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 Shane Black 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. He 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. Though the origin story for both the protagonists was shortened to only dialogue, as they feared adding it would overstuff the film, and thought the origins for each character were "too convoluted" in Avi Arad's words.

The film's leads shortly after Shane Black'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. Also, an announcement was made that John Cena would be in the film, playing an unknown role. Many fans speculated he would be the movie's main villain, but Kevin Feige later confirmed his role would simply be a cameo. 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


 * Stephanie Szostak as Ellen Brandt


 * John Cena as Sheriff Michael O'Brien (Cameo)


 * Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky (Cameo)

Plot
The movie starts in Budapest, Hungary where a truck is driving recklessly through the street with the Black Widow herself on a motorbike going after it. She talks on her intercom to Hawkeye saying he has to shoot the truck's engine or else thousands of people will die. It shows Hawkeye inside a large tower with a bunch of soldiers in yellow knocked out. He says that it might kill her, but she says they can't let A.I.M. release it. Hawkeye listens takes a gulp and shoots after aiming shoots an arrow into the truck's engine which hits perfectly, blowing it up and knocking Black Widow off of her motorbike. Hawkeye just looks at the destruction he caused... speechless.

The title screen appears and a caption shows up saying Two Months Earlier. In St. Louis, Missouri a van pulls out and multiple different armed soldiers in yellow sneak outside of it, lead by the Taskmaster himself. Who points them to a specific house. They use technology and stealth to break in and kidnap someone out of their bedroom. They do this around the city at train stations, hospitals, and even a steakhouse restaurant. All random civilians captured by these mysterious yellow soldiers lead by Taskmaster, and brought into their van driven away. At a police station, Sheriff Michael O'Brien is trying to deal with the "missing persons crisis" that is happening. He eventually takes his break in the hallway.

While there he is approached by a man in a suit, he introduces himself as Agent Phil Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Espionage and Logistics Division. When he comments that it's a mouth-full Coulson says to "just call them S.H.I.E.L.D.". He asks if he's here about the missing people when Coulson confirms he is, Sheriff O'Brien says he's on break, but Coulson convinces him to say what he knows anyway. He claims that they're the third town in two days to be hit with a bunch of missing citizens. Coulson confirms he knows that and follows up saying they've been having a "bad week". He asks the man more questions before simply leaving for the parking lot, there he goes to a van with a S.H.I.E.L.D. Eagle on it. Another Agent, Maria Hill is standing there. When she asks what the local authorities know Agent Coulson says it's same as them, which Maria asks "So it's A.I.M. again?" Coulson says he thinks so. That they're kidnapping more people for their experiments recently, they must have something big planned, something that requires a lot of study.

When Maria asks if they should have them deal with it. Coulson says "definitely" and goes on the Bluetooth saying that he needs the Spider and the Hawk. In Abidjan, Ivory Coast Black Widow and Hawkeye are busy fighting pirates with machine guns. They banter with one another how the simple spy mission to find out where the pirates were going to strike turned into an all out feud, and how Black Widow always need to "clean up his messes". They both fight and manage to get into a building where Black Widow has the pirate held up with her gun. He laughs at her and says that she'll need a bigger gun to take him down, to which an arrow shoots through the window right into his hand, as Black Widow pins him down. Hawkeye walks in and says you're welcome, but she insists she could've handled it herself.

The pirates are being arrested while Agent Jasper Sitwell praises Black Widow and Hawkeye for being able to both almost single handedly take down an entire pirate gang. Turning a recon mission into a take down of a known enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also says that they should head back to headquarters as soon as possible, because Director Fury wants to have a word with them. It later shows the Triskelion (Shown in captions to be the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters) where Agent Coulson welcomes back Black Widow and Hawkeye. He leads them to Nick Fury's office where he is doing internet research on a large 3-D internet exploring device with Maria Hill standing outside the door. He stops once all of them enter and the Black Widow as well as Hawkeye ask why they were called back to the Triskelion so early. That they still had multiple pirate communities in West Africa they needed investigate. But Nick Fury tells them they have a crisis on their hands, and they need all the best Agents they can get to stop it.

