Marvel's Black Widow and Hawkeye is a 2009 live-action film produced by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios based off of the two less popular superheroes, Hawkeye and Black Widow. It is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was originally intended to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie, but was changed to be centered around Hawkeye and Black Widow. It was released worldwide on May 1st 2009.
Production
20th Century Fox in the early 2000s had planned to make a live-action S.H.I.E.L.D. movie starring Black Widow and Hawkeye, prepared to be a stand-alone franchise. As the X-Men and Spider-Man films took off and with the formation of Marvel Studios, plans changed and the movie was moved into the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon with the title eventually altered to simply Black Widow and Hawkeye.
Avi Arad and Kevin Feige were at odds about the status of the movie however. Arad claimed that the protagonists were only supporting characters and wouldn't be able to hold a two hour movie, but Feige insisted that it would be good world building and that they had few choices with the limited heroes at their disposal. Arad eventually was convinced and production continued with the film. The director, Cate Shortland, was hired in early 2007 to helm the film. She had ideas of the film being an origin story for Black Widow and Hawkeye with the main villain being the popular Marvel Comics supervillain, Taskmaster. This was well received by Marvel and eventually became what the final product would be centered around.
The film's leads were confirmed to be Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. It was later announced that Jason Statham would be 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 Clint Barton/Hawkeye
- Jason Statham as Tommy Masters/Taskmaster
- Tom Hardy as Alexi Shostakov/Vanguard
- Ray Winstone as Chairman Ivan Petrovitch
- Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury
- Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
- Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill
- Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton
- Ty Simpkins as Callum Barton
- Savannah Page Rae as Lila Barton
- Maximiliano Hernandez as Agent Jasper Sitwell
- Jerzy Skolimowski as General Georgi Luchkov
Plot
The film starts by showing a group of teenage girls in the Red Room performing a gentle ballet routine. They all complete their dances in unison only for their teacher, Taskmaster, to deem it "sloppy" and instructs them to do it again. It then shows the same girls also being forced to engage in combat, stealth and firearms training with one of the girls with red hair shown to excel by successfully shooting bullseyes on every pressure point, much to her Taskmaster's admiration. In the middle of her next shot it cuts to the Olympic Village where a man shoots a bullseye as well, but with his bow and arrow on a target stand.
He hears nothing but ringing in his ears until his girlfriend, Laura, leans on his shoulder and he puts his hearing aids in, listening to her tell Hawkeye nice shot as it then shows someone in a trench coat and an eyepatch walk over and call out a name, Clint Barton. The archer confirms that's him and he introduces himself as Nick Fury, Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division.
Clint observes that's a mouthful and Nick insists he just call them S.H.I.E.L.D. Laura then asks what he wants and Nick begins citing all of Clint's olympic achievements in archery, saying that his best Agents who've trained their whole lives can't come close to him, and to believe him, they've tried. He thinks his talents might be better served protecting the world instead of pining for a seventh gold medal. Clint scoffs and says thanks, but he isn't interested. Nick respects his decision but assures him if he changes his mind to give him a call, handing Clint his card which has an eagle icon printed onto it.
Back in the Red Room, all the students are being strapped onto gurneys as the Chairman Ivan Petrovitch tells Taskmaster that he doesn't want another batch of dead girls. He becomes insulted by the implication and insists that his girls are the toughest girls in the world, he'll have his Black Widow. It then cuts to the red haired girl from before on her gurney being wheeled into surgery as everything fades to darkness.
Eight years later in Moscow at the Kremlin, security is monitoring the hallways until they all start being taken out by an invisible person. Once every guard is defeated, Black Widow stops camouflaging and reveals herself to be dressed in skin tight black leather with a red hourglass emblem on her belt. She then uses poison coming from the palm of her hand to burn the lock off the door into a large archive center.
Before stepping forward, Black Widow rolls out a grenade which flashes a special light and reveals a series of moving laser trip wires all over the floor and walls. Using superhuman agility, she manages to avoid all the lasers and makes it to one of the boxes before taking a file out and making copies of it.
Across the world in Africa on the Ivory Coast, Hawkeye is attempting to subdue a group of bandits, using his talents with the bow and arrow to take them all down. This continues until suddenly he gets a bluetooth call which he awkwardly answers in the middle of fighting. Agent Maria Hill on the other line in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Communication Center tells Hawkeye they need him to return to the Triskelion as soon as possible. Clint responds by whining that he's been tracking this caravan for six weeks but Hill insists S.H.I.E.L.D. needs him on standby. Hawkeye groans before telling her he'll be there as he then quickly takes out the rest of the bandits by using a trick arrow that fires a barrage of bullets from the arrowhead.
