Marvel's Black Widow and Hawkeye (Earth-113599)

Marvel's Black Widow and Hawkeye is a 2009 live-action film produced by Touchstone Pictures and Marvel Studios based off of the two less popular superheroes named Hawkeye and Black Widow. Taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Earth-(113599). It was originally intended to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie, but was changed in the middle of production to be centered around Hawkeye and Black Widow. It was released worldwide on May 1st 2009.

Production
Black Widow and Hawkeye were two of the few characters that Marvel had never sold off the rights to, and therefor have 100% creative control over them. After the Disney purchase one of the first movies they planned to make was a live-action S.H.I.E.L.D. movie starring both respective heroes, prepared to be a stand-alone franchise. As other rights reverted and were bought back from Paramount and Universal respectively, plans changed and the movie was moved into the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, and the title was altered to simply Black Widow and Hawkeye.

Marvel and Disney were at odds about the status of the movie however. Disney claimed that it the protagonists were only supporting characters and wouldn't be able to hold a two hour movie, but Marvel insisted that it would be good world building and that they had few choices with their rights situation. Disney eventually was convinced and production continued with the film.

The director Cate Shortland was hired in early 2007 to helm the film. Having experience with action, adventure and spy/heist films which Marvel was looking for the movie to be. She had ideas of the film originally being a origin story for Black Widow and Hawkeye with the main villains being A.I.M. (who were name dropped in The Incredible Hulk). Most of his ideas were generally well received by Marvel, Disney and Kevin Feige respectively.

The film's leads shortly after Cate Shortland's announcement were confirmed to be Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. It was later announced that Jason Statham would be leading as one of the movie's main Antagonists, The Taskmaster and Samuel L. Jackson would be reprising his role as Director Nick Fury. Filming began in 2008, with all going as planned. The movie was officially released worldwide on May 1st 2009.

Cast

 * Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow


 * Jeremy Renner as Clinton "Clint" Barton/Hawkeye


 * Jason Statham as Thomas "Tommy" Masters/Taskmaster


 * Guy Pearce as George Tarleton/M.O.D.O.K.


 * Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury


 * Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson


 * Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill


 * Maximiliano Hernandez as Agent Jasper Sitwell


 * Titus Welliver as Agent Felix Blake


 * Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton


 * Stephanie Szostak as Ellen Brandt


 * Julie Delpy as Madame B (Cameo)


 * Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky (Cameo)

Plot
The movie starts by showing the Red Room Academy where all the children are being woken up for a day's work by their teacher, Madame B. She begins harshly scolding them for the tiniest things while it shows one girl with red hair completely desensitized to it. They all start watching Soviet Union propaganda videos, arms training, practicing ballet, and finally brawling in the courtyard. The red haired girl is able to brutally beat her opponent to the ground. Madame B goes up to her and asks what her name is, the girl responds Natalia Romanova. She tells Natalia to finish her opponent. It then fades to the year 1988 where Natalia is in New York City and sneaks into a party under the alias Natalie Rushman the camera revealing her to have a small Black Widow tattoo on her forearm. She goes inside and begins dancing with the guests before stealing a keycard and going into the private elevator. When it opens in the basement floor she's fully changed into black leather defeating anyone who stands in her way using martial arts skills, superior strength, speed, and even bio-electric venomous blasts. She eventually finds the party director whom she was sent to assassinate. Before she can kill him a government Agent named Nick Fury stands in her way. Through amazing tactical ability he is able to force power dampening handcuffs onto her and pins Romanova down.

Nick calls in back up saying he's captured the Black Widow. She simply sits there quietly in shame while NATO forces secure the files and send them to another location. Fury bends down to talk to her asking why she hesitated before. One venom blast and she could've taken him out. Black Widow still says nothing, and Nick says he doesn't think she wanted to kill him or start World War III. He knows what goes down in the Red Room, and how he doesn't think that needs to define her. He then hands her a key to the cuffs, and tells her if he's wrong. She can kill him right now and escape.

She looks at it and before her decision can be revealed the credits roll showing BLACK WIDOW AND HAWKEYE

It shows 22 years later and in an Air Traffic Control Tower everyone is uneasy until the main boss is approached by Agent Phil Coulson who claims he's with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Espionage and Logistics Division. The boss claims that's a mouthful, and Coulson replies they get that a lot, and asks what's going on. He says that one of their airliners is experiencing on some sort of disruption onboard and the pilot can't find anywhere to land in the city. After hearing that Coulson goes outside (while telling the boss he can just call them S.H.I.E.L.D.) and meets with his partner Agent Maria Hill stationed by their van, who asks how bad it is and Coulson says worse than they thought, they need to call her in. Agent Hill agrees and she uses her Bluetooth to tell someone to diffuse the problem.