Act 1
Phil Coulson and Maria Hill explain how there have been missing people recently, and in large numbers. They have reason to suspect it's Advanced Idea Mechanics or A.I.M. the scientific terrorism organization that has stifled S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades now. But Fury thinks with the recent kidnapping they're doing extreme experiments on those victims, they have must have something big in the works, something Fury doesn't know. Director Fury makes it clear that he hates not knowing things. He then says he needs Black Widow and Hawkeye to find out what it could be. When Hawkeye comments that the "Beekeepers" have always slipped through their fingers and they could never find a lead or evidence on them, Black Widow confirms it saying they never leave a trace. But Coulson confirms that they've had bad luck recently, when Black Widow asks what that is Coulson simply says Emil Blonsky, which Maria Hill explains was an ex-A.I.M. spy in prison who has been willing to give up their secrets for special treatment.

Though he refuses to give up one thing, their base location. As he's demanding his freedom for that info, which S.H.I.E.L.D. obviously can't just give to him. But Fury says they did get some leads on where A.I.M. might strike next. That they have a money faux-scientific group called the Kronas Company to launder their illegal activities. They sometimes hold fundraisers at the Kronas Building in New York City.

Their next objective: infiltrate the Kronas building, crash the party and check the hidden areas in all of the building, as they have strong reason to suspect A.I.M. might be hiding suspicious plans in there. Black Widow and Hawkeye understand their objective and leave the room to go train.

Off the coast of North Carolina, a man-made island is home to a cluster of different labs and ports where A.I.M. is doing experiments on the people they've taken. Inside one of the labs an A.I.M. scientist named Ellen Brandt with a scar on her is taking notes, and claims the subjects are responding "exactly as planned" to her latest test and needs to tell the Chairman about her team's discovery. She walks through the complex halls before going into the boardroom where she is stopped by Taskmaster himself, who pats her down and says she can go in. While inside Taskmaster watches her. The boardroom having no light except for a giant Test tube with nothing but the M.O.D.O.K.'s floating head in it (with wires peering out of the bottom).

She tells him that the virus is complete and their planned strike against the governments can begin. He opens his eyes, thanks her for her services to A.I.M. and she proceeds to leave. He later commands Taskmaster to officially begin Phase-X, that they need to handle their attacks and manage their advantage as logically as possible. He says it will be done, before leaving the room.

In the training room Black Widow is practicing against punching bags, while Hawkeye is sharping his Arrows hearing only a high pitched sound all around him. Black Widow taps on his shoulder, and he looks back putting his hearing aid in. Asking her what she needs. Black Widow tells him it would be helpful to train against a live target, and he says "I thought you'd never ask". The two start mock fighting with each other. Hawkeye is quickly beaten when Black Widow gets serious, soon after picking himself up saying he should've known not to get too cocky when she still has those Black Widow Steroids flowing through her veins. Natasha says it's just a metabolism enhancer that increases her stamina to superhuman levels. Clint adds it makes her look a lot younger and Natasha responds saying and lets her kick his ass every time they spar. Clint simply replies "not every time" which causes Natasha to begin remembering her time in the Red Room training and sits down. Hawkeye snaps her out of it by showing off just why the Director his other talents besides fist fighting, accurately shooting ten arrows perfectly into all of the weight hangers scattered around the room.

In The Rat S.H.I.E.L.D. prison, Emil Blonsky was brought into an interrogation room by Agent Felix Blake to see Phil Coulson sitting inside. Coulson asks Blonsky what he could tell their "top Agents" to expect inside the Kronas party. He says that they have to give him extra benefits if he's to answer and Coulson says "done". He then replies they usually only keep the guests on the top floor for the party. That the lower levels are where it's at, and since security down there is super tight they need an Agent to sneak in with an A.I.M. keycard and possibly shut down the camera so backup can get in start looking. When Coulson asks if they are sure they can trust him Blonsky simply replies "... you can't" Coulson doesn't seem particularly satisfied with this answer, but accepts it none the less and moves on.