Act 1
That night, Black Widow is seen flying a Soviet style aircraft until getting cleared for landing as she approaches the Red Room, which is revealed to be a floating fortress in the middle of the sky. Once inside, she passes through the lounge where a bulky man is arm wrestling every soldier on break one at a time, effortlessly beating them all.
When he sees Black Widow he calls out for her asking Natasha to give him a real challenge but she responds that isn't a question she needs answered and he responds how they're the Vanguard and Black Widow, protectors of the proletariat, stronger together. Black Widow insists because he clearly isn't strong enough before making her way to the Chairman's office. There, Natasha tells Ivan Petrovitch that she has what he sent her for, showing him the copied files. Explaining it's General Luchkov's playbook for how he plans to snuff out the mutiny growing in the north.
Chairman Petrovitch looks over the papers and claims it's just as expected, the Kremlin is predictable as always. He insists they have to make this go away as he then slides his hand over a touch screen, which calls a man dressed in blue, white and orange armor into his office, who takes his mask off and reveals himself to be Taskmaster.
At the Triskelion, Hawkeye walks into the lobby past a large Eagle icon sculpture in the middle before meeting his friend Agent Phil Coulson, who he banters with before asking what they made him fly across the world for and Coulson tells him that Taskmaster's back. Upstairs, Nick Fury is revealed to be talking to screens of the United Nations Security Council telling them how there's a crisis brewing in Russia, another Communist revolution is on the way with the Red Room at the heart of it, and they need to start deescalating soon before it starts another Cold War.
The Council however insists that the Red Room hasn't been an active threat since the 90s. Without the support of a governmental body like the Soviet Union anymore there's no reason for S.H.I.E.L.D. to intervene. Nick responds that, normally, he would agree, except for one thing. He puts a profile up on another screen and introduces him as Tommy Masters, street name Taskmaster, a Mutant with the ability to replicate any physical movement he sees performed, which he uses to slum it as a teacher for the highest bidder.
He worked at the Red Room about fifteen years ago before moving on to greener pastures until recent reports of his whereabouts seem to confirm that he's back. They must be planning something big, big enough to get Taskmaster in their circle again. The Council though are all still unconvinced, claiming that until the Red Room becomes capable of causing conflict outside of Russian borders they can't afford to make them their primary focus, not while there are still more pressing threats.
As they all hang up Hawkeye tells Nick Fury that he's game, shown to have been listening the whole time. Nick insists he better be, both their reputations at stake if this goes south and Clint playfully claims he only has himself to thank for that. Nick then moves on explaining how reports claim the Red Room just recently broke into the Kremlin's archive, likely looking for any documents detailing their anti-communist strategy.
Clint asks if they've ever heard of PDFs and Nick responds that hard copies are harder to steal, easier to destroy, but they underestimated who they were dealing with. Hawkeye asks what that is and Nick pulls up more profiles on screen, introducing Alexi Shostakov, the Vanguard and Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, two enhanced super soldiers.
Clint wonders why there aren't more of them and Fury answers the surgery that gave them their powers is dangerous, out of an entire platoon they're lucky if even one comes out the other side. He then further explains Vanguard is a tank, strong, impervious to damage, and Black Widow has everything you'd expect from a spider. She's fast, agile, camouflages into the environment, even secretes poison from her palms.
Hawkeye remarks they sound like a barrel of laughs and Nick further goes on that the Russians are arrogant, slow to act, they won't deviate from their plans if they can't help it, which is why he needs to make sure nothing goes wrong when they do. Hawkeye looks over the profiles again before taking a deep breath and asking when he leaves.
At the Red Room, Taskmaster is training a group of soldiers while watching clips inside his visor of Bruce Lee Films, replicating the moves he sees while his students do the same. He eventually instructs them to go rest and as they all leave Black Widow walks into the training room, telling Taskmaster she hasn't been in here since he left and he responds by asking if she wants to give it a whirl again, for old times sake.
It then cuts to them sparring together with Taskmaster using his ability to get the best of her. He helps her up while they continue to mock fight and Taskmaster tells her that he's impressed about the name she’s made for herself, Volgograd, the Hospital fire, Dreykov's daughter. Black Widow insists she tries not to dwell on them, but Taskmaster insists she should.
In the United States, Clint is in an armory equipping himself with a variety specialty bows, trick arrows, and other necessary utilities until opening the door revealing it to be a room in his house. He goes to see his children, Callum and Lila, who are playing together and tells them he's leaving now and says goodbye to both of them. The kids hug him and Clint promises that he's going to help Callum with his school project when he gets back he’ll buy Lila that new Doll she's been asking for. Clint then walks into the kitchen where Laura is cooking dinner and tells her to save some leftovers for him when he's back. She wishes him good luck and they kiss on the lips before he walks out the door.