It then shows Agent Jasper Sitwell driving a boat in the water keeping an eye on the plane, until he notices the emergency door bursts open and civilians begin flying out. Soon after a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet is shown flying above the Airliner and Black Widow jumps out brilliantly moving herself through the air to catch each of the falling civilians, while having them latch onto each other like the game Barrel of Monkeys. As they get closer to the ground she latches her parachute, and they gently land in the water, Black Widow landing on the boat. They all begin cheering and Sitwell tells her another job well done.

It then shows in Idaho at a circus, the announcer tells the audience to take witness to Tidboldt Circus' most prized attraction, the king of archery, the Hawkeye! A man comes out adorned in a bright purple and blue outfit and begins doing extremely complex bow and arrow routines to the crowd's amusement. Once his act is done he simply bows and goes off stage, where he yanks his cowl off and hugs his sister, Laura, who begins talking to him, revealing his name is Clint, but all he can hear is ringing. He soon gets his hearing aids in and says he didn't hear a word of that before, she just laughs and tells him to come get some cotton candy with her, they'll be able to buy at least a hundred with the amount he'll be paid for this show.

Act 1
At the Triskelion in Washington D.C. Black Widow is walking the halls alongside Agent Coulson who tells her this is the fifth bizarre attack they've seen pop up in the last six months. She asks him what they were able to find in the Airliner, he tells her traces of a adhesive that could easily liquidate metal, that's why the door broke. She asks what they're going to do about it, and Coulson tells her that's what she and the Director need to discuss. He leads her into the main office only to see Nick Fury (who's now bald and with an eyepatch) welcomes her, now calling Black Widow "Natasha". He says how it was genius what she did with the plane. The Widow simply comments to think she was causing destruction like that twenty years ago instead of fixing it. Nick tells her the past is the past, but her future is what they need to focus on. Her tells her that the scientists have been working hard, they were able to find a neutralizer for the adhesive. But that the question now is who could've made something like that, and had the intent to target innocent people.

Black Widow tells him there'd only be one known S.H.I.E.L.D. enemy that fits the Modus Operandi, and he tells that's exactly what he's thinking, A.I.M. They've been growing from a simple nuisance to a legitimate rival. Black Widow tells him that if they've figured this out, they have to go after it now. Win the war before it even starts. Fury tells her exactly, but the only way to do that is for S.H.I.E.L.D. to find wherever they're going to test their next experiment and end it before anyone even realizes something is amiss.

It then shows off the coast of North Carolina a large hidden island full of industrial workings and huge laboratories. Inside, Ellen Brandt is doing research on Isotopes until finally being able to concoct a stable chemical, that she quickly tests on a group of kidnapped test subjects and makes them all horribly die. After realizing it works she begins running through the hallways before using her going into a room full of giant incubators filled with orange liquid and finds the one in a center, with a human head inside of it. She refers to him as Chairman M.O.D.O.K. and tells him she's created a chemical weapon that A.I.M. can finally use to bring about their ultimate plan, calling it Isotope X. The wires peering from his neck begin attaching to the bottom of the incubator and his voice comes on, he tells her the hypothesis can be put to the test. He then commands Brandt to keep finding out the limits of her discovery and prepare the soldiers for what comes next. It then shows in the outside the A.I.M. soldiers are in a difficult obstacle course being watched by their leader dressed in a skeleton inspired costume named Taskmaster. He gets a transmission from M.O.D.O.K. saying that they're researching a new weapon that could be the next Nuclear Bomb, and how he needs to spread it across the mainland. Taskmaster tells him it will be the perfect opportunity for his cadets.

At The Vault S.H.I.E.L.D. Facility Emil Blonsky is being interrogated by Agent Blake and Coulson who ask him questions about A.I.M. in exchange for prison benefits. Blonsky claims he'll never give up the location of their main base (demanding complete freedom for that information) but does fess up that that A.I.M.'s operations are done under a fraudulent company called the Kronas Corporation and through them S.H.I.E.L.D. will be able to track down the next place they test their latest experiment. Agent Coulson asks how they'll know they can trust this info, and Blonsky blunts tells him they don't. Neither Coulson nor Blake seem satisfied with this answer, but realizing it's their only real lead accept it anyway and Agent Blake says he'll make the phone calls. It then shows the Tidboldt Circus where Clint is debating his boss over how much he'll be paid, getting a small cut instead of what he was promised. He goes to Laura and gives her the news they won't be able to leave yet after all. She's disappointed by this, but tells him maybe it's a good thing. Clint reminds her they only joined up to get enough money to get their own place back in Boston. But she tells him that they've wanted that for the past ten years. They need to come to terms with the fact the Circus is what they're good at, and might just be what there life is.