Later that night, in New York City at the Kronas Building party everyone is getting drinks and enjoying themselves. The event is being accompanied by Taskmaster out of his armor, who is making sure everything remains in order. Black Widow sneaks into the party going by the pseudonym Natalie Rushman gets in. She says on her bluetooth to Hawkeye that's she in and asks if he's in position. He says he's "way ahead of you" being perched on a nearby rooftop looking in through the window, with multiple arrows ready. He tells her to get the information they need from the party, and then he'll sneak inside.

She walks into the party and starts mingling, eventually running into Taskmaster himself. They flirt a little bit and eventually start to dance, while he appears to be getting seduced by Black Widow's charms (and Hawkeye openly expresses disgust) she slips the keycard out of his pocket and walks off to "get" another drink. Meanwhile, Taskmaster goes to his guards and tells them to keep an eye on her saying he "has a bad feeling" who try to look for her. Black Widow, though, is already out of the party and tells Hawkeye to get into position. He uses an arrow to fly across to the rooftop of the building and said arrow releases acid onto the roof opening a hole which he goes into. Black Widow inside the building goes into the hallway and sees a door guarded by two A.I.M. soldiers, when they tell her the area is restricted and she needs to leave Black Widow uses her skills to knock both of them out and the keycard to get in. While Hawkeye is on another level of the building he sneaks in the shadows, using tranquilizing arrows to knock out guards.

He calls her and says he's at a "dead end" seeing a laser fence. Black Widow says "way ahead of you" and opens a door into the security room, when the operator sees her and Black Widow tries to seduce him by speaking Russian, when that doesn't work she just punches him to knockout and turns the laser fence off in Clint's area. He walks in and fights off other A.I.M. guards sneaking his way through the halls until he reaches the main room. But right as he enters Black Widow comes in and the two meet up, saying they cleared both areas and the enemies are all unconscious. When they see in the middle of the room is a stand with a vile of black liquid 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. She insists he uses an arrow, which he does. The second she takes the vile off however security goes off and the party is evacuated, while Taskmaster (on the main floor) gets out his gun and starts heading down. Noticing all the unconscious soldiers gets more angry.

Black Widow then comments how Indiana Jones didn't trick the natives in Raiders, which Hawkeye says he agrees with as they try and escape before being confronted by Taskmaster in the suit. The three of them start fighting, while Black Widow and Hawkeye are surprisingly being beat by this exceptionally good fighter. He taunts them saying "You think you can steal from A.I.M.?!" and attacks them more. Even getting ahold of Hawkeye's Bow and using it against them, something they both hated. After that Black Widow manages to overpower Taskmaster and get the bow back to Clint, the two manage to jump out the window while Hawkeye uses his an arrow to glide them to the roof of another building. Taskmaster then notice of how the vile is missing and grows angry, as the guards finally shows up he physically pushes the captain for not being there in time. He calls the M.O.D.O.K. and after wiping blood off his lip tells him they "have a problem".

Act 2
Back at the Triskelion, Black Widow and Hawkeye are brought back via quinjet where they are greeted by Agent Phil Coulson asking how the mission went. They say how someone had fought them inside the party but they managed to get this vile of black liquid, Coulson demands the soldiers take it to the lab for further testing. When they go inside Agent Sitwell and Agent Hill are waiting for them, saying how A.I.M. might start to officially take the fight to S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they should be prepared. They also say how the man the two ran into back the Kronas building's name is Thomas Masters but his street name is Taskmaster since, Agent Coulson says, he is a mutant with the ability to replicate the fighting style of any person he encounters, making him very dangerous. Black Widow and Hawkeye then both note how the fight against A.I.M. has only just begun, and that there were going to be "a lot more missions to stop the beekeepers" coming up. In the next couple of weeks it shows Hawkeye and Black Widow fighting them off and dismantling their efforts at causing chaos in the world. After securing Chicago, Illinois of A.I.M. soldiers Black Widow comments that she could never get the hang of a bow & arrow, but Hawkeye tells her that it was actually hard for him too, but once he got the hang of it he couldn't get enough. Just taking his aids out, draining the entire world, and just focusing on that shot is the ultimate bliss.