In Norilsk Russia, General Georgi Luchkov is being escorted into the governmental headquarters by a huge security detail, who instruct everyone in their way to stay back at the threat of gunpoint. Once he enters the office, Luchkov begins talking to the Military personnel about routes to stomp out communist gathering in the city's slums until it shows outside Black Widow on a nearby rooftop with a sniper rifle, aiming right for General Luchkov.
She prepares to take the shot until Luchkov suddenly gets a phone call, which he leaves her field of vision to pick up. After hearing what's on the other line he instantly hangs up and tells his security detail that they need to go, much to Black Widow's frustration as she watches from the rooftop, packing up her gun to follow him.
As she drives in her red and black car through a bridge to find a new vantage point suddenly an explosive arrow from behind blows the car off road and smashes in the railing, causing her to almost fall off the edge until Black Widow using her reflexes and agility to jump out in time, still suffering mild damage. Hawkeye then jumps down and approaches her, introducing himself as Agent Clint Barton of S.H.I.E.L.D. insisting that this doesn't have to get any worse if she comes quietly.
Black Widow doesn't respond and instead camouflages into the background, to which Hawkeye mutters "have it your way" before shooting a trick arrow that blows a bright orange powder in its vicinity, covering Black Widow and making her visible again as they both begin to fight one on one.
Hawkeye continues to shoot arrows while Black Widow deflects them until she eventually secretes poison onto him and he collapses in pain, his hearing aids falling out. As Black Widow takes a breath after the intense battle, Hawkeye, hearing only ringing in his ears, manages to grab her leg and trip her. After she falls he quickly takes an electrified arrow and thrusts it onto her forehead, knocking her unconscious. He then goes over and places a power-dampening collar around Black Widow's neck before calling into S.H.I.E.L.D. telling them that he got her.
Act 2
It does a montage of Black Widow being taken back to America and detained in the Vault prison complex while Chairman Ivan Petrovitch in the Red Room is informed of her capture. Vanguard meanwhile is enraged about what happened to Black Widow, ranting to Taskmaster in frustration until calming down and insisting that they will break her and Taskmaster responds telling him no, only the breakable ones.
Black Widow in the Vault being interrogated though, is shown saying that she'll tell them everything. Agent Maria Hill, who's sitting opposite to her, is skeptical of the reaction and asks why they should believe her and Black Widow says because the Red Room is evil. Hill wonders why she didn't defect earlier then and Black Widow explains because she didn't always know, she had an assignment years back to take down a high ranking oligarch, Dreykov, for strategic reasons they couldn't kill him, they had to weaken him first, break his spirit, so they sent her to take out his daughter. It does a flashback while Natasha narrates that when she got into Dreykov's home and found out his daughter was a little girl she shot her anyway.
In the present again, Black Widow finishes explaining it took her weeks to process what she had done, to question what kind of people would make her kill a child all in the name of an ideology, that's when she saw what they were. Agent Hill says that still doesn't answer her question about why she stayed and Black Widow exclaims that she was trapped, if she wasn't working for the Red Room she'd be on the run, wanted by every authority on Earth, who'd lock her up, torture her, or worse. So she did what she does best, accepted her fate, hiding in plain sight, doing what she had to and nothing more.
Hill points out that they still got her anyway and Natasha says all that's left now is for them to do what she couldn't, which causes Hill to now listen more intently. Once the interrogation is done, outside the room, Agent Hill goes to Director Fury, who was watching the whole time, and asks her what she thinks. Hill responds that everything Black Widow told her is consistent with what they've already learned and speculated about the Red Room, she seems legit.
At the Barton Residence, Clint is talking on his bluetooth with Agent Coulson about what happened in the Black Widow interrogation until he hears a crash in the living room. He and Laura go check it out only to see Callum and Lila with their bikes and a family portrait destroyed. Clint demands to know what happened and Callum exclaims they were riding their bikes and his break slipped, he's sorry.
Laura asserts that she's told them they weren't allowed to ride their bikes in the house and to both go up to their rooms. Clint though tells them to stop and points out to Laura that since no one got hurt and nothing got broken, what if they just had them clean up and say they're sorry. While she's thinking about it Lila promises she'll never do it again and Laura responds by telling them to get a broom and while they leave to do it Clint starts to get an idea.
In the Triskelion, Hawkeye goes into Director Nick Fury's office and tells him he wants to talk about Black Widow. Fury insists he's all ears and he says that he wants to let her help fight the Red Room. Director Fury tells him to come again and Clint explains she knows more about them than anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. and her skills, they don't have anyone who can do the things she can, all of that's gonna be wasted if they just keep her in the Vault.