In a small town called Rose Hill near the Circus, Kronas Trucks are pulling up and Taskmaster, along with a handful of soldiers in yellow Hazmat suits begin taking out the Isotope X container and slowly begin tying to disperse it. Agent Phil Coulson with back up are watching from a rooftop and says that Blonsky's lead looks to be legit, he's got a clear visual of an entire A.I.M. platoon. Black Widow undercover in the town square tells him to stop it, she's around to deal with any leakage into the general population. Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents jump out and tells them to freeze, a firefight starts and Taskmaster is able to easily punch down Agent Coulson before disappearing. He reports to Black Widow some sort of Commander escaped and is heading south. She immediately begins running after him and in the middle of the street takes out his back-up soldiers and gets in a fight with Taskmaster. Back in the Tidboldt Circus, Clint is walking until he hears some of his coworkers talking about a fight that's going on in a town over. When he realizes people are getting hurt in the crossfire, he goes into his trailer and opens the showcase for his Hawkeye costume and Bow. In the streets of Rose Hill, Taskmaster easily defeats Black Widow by using her own fighting skills against her, claiming that it's been awhile since he's fought someone who uses the Red Room techniques.

Natasha begins to get flashbacks of her past after he says that, and realizing she's surrounded by more A.I.M. soldiers begin trying to run off, quickly stealing the Isotope X container. Taskmaster tries to run after her but is pursued by local police. He instead sends his cadets to get Black Widow and she runs off to the edge of town trying to call for back up but her com is busted. Not seeing any other choice, Black Widow begins fighting off the A.I.M. Soldiers until Hawkeye comes down and in complete silence from his hearing aid being removed. He begins precisely taking out the soldiers, he and Natasha non-verbally communicating with each other while they work together as a perfect team. Hawkeye then helps up Black Widow and realizing she's hurt offers to treat her back at the Circus. While there, he begins to help stitch up her wounds and they exchange names, the Widow claiming she was more than capable of handling that herself. But Hawkeye tells her it sure didn't look like it. He then notices how shallow her wounds are and claims he was sure she got shot out there, and wonders how she could have so little muscle damage. Laura then runs in and says she found a vile of strange liquid on her outfit, and asks Black Widow what it is. Clint agrees with her question and asks why guys in Beekeeper suits were causing trouble in some no name town like Rose Hill anyway.

Black Widow quickly takes the vile back and tells both of them it's classified, she works for the Government and her compatriots should be arriving sometime tomorrow morning once she fixes her com, they shouldn't be having anymore trouble. In Nick Fury's office, he begins going through the news reports all over digital screens adorning his desk about the battle in Rose Hill. Seeing that it lead to protests across the country and conspiracy theories. Back at the Tidboldt Circus the next morning, Black Widow leaves Clint's trailer and a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet turns off its cloaking tech and Agent Coulson walks out, Clint hides while watching it in shock. Coulson apologizes for leaving without her claiming that with all the mess last night they had to get out of there as soon as possible, they had direct orders to leave due to collateral damage, and knew she could take care of herself. Black Widow tells them not to mention it was a good decision and she was able to snag the Isotope X container. Right after saying that, Hawkeye along with Laura run outside and ask why his jet was invisible before. Coulson asks who this man is and Natasha explains how he patched her up last night and fought off the remaining A.I.M. Soldiers. Agent Coulson comments how Clint knows too much and needs to come with them, he rejects it at first, claiming he was just helping, but Black Widow is able to talk them down and says they don't want to hurt him, this is going to be like witness protection. Laura ironically tells Clint he should listen to them. He always wanted to leave the Circus, and that well, this might bizarrely be his chance to do it. Clint realizing he could be putting her in danger by staying, agrees to go with them.

Act 2
While boarding the quinjet, Coulson tells him that they're a special branch called S.H.I.E.L.D., and they have a lot of technology not yet available to the public, such as cloaking devices on their vehicles. Clint asks what S.H.I.E.L.D. is and it does a sweep to the quinjet flying through Washington D.C. to the Trkselion, and Coulson says "That" with the camera focusing in on the building. The quinjet lands inside and Black Widow leads Clint telling him to stay close and not look into something he isn't supposed to. She approaches Director Fury in the boardroom and sees him arguing with Jasper Sitwell, who claims that A.I.M.'s most recent attacks are too close of a call, they need to start considering extending leadership to accommodate their increased resources. Fury says S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't need to change anything, they got what they needed from Rose Hill and now just have to root out whatever's left.

As Sitwell leaves, Nick (in a clear bad mood) notices Black Widow and says that Isotope X will be stored at the Sandbox and studied regirously. Before she can speak Fury says that isn't the biggest of his concerns, he looks over at Clint and says this is the man Coulson told him about. Black Widow confirms he was with her caught in the middle of the conflict with A.I.M. Clint corrects her saying he actually helped her fight them off. Nick says to him it was foolish to jump into a skirmish like that. S.H.I.E.L.D. can't afford anymore bad press from letting innocent civilians get killed in the crossfire, he'll need to be escorted to a safehouse in Argentina until they get this under control, subject to family visits and the basic necessities in the meantime.