Meanwhile, at The Hub, Nick Fury is then in the middle of the room with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents working. He gets a call from Agent Phil Coulson on his tablet and answers. He says that they just got results from The Sandbox and the vile contains a mysterious and deadly chemical called Virus X which a small amount could completely level a large city. The Director assumes it would be a way for A.I.M. to terrorize the population worldwide and could be leverage to get their way politically, biological warfare at its lowest. Coulson comments that they need to take care of it ASAP. Director Nick Fury agrees, saying that they need to take it to The Fridge so not one person can get to it, and to use the moving Omega Base to get there. Coulson concurs and they hang up.

Later, it shows a Taskmaster hologram in the A.I.M. boardroom, talking to the M.O.D.O.K. Informing him that not only have they still not located the vile, but S.H.I.E.L.D. has been essentially going to war with them. M.O.D.O.K.'s floating head eventually leaves the liquid based stasis and connects to a fully mechanical body. He says that S.H.I.E.L.D. even their lost victories haven't been all in vein. They are the brightest scientific minds of the 21st century, and left over pieces of equipment and interrogated soldiers 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, which he follows as a loyal soldier. When the hologram shuts off, M.O.D.O.K. simply walks into the lab and takes a look at Hydrogen based explosives they're working on. When Dr. Brandt asks what he's doing, M.O.D.O.K. says A.I.M. needs to "fight fire with fire". And to get their latest projects ready, she follows orders and rounds up the troops.

Back at the Triskelion, Hawkeye is with Agent Blake looking at new arrow designs. Electrified arrows, ensnarement web arrows, and even boxing glove arrows, which Clint seems skeptical on using. Black Widow is cleaning her glocks and eventually starts looking over old relics in her bedroom, eventually leading to her having an intruding memory of her time in the Red Room where she first was assigned her guns and underwent the experimentation to gain the Black Widow serum. She begins getting startled remembering it, until Agent Hill barges in and says that S.H.I.E.L.D. needs her and Clint's help. Natasha asks what's wrong and Maria says the Omega Base is under attack by A.I.M. She's having Agent Sitwell and Coulson get a quinjet ready to send them over as many reinforcements as possible.

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 the Virus 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, while in the quinjet also 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 again, who quickly provokes and engages them in a brawl.

Nick Fury walks into the main lab and the M.O.D.O.K. welcomes him, right as Brandt finds the vile of Virus X. Nick Fury puts his gun down and says that he can negotiate this, and he doesn't need to take the Virus. 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 technology, only building off of the ideas laid out by Schmidt in the 1940s. 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 Virus, 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 countercepts) 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 while 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. Giving Hawkeye his hearing aid back, and seeing if they need any medical assistance. Nick Fury though is furious at the two spies, claiming they sabotaged the entire operation. Now that Virus 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 and Hawkeye are noticeably crushed by being scolded by their mentor and quietly head back to the quinjet, leaving the damaged Omega Base.

Act 3
At the A.I.M. base 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 the Virus on a "population centre" in order to show the world their strength and cause them to surrender. Ellen Brandt tells him the formula is almost completed, and Taskmaster says they can test it in Eastern Europe, as in those countries military control and S.H.I.E.L.D. influence is limited, M.O.D.O.K. points out they have bases there and commands Taskmaster to start preparing in their Eastern Europe sector.

