactly the same notes as before. I really don't see a difference in her stance aside from suddenly having ideas about her future which have no built up whatsoever. It's as if Tony suddenly turned up on screen to announce that he will stop being a engineer in order to do missionary work in the future. (Sorry, but the Black Widow thing is really the one aspect I really, really disliked about the movie).
On a different note, someone gifted me a new "Lexicon of Superheroes" to my birthday, and there are some aspects I noticed about it. For one, the lack of X-Men in it. Two, Hank Pygm is listed under his name while Scott Lang is listed under Ant-Man. I got the impression that while they listed what the heroes did in the Comics and not in the movies, they deliberately concentrated on the characters which might be relevant at one point. Not exclusively, but there is a certain emphasis.
Her stance did a 180 actually. In the first movie she's not even willing to consider and seems resigned to her fate, with her cold-hearted demeanor to shield herself from harm, in Age of Ultron she lets her guard down, is actually trying to redeem herself, and is opening herself up and demonstrating her true feelings for the first time (as Cap points out).
"All you Fascists bound to lose."![]()
It's her actually trying to put what she said about finding out who she is into action. She's trying to detach herself from the hyper-efficient SHIELD Agent she used to be, and embracing feelings for someone/trying to pursue a relationship is part of that.
If her fears that she'll always just be a monster are still coming up? That's perfectly reasonable and to be expected, she has a lot of past to work through.
Black Widow's arc may not have been the best, but it was there.
edited 3rd May '15 11:12:40 AM by Khfan429
I'm just watching all these gameplay trailers for characters that aren't in the MCU now and man, they got Nova Prime's personality pretty much how he was in the comics and in UMVC 3. Can we get a new Marvel vs Capcom game soon?
The writers chosen for the film's script (before Jon "The Darkest Hour" Spaits rewrote it) are Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, who have done nothing both write one horrible film after another.
GASP! How dare you! Kung Fu Panda is a masterpiece!
Also, I think I like Age of Ultron about as much as the first Avengers. There's stuff the first Avengers does better — more connections between scenes, better transitions — but there's stuff Age of Ultron does better.
Beta Ray Bill. I believe he was the first character other than Thor to be shown to be able to wield Thor's Hammer. In that story, he impressed Odin so much that the Skyfather made a a copy of Mjolnir just for him, called Stormbreaker. By all effects, Beta Ray Bill is basically Space Horse Thor.
Saw AOU the other day and here's my thoughts:
Was enjoyable, with good writing and acting all around.
Given that Tony is basically Joss Whedon's Sue, I think it did a pretty good job showing Tony's dark side and it treated Steve better than I expected.
I don't mind the Black Widow/Bruce romance, although I took it as more of "lonely and horny" on both sides than true love (so, I'm iffiest on having Steve tell Bruce that Natasha was just acting when flirting with him). It might just be Scarlett Johannsen having good chemistry with a lot of people, but I think Natasha's character works as someone who is never going to have a normal life and in some ways is always playing a role, but still wants to play at normality.
The "sterilization thing" was really blown out of proportion. It didn't bother me, because it seemed reminiscent of the (castrated) Unsullied in Game of Thrones /A Song of Ice and Fire- something paired with forcing people to kill so as to further dehumanize them.
I really liked Ultron.
Hawkeye was surprisingly a highlight of the film.
Honestly, the only people in the original Avengers who I wouldn't expect to be able to lift Thor's hammer are Tony and Bruce (and with the latter, that's mostly because of the Hulk) and probably not Fury or Hill either.
edited 3rd May '15 12:22:31 PM by Hodor2
Tough call (she certaintly doesn't think she could lift it). Like Hawkeye, she has a very dark past, but in the present, is The Atoner. That being said, Nat probably would fall under the same bar as Hill and Fury- someone who is good in intentions and pets the dog a lot, but is probably involved in way too much Dirty Business to be worthy.
Edit- One other thing- I'm positive that Tony was using "Peace in Our Time" ironically/ with a mockery of "appeasement". It's just that his/Ultron's idea of Peace Through Superior Firepower isn't much better.
Also, on another topic, just saw Woman in Gold (highly recommend it), and Daniel Bruhl is perfect for Zemo- he plays a very admirable character in the film and I can really see him as the (evilish) German version of Steve Rogers.
edited 3rd May '15 12:33:31 PM by Hodor2

Did someone say "Ronan The Accuser in the comics"? Picture dump time!
edited 3rd May '15 10:04:32 AM by LordofLore