Black Widow seems disappointed with Fury's decision, but stays quiet, Hawkeye though says how that's not fair, that those goons who attacked Rose Hill are dangerous, he wants to help fight them. Fury says this is an operation exclusively reserved for S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint tells him he doesn't care about S.H.I.E.L.D. A.I.M. or whatever acronym organizations they're talking about, there's people out there who tried to hurt him and his sister, and he's not going to just sit in South America while these Beekeepers ruin everything.

They keep arguing until Black Widow offers to train and make him an Agent. Saying that he obviously wants to help, that she knows what it's like for someone to have potential be nurtured by a good teacher. Black Widow then pulls out a file with multiple different fitness tests and feats performed by Hawkeye while he worked in the Circus, claiming she checked out his stats and couldn't believe the numbers. Director Fury is impressed that he's nearly peak human, but ultimately isn't fully convinced for the reasons explained before. Insisting that just because he's good at shooting arrows doesn't mean "Hawkeye" can be a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Natasha says how despite all odds, Nick believed in her twenty years ago despite the protests of his superiors (Clint quipping how good she looks for her age). He told her before how the past was the past and the future is what they should be focusing on, and asks how this situation is any different. He sighs and tells her it's not, and if really has that much faith Clint Barton can be made into an Agent, she has the right to prove him wrong, just as he did with the former heads of S.H.I.E.L.D. when he trained her.

At A.I.M. Island it shows Taskmaster talking with M.O.D.O.K. inside the test tube who is disappointed over their failures at Rose Hill. Taskmaster tells him they must have an inside source that tipped them off about where they'd test Isotope X. He and his boys though were able to give all the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents a run for their money. M.O.D.O.K.'s floating head eventually leaves the liquid based stasis and connects to a fully mechanical body. He says that their losses haven't been all in vein. They are the brightest scientific minds of the 21st century, and the simple power of hypothesis and the logical mind gives him an estimate of how S.H.I.E.L.D. will handle what they have stolen. He goes on a rant saying how he had spent years finding Taskmaster and using A.I.M. to achieve his ultimate goal, and will not have these final steps be stagnated by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interference. He commands Taskmaster to commence their next contingency, Taskmaster walks away and M.O.D.O.K. says that his reputation had him believe he wasn't capable of error. Taskmaster aggressively claims it isn't, M.O.D.O.K. says to make sure of that, he knows where he came from and can put him right back there. Taskmaster leaves the room and soon takes his skull mask off displaying almost sadness over M.O.D.O.K.'s remarks.

Afterwards, M.O.D.O.K. takes an elevator into the lab and takes a look at Hydrogen based explosives they're working on. When Ellen Brandt asks what he's doing, M.O.D.O.K. says A.I.M. needs to "fight fire with fire", he commands her to get their latest projects ready, she follows orders and rounds up the troops.

Back at the Triskelion, Agent Hill is in a large auditorium with Black Widow and Hawkeye. Explaining to Clint that Advanced Idea Mechanics is an organization dedicated to the pursuit of science in any means possible, often endangering the public in their experiments and ideology. He asks who the leader is, and she says that's still not fully know. But intelligence was able to pick up the man in the Rose Hill A.I.M. assault, he's a Mutant named Thomas Masters, street name Taskmaster. He gets hired by shady organizations to act as a sort of physical trainer to their soldiers on account of his ability, to mimic the fighting skills of anyone he comes across. Black Widow realizes that's how he knew her exact style. Hill says this fight against A.I.M. is going to be an uphill battle, learning a thing or two from their enemies was always a preferred strategy of S.H.I.E.L.D. during conflict. Which is one of the main reasons why Director Fury is willing to sign off on Hawkeye's training without the necessary credentials. Clint quickly tells her "cool" and then asks when they get started on missions. Black Widow tells him it's going to take time before he can become an Agent. That first he needs to pass basic training. While walking to the training quarters, Hawkeye tells her he knows how to shoot an arrow, she herself explained that when she was vouching for him. But Black Widow says that he's got potential, but he has no focus, no strategy. He's a piece of clay that needs to sculpted before it can go into the art gallery.

They enter the room and Clint is impressed by it. Natasha tells him that it's time to start and it shows a montage on them training. In the first scene, Clint tries to fight Natasha but gets absolutely destroyed by her. It then shows him doing tests to see if he understands S.H.I.E.L.D. Protocol but is graded poorly. It then shows A.I.M. committing a terrorist effort in Abidjan, Ivory Coast before being stopped by Black Widow and her student, Hawkeye, who seems to be slightly improving. It then shows him back at the Triskelion holding his own against Natasha finally, but gets too arrogant and gets hit with a venomous blast. He then does the Protocol test again and passes with a 100% mark. It then shows in The Hub, Nick Fury with Agent Coulson, who says that the results for the Isotope X shows it's a deadly chemical weapon, and that even the smallest amount released into the public could have devastating results. Nick Fury commands that they get it on the get it on the Omega Base and store it in the Fridge as soon as possible. Coulson asks if that's a smart idea, he's heard the talk about people questioning his leadership. Maybe doing something so drastic might warrant more discussion. Nick tells him that people have been saying that the world they live is a strange place, but he's been able to navigate for almost two decades now. His methods might be unorthodox, but they're all still here. He has a plan to stop A.I.M. but everyone just needs to sit back, and let him do his job. Coulson quickly affirms he never doubted him, just wants S.H.I.E.L.D. to have all their options open.