Director Nick Fury is in The Triskelion with Agents Coulson and Maria Hill. Coulson asks him if he went hard on Agent Romanoff or Barton deliberately, that they simply made an error in judgement at the moment. But he insists Agents and heroes on their level should know better then that. He says that he has the The Hub searching around the entire globe for any traces of A.I.M. or Virus X and is finding nothing, he knows it's only a matter of time before they strike again, but as usual they don't leave a trace.

Black Widow and Hawkeye are both outside the office, and aren't saying anything. When Hawkeye tells her they can't mope around forever, she says she isn't moping just thinking. When he asks her about what, it's how to stop A.I.M. she says. When Hawkeye asks how that's going, she says they just need to figure out where Virus X is going to be released and stop them in their tracks. Hawkeye says that's easier said then done and Black Widow says "ditto". She then points out how they need to go investigate on their own, as that is what spies actually are supposed to do. Hawkeye pulls out a S.H.I.E.L.D. tablet and hopes this idea would work, it does! He explains to Natasha that a few of his arrows were equipped with new tracking technology that he he lodged inside of an A.I.M. Soldier's suit compound. It's too faint for The Hub to pick it up, but Clint knows his arrows and manages can find a real trace of where A.I.M. is going.

Black Widow says that's perfect since they now have the means to stop this and earn Fury's trust back. Clint says telling him right now might be for the best, but Black Widow adds that obviously A.I.M. was able to figure out Virus X was kept in the Omega Base, all of S.H.I.E.L.D. goes after A.I.M. they'll know something's up again and change plans. They have to do this as a heist mission alone to clean up this mess. Hawkeye agrees with Black Widow's idea and says "I'm game". He also asks her if he can use the "Old suit" now that they're on their own. Black Widow says it might "attract unwanted attention" but Hawkeye says that's nonsense. It might actually hide his identity from any A.I.M. soldiers who know his face. He then goes into his room and opens a closet revealing a Mannequin with the classic purple Hawkeye costume from Clint's old circus days in Idaho.

In Europe, Taskmaster is watching as the A.I.M. scientists load up multiple trucks with completed Virus X serums. Then he goes over the plan with Ellen Brandt, that he will drive across Europe in the Kronas Truck, while other A.I.M. soldiers take the local train undercover, as to not arouse suspicion of their activities. Once in Budapest, Hungary they'll go to the A.I.M. base and receive the final extract while releasing it to the public and showing their true power. Taskmaster likes the plan and goes into the truck, preparing to start the journey.

In a train going through Versailles, France Black Widow and Hawkeye are sitting down disguised. She can see that those passengers are A.I.M. soldiers and wants to interrogate them to find out where exactly Taskmaster is going so they can beat him there and stop the Virus X plague from spreading. The men get up and head into the lavatory and they both follow them. Black Widow slowly takes a glock and holds it to the soldier, demanding to know his location. He tells her he has no problem blowing his cover as long as it means keeping the plan in motion and takes out a machine gun and tries to blow her away. Hawkeye appears (fully decked in his new costume) and manages to hit the soldier with an arrow as a fight between the undercover A.I.M. Soldiers and the two fighters ensue.

They eventually make it to the top of the train, before beating almost all of them. While threatening to throw one off the moving vehicle, he gives in and says that Taskmaster is heading to Budapest to release the Virus, but that they'll never stop him in time. The Agents throw the man back in the train, he survives and gets up, preparing to call the A.I.M. masters and explain what happened. Back at the Triskelion, Agent Coulson goes to Nick Fury. He tells the Director that Agents Romanoff and Barton have been missing for weeks, Fury says they've taken a leave of absence after their failures during the Omega Base raid. But Coulson says that's what he assumed too but they're not in any of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities and that Agent Hill found this outside London. Showing Director Fury a picture of an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet. Coulson theorizing they must've hitched one and snuck into Europe to confront A.I.M. Director Fury questions if they're middle schoolers for doing something so immature, and demands that Coulson try to find them. He says "yes sir" and goes to investigate.

