Black Widow Retcons Natasha’s Weapons | Screen Rant
Warning: SPOILERS for Black Widow.
Black Widow retconned where Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson) weapons and equipment came from since fans originally believed they were developed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha's long-awaited solo movie delves into her tragic past, detailing how she joined the Red Room's Black Widow program that turned Romanoff into a Russian assassin. In Black Widow, Natasha reunites with her ersatz 'family' comprised of fellow Widows Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), and Alexei Shostokov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) to take down General Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the mastermind behind the Red Room.
Black Widow was introduced in Iron Man 2 as a S.H.I.E.L.D. deep cover shadow agent placed in Stark Industries to watch over Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Natasha Romanoff became Natalie Rushman from Legal, who was promoted to Stark CEO Pepper Potts' (Gwyneth Paltrow) executive assistant. When Nat revealed herself as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to take down Justin Hammer's (Sam Rockwell) security, Black Widow unleashed her fighting skills and her comic book weaponry like her Widow's Bite electroshock bracelets. After she became an Avenger, Natasha debuted electric batons to complement her go-to twin Glock sidearms. All of Romanoff's gear was believed to come from S.H.I.E.L.D., with Stark Industries taking over as the supplier of Natasha's equipment as part of her membership in the Avengers after S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
However, Black Widow's immersion into Natasha's past also includes a retcon of where she got her weaponry and tech, which appear to be the inventions of Melina Vostokoff. When she's introduced in Black Widow's prologue, Melina is a Russian spy on a deep-cover mission in 1995 Ohio. Melina poses as the all-American wife of Alexei and the mother of young Natasha (Ever Anderson) and young Yelena (Violet McGraw). It's not until the two kids are adults in Black Widow's 2016 present-day that they learn that their "mother" is not only alive but Melina was also a former Widow. Alexei dropped another bombshell on Natasha and Yelena: Melina worked closely with Dreykov and was "the architect" of the Black Widow program and its brainwashing tech. She even helped design the Red Room itself, which became a sub-orbital base in the sky.
When Natasha and Melina exact their scheme to pose as each other to infiltrate the Red Room, fans get a glimpse of the familiar weapons and gear Vostokoff keeps in the secret arsenal of her St. Petersburg farmhouse. These include various firearms, the same electric batons Natasha has used for years, and even Photostatic Veils, which are the same masks that Black Widow used to fool Hydra leader Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) when she posed as World Security Council member Hawley (Jenny Agutter) in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The other Widows in the Red Room also have Widow's Bite bracelets and identical gear so it may very well have all come from its innovator, Melina.
Black Widow also filled in what happened on the Budapest mission that Natasha and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) joked about in The Avengers. This Budapest mission was the assassination of General Dreykov that was ordered by S.H.I.E.L.D. as the price of Natasha's defection. It makes sense that when Romanoff turned, she also brought Red Room technology with her. Natasha's value to S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't just herself but the weapons and gear of her ex-Russian masters, which S.H.I.E.L.D. would have been only too happy to get their hands on (if they didn't have it already).
From there, the global spy agency led by Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) may have replicated Natasha's Red Room weapons like the Widow's Bite. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. also appears to have mass-produced Photostatic Veils since Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp) used one in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. explained the origin of the Photostatic Veil, but that series isn't considered Marvel Cinematic Universe official canon, meaning Black Widow's retcon replaces it, with Natasha Romanoff potentially having brought her Red Room weapons and technology when she became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and an Avenger.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3xOt0PP
via Whole story
Post a Comment