Back on A.I.M. Island, Taskmaster inside getting his soldiers ready. Telling them that their guerrilla warfare tactics have all lead up to this. Using his Mutant ability, he's been able to mimic the strategy S.H.I.E.L.D. used to keep them down all these years, instead of A.I.M. being stagnated by constant interference they've been using their experiments in population centers around the world, stretching S.H.I.E.L.D. resources just thin enough to get what's theres back. A soldier asks what that is, and Taskmaster simply tells them to move out.

At the Triskelion, Hawkeye and Black Widow are looking through new arrow designs for Clint lead by Agent Blake. Who shows them electric arrows, net arrows, and even boxing glove arrows. Hawkeye begins to admire them and Natasha asks why he's he insists on continuing to use arrows instead of guns, Clint tells her arrows don't make a sound. But she tells him S.H.I.E.L.D. has top of the line silencers. Hawkeye tells her the truth of the matter is he's always felt better with the Arrows, just something about taking his aids out, draining the entire world, and just focusing on that shot is the ultimate bliss. Right after Agent Hill runs into the room and says that Black Widow is needed that A.I.M. is attacking the Omega Base. She's having Agent Sitwell and Coulson get a quinjet ready to send them over as many reinforcements as possible. She starts getting ready and tells Hawkeye to join her in his "new costume" he tells her that the circus outfit's fine, but Natasha says the new one is slicker and had it designed just for him.

On the Omega Base it shows S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and scientists respectively are being terrorized by different A.I.M. soldiers. Outside they tell Taskmaster they almost have the entire station secured, and he commands them to start looking for Isotope X and anything else, since "that's what they came for". A quinjet being piloted by Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell comes in, while Black Widow and Hawkeye are dropped off, where Hawkeye claims he "definitely saw this in a video game once" before jumping off the vehicle with Black Widow onto the moving base.

They fight off A.I.M. soldiers with Clint enjoying his new arrows. In the quinjet, Sitwell starts dropping down the other Agents to try and secure the base, including Director Nick Fury himself. Black Widow and Hawkeye start fighting the A.I.M. soldiers with Nick Fury and Coulson following suit in front of them. While in the main laboratory M.O.D.O.K. and Ellen Brandt are looking through all the S.H.I.E.L.D. inventions. While Black Widow and Hawkeye are going through the Omega Base, Nick Fury commands them to guard the outside while he goes to the lab and "finishes this". While outside though Black Widow and Hawkeye run into Taskmaster, who Hawkeye quickly tries to attack but gets easily defeated. Black Widow scissor kicks him from behind and the trio battle, with Taskmaster winning due to his ability, even using Hawkeye's own bow and arrow to fight them.

Nick Fury walks into the main lab and the M.O.D.O.K. welcomes him, right as Brandt finds the vile of Isotope X. Nick Fury puts his gun down and says that he can negotiate this, and he doesn't need to take the chemical. While him and M.O.D.O.K. argue for awhile. He says that A.I.M. is only wishing to better the planet through the power of science, intelligence, and logic. He sacrificed his body and his entire career for that goal, and wasn't going to abandon it yet. Nick Fury says that they can work something out and he doesn't need to use the weapon, and before he can finish Black Widow and Hawkeye continue to fight Taskmaster. While recklessly going into the laboratory and trying to fight M.O.D.O.K. too (which he easily counteracts) much to Fury's chagrin. The entire room breaks into a huge fight between the Cyborg leader, Taskmaster, the S.H.I.E.L.D Director, and the two heroes before Ellen Brandt lets off an explosive which blows the entire room which M.O.D.O.K., Taskmaster and Brandt use as an escape route.

Agent Blake, Agent Hill, and Agent Sitwell all come in and help Director Fury as well as the others up. Seeing if they need any medical assistance. Nick Fury though is furious at the two spies, claiming they sabotaged the entire operation. Now that Isotope X is out there, and he couldn't talk M.O.D.O.K. into standing down, who knows what kind of damage they could cause out there. He told them to go back to the base, while they all try and plan to stop a world-wide terrorist epidemic. Black Widow is noticeably crushed by being scolded by her mentor and she along with Hawkeye quietly head back to the quinjet, leaving the damaged Omega Base.