In Budapest, Hungary Black Widow and Hawkeye are in a hotel room. They're preparing for when the Kronas Truck drives through, the plan being that Hawkeke will use his Arrow to paralyze Taskmaster and Black Widow will take over the truck and get Virus X returning it to S.H.I.E.L.D. and preventing the crisis. Black Widow seems enthusiastic to do this, but Hawkeye wants to tell S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, saying this is such a risky mission and Fury would be... well, furious if he knew what they were doing. But Black Widow says she had to improvise a lot with her original employers, and it's like second nature to her, that if S.H.I.E.L.D. accepted her to work for them they knew what they were getting into.

But Hawkeye reminds her he recommended her. What she does will always be on him. The two argue about it saying he doesn't own or have to look after he but he says that he does, because she used to be a spy against the organization she's serving now, he convinced the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to take in a Soviet Spy with biological enhancements to be pardoned and drafted! He apologizes to her, but she says he's right in a saddened voice and gets on her computer. Realizing the Kronas Truck is in the city and they need to go after it ASAP. Hawkeye and Black Widow both get on Motorbikes while they catch up to the truck. Which Taskmaster sees them both in his rearview mirror, and is happy to fight them again.

Hawkeye attempts to aim, but Taskmaster riding Shotgun uses a bow and arrow of his own and mimics Hawkeye's accuracy, actually hitting him in the arm. Hawkeye says how Taskmaster will be too prepared if he keeps trying to get him from there and he needs a vantage point. He jumps off the bike and tries to get into the top of a large church while Black Widow keeps chasing after him. While there he sees a group of A.I.M. soldiers ready to shoot Hawkeye, it was an ambush. While he's busy fighting them off, Black Widow goes closer, even to the side of the truck as her and Taskmaster duke it out and he once again gets the upper hand. He has the A.I.M. driver speed up even further recklessly endangering people. Hawkeye shoots an arrow which bounces off multiple surfaces and manages to land on the driver. Before the truck can crash Taskmaster pushes him out and starts driving himself.

Hawkeye gets another arrow ready and shoots at Taskmaster, but to their woe his armor seems largely resistant and it breaks on impact. Black Widow reports it back to Hawkeye and tells him to shoot the engine so the Virus blows up. But Hawkeye says Black Widow would probably die from the explosion and he won't risk it. She says how she thought they were just partners, but he tells her she's more than that she's his friend and he can't lose her. But she insists that millions will die if that Virus gets released, and that he has to shoot it. Hawkeye shoots the arrow at the engine and Taskmaster flies out the front of the car, and Black Widow is knocked off her Motorbike as the Kronas truck explodes. Hawkeye watches... speechless.

Black Widow is shown barely conscious and badly wounded from the explosion, while Taskmaster is less hurt from his armor. He tells Black Widow that she destroyed the Serum, disintegrated in the explosion. The two fight but Taskmaster quickly beats her because of her wounds, while Hawkeye watches the whole incident unfold he is about to come down and help Black Widow but is confronted by more A.I.M. soldiers. Even though he is able to take a few down, because of his wounds, they eventually overpower and knock him out. The two are taken into an A.I.M. helicopter and away from the city, while S.H.I.E.L.D. (Agent Coulson and Agent Hill in particular) watches the whole event unfold. Agent Coulson says that they found the Agents and Hill notes they successfully took out Virus X, the whole station cheers. But Coulson says they're captured by A.I.M., that they're not being so secretive now. He tells Director Fury what happened, and commands the Eastern European S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to keep an eye on those Helicopters, that they're one step closer to taking down A.I.M. after all these years, and this is there one real chance.

Black Widow has another flashback of her time in the Red Room training program again, where the instructor Madame B forces her to do terrible things to lose sensitivity to violence. As she remembers more and more of it, she wakes up only to find herself tied up on the A.I.M. island.