Act 3
At A.I.M. Island the scientists and Taskmaster are celebrating their victory. While M.O.D.O.K. tells them that they should seldom waste any time and must prepare to use Isotope X. Ellen Brandt tells him the formula is almost completed, and Taskmaster suggests unlike last time they don't go out of their way spread the Isotope through warfare, and instead distribute it across the globe incognito. Ship is all over the world under the guise of a legitimate product. M.O.D.O.K. tells him with S.H.I.E.L.D. cleaning up the Omega Base this might be there one time to do so without fear of being investigated, and commands the soldiers to set something up. Telling Taskmaster that his power truly will save the human race, that his hypothesis was right that he is nature's finest specimen.

Director Nick Fury is in The Triskelion with Agents Coulson and Maria Hill. Coulson asks him if he went hard on Black Widow deliberately, that she simply made an error in judgement at the moment. But he insists an agent on her level should know better then that. He says that he has the Hub searching around the entire globe for any traces of A.I.M. or Isotope X, but are finding nothing. He knows it's only a matter of time before they strike again, except this time it could be the beginning of the end.

Black Widow and Hawkeye are both outside the office, and aren't saying anything. Clint tells her he knows how much Fury's approval meant to her, and he's sorry as well as claiming he understands if she wants to sulk around for a bit. Black Widow claims she isn't sulking, just thinking. Black Widow goes on a tangent saying it isn't even the fact Fury is disappointed with her, it's that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't even letting her take action now. Clint tells her he knows how she feels, that when he and Laura were kids he was born hard of hearing and getting him the proper treatment and education was difficult. One day, their father went to buy scratch tickets one day and never came home. His mother, as a response, became an abusive alcoholic who made their lives hell. One day after Laura got a bad grade in school she went crazier than usual, but Clint was able to stop her with a mock bow and arrow he put together. When he takes his hearing aids out, takes up the bow again, and lets the world fade away, all he can think of is that night and wanting to be that hero he was to his sister to anyone else that he can.

Black Widow tells him it's the opposite for her, she wants to act because before Fury she was the same type of person who would do that. The Red Room took everything from her, made her superhuman with their experiments and broke her mind into a ruthless killing machine. She didn't want to become an Agent for justice like him, she wanted to in order to make up for what she did. Clint points out they're kind of the same, she quickly corrects him and says no, he's better. That's why she's training him, and that their next lesson is that they're going to stop A.I.M. and Isotope X.

Black Widow and Hawkeye begin doing research and are able to find out about an old power plant in Budapest, Hungary recently purchased by the Kronas Corporation. The two realize the only reason they could be purchasing that is to store and mass produce Isotope X. Hawkeye says they have to tell Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha tells him he can't, if S.H.I.E.L.D. sends all their forces A.I.M. will see them coming from a mile away, and with Fury keeping them out of commission telling them won't be a good idea. What she wants them to do is sneak in on their own, dismantle the operations they have going on there, and then return it S.H.I.E.L.D. having re-earned Fury's trust and knocking A.I.M. down a peg or ten. Hawkeye say's he game and they get equipment before stealing a quinjet to Europe.

In Budapest, it shows outside the Power Plant A.I.M. soldiers are guarding the perimeter and perched in a tree are Black Widow and Hawkeye. Natasha tells Clint that they should divide and conqueror, she'll take out the hostiles and he needs to break inside. He tells her it's not fair she gets to have all the fun, but the Widow tells him to do it. Hawkeye then shoots an arrow which attached to the roof of the building and swings on it. Once he gets to the other side, the arrow opens secreting acid that melts through the roof tile giving him a way in. Once he lands inside, the camera shows the front as Black Widow trounces all the A.I.M. guards outside. Hawkeye and Black Widow meet up inside begin beating on more soldiers (with one surrendering claiming he hates working there and how they are so weird). They keep walking until they see in the middle of the room is a special container with the vile of Isotope X inside. Black Widow is about to grab it, Hawkeye stops her asking if she's ever seen "Raiders of the Lost Ark" then Hawkeye tells her to mimic the weight with something, they probably have the case bugged without the right code.

She insists he uses an arrow, which he does. Black Widow then remembers how Indiana Jones didn't trick the natives in Raiders, which Hawkeye says "uh oh". It then shows a message sent to Taskmaster across the city, who immediately responds and begins heading over in a stolen car. The two begin trying to leave walking through the streets until almost being hit by Taskmaster's car, he then hits them both with arrow's from Hawkeye's stolen bow and takes Black Widow's bag. Stealing Isotope X from it before running off. The two get on their motorcycles and begin chasing him across Budapest. While in the chase, Natasha tells Clint that he has to perch himself on a high tower and shoot Taskmaster's car with an exploding arrow. It will destroy Isotope X and the mission will be a success. He tells her the explosion could kill her, but Black Widow says millions will die if he doesn't, and how this is what it means to be a hero. Hawkeye then takes a turn and quickly sprints up to the top of a high tower, doing exactly what Black Widow says. Once the explosion clears up, he sees Natasha on the ground wounded badly and uses an arrow to latch down quickly and come help her. Right as Clint begins checking out her wounds Taskmaster punches him down and stomps Hawkeye unconscious.

Natasha then finds herself back at the Red Room where she is being wheeled into surgery for the Black Widow steroids, while Madame B explains that she will soon be unbreakable, made of marble! She soon wakes up only to realize she's tied to a chair alongside Hawkeye. M.O.D.O.K. slowly walks inside of the room and steps forward, he tells them not to be scared. What happened is him is simply the result of your body aging faster than your mind. An evolutionary shortcoming indeed, but one A.I.M. has managed to compensate. Clint asks why he's doing this, why he wanted to even use Isotope X to kill so many people in the first place. M.O.D.O.K. says that it's only for the betterment of all human kind, he wishes to expose the world to deadly threats in order to weed out the weak to strengthen them to their maximum potential. Natural selection at its finest. Hawkeye says he's insane, but M.O.D.O.K. says he was once George Tarleton, but the minds he assembled were able to save his brain, placing his head into an alteration chamber that transformed him into a living computer, a Machine Only Designed for Killing. This island they all standing on literally containing miles of data storing his entire brain.

He then says how thinks both of them have similar potential in A.I.M.'s ranks. Saying how Black Widow with her enhancements was able to survive an explosion that should've killed anyone else. Clint's skills was nearly the level of an olympic athlete even before training. S.H.I.E.L.D. can't bring them to their full potential, but he can. He frees them from their chairs and asks what it will be, warning if they reject it he will kill them. Before Hawkeye can say no Black Widow says she'll do it, and attacks Hawkeye. Saying how they should've never trusted her. The Red Room trained her for years to be made of marble, never have her spirit broken. Dealing with Nick Fury's offer was her only chance of survival, but now she has something else, something that can bring back Communism to the world. M.O.D.O.K. smiles and tells Black Widow to kill him, she points her gun at Clint's head. Before pulling the trigger tells M.O.D.O.K. the downside of being a computer, you're not able to pick up human mannerisms like deception and uses her superhuman strength to break apart his artificial body before helping Hawkeye up.

The two of them begin fighting their way out while M.O.D.O.K.'s head slowly floats using his wires to connect to an even larger body. While they get outside and try to find a way to escape the island, the two of them see Taskmaster on the other side of the pier. Who say he's getting really sick of having to deal with these two, copying their fighting styles isn't even fun anymore. Black Widow and Hawkeye prepare to fight him until M.O.D.O.K. from behind telling Taskmaster to remember fighting these two, they could've been his allies, his colleagues, his apprentices. To show them what just how cruel nature can be when you're too weak to now what's right. Hawkeye only responds by commenting on how strange M.O.D.O.K. looks in his armor, that his head looks twice the size of his body, like an oversized baby. If "evolving" means having to look like that, he's going to have to pass. Enraged, he shoots a psionic blast and Black Widow agrees to go after M.O.D.O.K. while Clint deals with Taskmaster.

The two fights happen simultaneously, M.O.D.O.K. taunting Black Widow about her loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. and how subservience is a sign of weakness. It then shows Taskmaster fighting Hawkeye, insisting that how being a Mutant he was ostracized by his family his community. A.I.M. told him his gift was the next step in evolution, he can't let let them fail. He then beats Clint over the edge to the balcony near the ocean which knocks his hearing aid out. In the static he has flashbacks of when he was a child, and in that state, fights with nothing but the conviction for justice which Taskmaster can't replicate. He finishes him off and then opens a big garage, which the camera shows being full of A.I.M. equipment and technology, meanwhile on the ground Taskmaster opens his eyes. Black Widow keeps fighting M.O.D.O.K. until a brigade of A.I.M. soldiers help their leader and begin overwhelming her. She then gets the idea to shoot a venomous blast right into M.O.D.O.K.'s new body right in the psionic blast opening, which causes it to severely malfunction, and set off an uncontrolled blast that defeats all his back up and stuns the Widow.

He then begins claiming his death will be poetic, she just destroyed his regulator which was the only device keeping his psionic beams in check. The pressure will eventually get too high and destroy the island. Black Widow then hears someone calling her name and looks down to see Hawkeye with an A.I.M. speedboat telling them it's time to get out of here. She jumps onto it and tells her needs to drive fast, or else they'll get caught in M.O.D.O.K.'s implosion. He does as told and they just make it far enough to avoid the island imploding. As they both think they're safe, Taskmaster reveals himself to be hiding under the floorboards and jumps out to attack both of them destroying the boat.

It then shows a series of cuts with Black Widow swimming through the water with Clint fighting Taskmaster until they hear gunshots and see Nick Fury in a quinjet reaching his hand out to help them. Later, it shows at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Trauma Zentrum. Black Widow is sitting inside her room, until Director Fury enters. He tells her that the two of them went through a lot, but they single handedly took down A.I.M.'s entire main laboratory and killed M.O.D.O.K. one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top priority targets for years now. Nick also says that Taskmaster was successfully detained and is being shipped to The Rat as they speak. He always knew he could count on her. Natasha asks what he means by that and Nick laughs, saying he knew she and her new partner wouldn't listen to his orders to stand down. That they would go take the fight to A.I.M. and with the fire burning under their bums it would motivate them to put their everything into it. Lo and behold, the two of them lead S.H.I.E.L.D. right to the island base. Black Widow clarifies that their detainment from going on missions, their disobeying of his orders was all part of a plan. He tells her exactly, that Clint reacted a little bit better to the news.