Black Widow and Hawkeye are both captured in the boardroom. They slowly start to wake up, seeing M.O.D.O.K.'s head begin to float in a liquid container. They both seem frightened by this, the cyborg notices this and M.O.D.O.K. tells the two of them not to be scared. That this is what happens when your body ages faster than your mind, you must improvise. Black Widow asks who he is, and he says he was once called George Tarleton, but now is called M.O.D.O.K. instead by all his intellectual and physical inferiors. He tells them that he used to a mere scientist during the Cold War. He was disgusted by how blindly illogical and emotional human beings were.

He puts his head into a special cyborg body that resembles a large man with small limbs sitting in a chair. That Advanced Idea Mechanics was built on the philosophy that science and logic is what's made to rule the world. That only those with the necessary talents to contribute to the pursuit of logic would be allowed to live and the rest perished like the worthless wastes they truly are. Virus-X would've been a means to wipe out the unworthy and be a way to jump start Darwinism for the human race once & for all.

Black Widow says he's insane, but M.O.D.O.K. claims he's lived a lot longer than she has, he knows the truth of what must be done. Hawkeye asks the cyborg why the hell he's telling them this, and he says because he's impressed by them. They're a powerful duo and he could bend their mind, they were worth keeping around according to him. Some electroshock therapy, and philosophy discussions he said could do that. They both say how they'll never join him or his insane cult of genocidal maniacs. M.O.D.O.K. calls them emotional beings and tells Taskmaster to preparing the Re-introduction tests. Taskmaster walks in, while M.O.D.O.K. leaves the room. He goes to a special area to get enhancement to his technology. Black Widow confronts Taskmaster about following this, asking him if he genuinely believes any of it. Taskmaster says A.I.M. accepted him for being a Mutant, in a world full of only the scientifically minded he would be praised by everyone for having it not scored, of course he supports them.

Right before Taskmaster can start the torturing he hears something outside. He checks it he sees S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicopters, planes and other vehicles all coming and taking over the island. Nick Fury is inside one of the Helicopters and says to drop him. When Agent Blake asks him if that's a good idea, he says he hasn't had a good battle in years and wants to fight. They let him down and Fury starts using his old S.H.I.E.L.D. training to take down A.I.M. soldiers. In the boardroom Black Widow and Hawkeye hear someone coming in, only to be relieved seeing Agent Coulson enter and free them. He explains the whole situation and as they're both about to leave they run into M.O.D.O.K. fully decked in the latest A.I.M. technology. Coulson tries to shoot him with his pistol, but it does absolutely nothing to ginormous, advanced cyborg.

He tells Black Widow and Hawkeye they could've been his successor's, his allies, his personal apprentices, but now they would have nothing. But all Hawkeye can comment on is 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. Black Widow and Coulson agree, which M.O.D.O.K. is not amused by. He screams "SILENCE" and uses a Telekinetic blast against the three of them and the fight begins. Outside Taskmaster pushes Agent Blake and Hill out of his way before running into Nick Fury. Taskmaster says that he'll easily defeat this old man, and the Director says he's just experienced. But Taskmaster claims experienced means nothing to him.

The two fight each other while Agent Sitwell in the field starts shooting at Taskmaster, which distracts him and lets Fury get a punch on him. The fight with M.O.D.O.K. is largely one sided, and he uses a blast to break down the wall. Where Taskmaster and M.O.D.O.K. start fighting the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. They all start fighting when Hawkeye realizes Taskmaster can't actually fight, and is vulnerable to random erratic fighting styles that he can't copy. They all take his advice and Taskmaster begins to actually get beaten, before Black Widow knocks him out. But not without Hawkeye getting his hearing aid knocked out and crushed first.

M.O.D.O.K. starts to take a beating too, before ranting of how pathetic these humans are compared to him, that he is an evolved human in every meaning of the word and they will never stop him, but Hawkeye can only hear static in his ears and gets his Bow & Arrow out, shooting a beam right above M.O.D.O.K.'s head. He successfully shoots an arrow right above M.O.D.O.K. and it explodes causing a Cargo box to crush the Cyborg and and entire island's infrastructure starts to fall apart. While it happens Nick Fury says that they need to get out now, Agent Coulson says way ahead of him since he signaled a quinjet to pick them up. They all get inside as the island's main labs start to fall apart and they fly away.

Later, it shows S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents going through the remains and arresting A.I.M. soldiers/spies including Taskmaster and Ellen Brandt with Hawkeye getting his new hearing aids and lying them. Agent Coulson tells Director Nick Fury they're finding tons of deadly experiments being worked on and innocent people who are largely unharmed and can be brought home, that it's good they stopped A.I.M. when they did, but Fury corrects them saying Black Widow and Hawkeye did.

He goes over to them and they say how Fury must be upset, but he says just the opposite. He explains how what he did was a test and that he knew putting them in a stressful situation like that would force them to pool their skills together and make a dent in this A.I.M. war, he actually says it works better then expected. He says Agent Romanoff's resourcefulness in those situations is why she's such a valued member of the team. She shows off to Hawkeye that he said that, and he admits to being wrong, which he is actually relieved about. He also says everything said in Budapest was true, she's his best friend and a true spy, she says she sees him the same way. But that they don't know about Director Fury, and what kind of secret projects and tests S.H.I.E.L.D. has going on. Even for experienced and trusted Agents.

Back on the mainland, Black Widow and Hawkeye are both at a S.H.I.E.L.D. ceremony and receive awards each presented by Nick Fury himself for stopping A.I.M. with Agent Coulson on the side smiling at both of them, as they accept the awards with high honor.

End Credits
Teasing The Avengers

Taskmaster is taken into The Rat prison system. While inside he quickly manages to find Emil Blonsky and pins him against the wall, calling him a traitor and saying he will "mess him up" 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 (after catching his breathe) 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.

Reviews
The movie received generally positive reviewed, with some mixed. They said how Shane Black did it again with a spectacular, fun and light-hearted action movie with "just enough nerdiness to keep the fans entertained, and just enough Action to keep the casuals entertained". That the action scenes were well choreographed and making B-List heroes like Hawkeye and Black Widow simply household names was a sign of great writing in it's self. They also said that Samuel L. Jackson was amazing casting as Nick Fury, and Coulson was a surprisingly awesome breakout character. A few of the movie's criticisms though, said the movie had a pretty thin and cliched plot line of saving the world, and that it got resolved a little too well at the end. Though most did say they were charmed by Statham's Taskmaster, and Pierce's M.O.D.O.K. was one of the best MCU villains to date.

Trivia

 * Agent Coulson was the first character in the MCU to utter the word "Mutant". This minor detail of how Taskmaster received his powers 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 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


 * 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.


 * Michael O'Brien, in the comics, was originally a supporting character in the Iron Man comics and the brother of the villain Guardsman. Due to his close connection with the character, there were plans for John Cena to reprise the role in Iron Man 2. However, the idea was abandoned and never made it to the final cut of the film.


 * 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 to try and purify humanity for only the intelligent and science-minded individuals.


 * 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 Hawkeye decided to spare her on a recon mission.


 * 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.


 * M.O.D.O.K. claims one of his influences to be Schmidt, referring to Johann Schmidt or the Red Skull. The same man who founded Hydra, alluding to A.I.M.'s similar goals and role it plays in the MCU.


 * Hawkeye puts on a Purple Circus costume during the movie. This is a reference to his iconic look in the 616 continuity. Which Shane Black originally was going to leave out of the film for being "too cartoonish" but was influenced by Feige to add it for homage purposes.


 * The Kronas Company in the comics is an organization with ties to terrorism lead by an Ex-KGB agent named Aleksander Lukin. On the guest list for the party at the Kronas Building, that is the first name on there. A reference to his connection to Kronas within the source material.