Black Widow goes to visit Hawkeye in his room with Director Fury. He asks if after all this he can finally become an official Agent and Black Widow tells him that he has to beat her a sparring match first, he makes a disgruntled look and she tells him he's kidding, and proceeds to ask if Clint believed her when she deceived M.O.D.O.K. He confidently tells her he could "see the plan coming from a mile away". Nick Fury walks out of the room until Agent Blake approaches him and says that they need to talk about something before heading back to the Triskelion, in another room Sitwell is explaining along with Blake that S.H.I.E.L.D. has decided in response to what's happened under his leadership recently they're going to create a system of oversight so to speak, a S.H.I.E.L.D. High Council consisting of trusted politicians to keep his actions in check. Nick tells them his plans worked, they stopped A.I.M., Blake points out it cost thousands of dollars in collateral damage. Fury explains taking down a Science Terrorist group is messy and Sitwell says he understands, they just think some world leaders helping S.H.I.E.L.D. is the best way to proceed in situations like this in the future. Fury eventually calms down, and says he is getting old, and maybe could use a mentor of his own again.

It then shows back in the United States, Agent Hill officially does the oath with Clint Barton and he is officially deemed an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. After that he sees his Laura along with Phil Coulson who congratulate them, Laura telling Clint he's a real superhero now, just like he always wanted and asks what happens now. Black Widow says they're going to keep protecting the world with S.H.I.E.L.D. and maybe one day, they'll find more heroes like him, Laura asks what happens then. Coulson says that they have plans.

End Credits
Teasing The Avengers

Taskmaster is taken into the Vault. While inside he quickly manages to find Emil Blonsky and pins him against the wall, calling him a traitor and saying he will kill him for what he's done to A.I.M. But Blonsky tells him that might not be a good idea if he ever wants to see the sun again. Taskmaster lets him go asking what he means, and Blonsky tells him that they are the only two prisoners in this place that are smart enough to actually find a way out. They'd be better off working on an escape plan. Taskmaster seems to agree, and gives a faint smile before letting Emil Blonsky get up again.

Trivia

 * Maria Hill was the first character in the MCU to utter the word "Mutant". This minor detail of Taskmaster's origin story was heavily controversial behind the scenes. When sources leaked Disney would have a Mutant appear in the movie, they were troubled with a law-suit from 20th Century Fox (The Rights holder of the X-Men Cinematic Rights) who claimed they have exclusive access to the term and the Walt Disney Company & Marvel Studios were breeching contract. The courts though, decided, ultimately, that the two companies shared the rights to the term Mutant, as the character and word were big enough in the Marvel Universe not to just be held under the X-Men Cinematic Rights. It was revealed in said court case, that the characters, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Deadpool were also shared between studios for similar reasons.


 * Emil Blonsky is the main villain of the previous MCU installment The Incredible Hulk and A.I.M., the main villains of this film, are the organization he was alluded to be working for.


 * In the comics S.H.I.E.L.D. is an acronym for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage and Logistics Directorate this is changed in the movie for unknown reasons.


 * Black Widow in the Comics was a spy for the Soviet Union (trained in the Black Widow Ops) but fell in love with Hawkeye and defected, in the movie she was trained the so-called "Red Room" and recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. after Nick Fury decided to rehabilitate her after an assassination attempt.


 * Laura Barton is a character from the Ultimate Marvel Comics who is actually the wife of Clint Barton. In the film she is amalgamated with Barney Barton, Hawkeye's brother from Earth 616.


 * In the comics A.I.M. was originally founded by Baron Von Strucker as an off shoot of Hydra, in the movie it was George Tarleton who founded the terrorist group in the 1960s.


 * Natasha Romanoff in most adaptations does not have any special abilities outside enhanced stats from her Black Widow Super Soldier Serum. Her ability to secrete bio-electric venomous blasts is original to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


 * Ellen Brandt in the Comics is the wife of Ted Sallis, the civilian identity of the Man-Thing. He burned her face after she betrayed him to A.I.M. In the movie she works for A.I.M. and has a minor burn scar on her face which Kevin Feige confirmed as indeed an in-universe reference to Man-Thing. Which they just got the rights back to before filming.


 * The Tidboldt Circus where Hawkeye and Laura work, in the comics, is home to the supervillain group called The Circus of Crime.


 * The Kronas Company in the comics is an organization with ties to terrorism lead by an Ex-KGB agent named Aleksander Lukin.