Fury frustratedly asks Hawkeye if he's out of his mind, she's dangerous, and would've killed him if not for the antivenom they had built into his vest. Clint points out S.H.I.E.L.D. aligns themselves with questionable authorities all the time if it means keeping the peace. He knows that it's a leap of faith, but if he can just trust that... Fury interrupts to exclaim that the last time he trusted someone he lost an eye, the answer is no.
Hawkeye sighs and tells Director Fury he's just as bad as the Security Council then. Nick asks what that's supposed to mean and Clint clarifies that having someone who knows the Red Room inside and out working for them could be their chance at taking them down for good, but clearly he has different priorities. Fury takes a minute to consider his words and tells Hawkeye that if he does this she will not lead any missions nor will she be assigned any alone, once this is done she will be brought to the Vault where she came from. This is his pet project and his ass is on the line if it bites them, "got that?" Hawkeye assures him loud and clear.
In the Red Room, Taskmaster is in Chairman Petrovitch's office where he tells him that their spies have discovered who's behind the Black Widow's capture. Taskmaster demands to know who and Petrovitch bluntly tells him Clint Barton which clearly enrages Taskmaster as Ivan then hands him a flash drive and tells him he knows what to do. Taskmaster then goes to the lockers and takes his armor out before putting it on and plugging the flash drive into the back of his helmet, watching clips of Hawkeye and replicating his moves.
Back in the Triskelion, Black Widow is escorted by S.H.I.E.L.D. security upstairs to where Director Nick Fury and Hawkeye are standing. Fury tells them to take her power dampening collar off and after asking if he's sure the Director instructs them to do as told. Security takes the collar off while getting their weapons ready in case anything happens, but Black Widow doesn't attack, and instead simply thanks Fury for releasing her.
Nick corrects her to thank Hawkeye instead, that he's the reason she's here, not him. Black Widow then looks to Hawkeye and nods at him, he does the same in return. Nick Fury afterwards tells Clint that he'll let him get her up to speed as he and security all exit the room. Once they're gone, Black Widow asks why he let her go and Hawkeye explains because even though everyone else might see her as the world's most dangerous assassin, he knows she's just a confused kid in over her head. She didn't choose the Red Room, the Red Room chose her, but they shouldn't be the ones to make that decision.
Natasha insists she doesn't know what to say and Clint responds not to say anything before handing her a tablet with information on a plane hijacking from the Cubans, saying how old allies are up to no good before telling her to come with him and help sort this out, see what it's like to help people instead of hurting them. Black Widow insists it sounds like fun as Hawkeye smiles and it then shows them flying in a quinjet over Miami.
Agent Jasper Sitwell tells them that the plane is a medium sized passenger aircraft with somewhere between five to ten perpetrators onboard. Hawkeye picks up the com and starts talking to them, announcing that he's with S.H.I.E.L.D. and they're surrounded. Knowing that it's over the perpetrators open the airlock to try and escape, blasting multiple passengers out to their deaths. The quinjet starts to go after them while Hawkeye asks how many they'll be able to catch to which Sitwell replies at their falling speed four, if they're lucky.
Black Widow says that she can get them, all of them. Agent Sitwell wonders how and Natasha asks if he's ever played Barrel of Monkeys before, he nods and she says she'll save them like that. She'll stun each of their arms with a micro dose of poison so they won't be able to close their hand, and once she's got everyone Hawkeye will shoot her with an arrow and break their velocity. Sitwell looks to Clint and asks if that'll work and he insists he can make the shot, Natasha afterwards saying they don't have any other options.
Sitwell then tells her to go as the quinjet flies down and she jumps out, using her agility to catch each one of the falling passengers until she has everyone and Hawkeye shoots an arrow, being carried by the wind, to latch onto Natasha's back as it deploys a parachute and they slow down enough for them to land on the beach. After returning to the Triskelion, while Black Widow and Hawkeye are walking in led by Agent Sitwell and everyone claps for them and their success at saving the passengers. Director Nick Fury though is standing behind the crowd, watching but still unimpressed.
At the Red Room, Vanguard is in the gym lifting dumbbells with dozens of metal plates on each one until Taskmaster walks in and simply tells him that General Luchkov has resurfaced. Vanguard turns around to look at him as it then cuts to him changing into his red & white uniform as he then emerges and shows off. Taskmaster meanwhile is whispered to by Chairman Petrovitch to keep him close.
Meanwhile, Black Widow and Hawkeye are celebrating at an outdoor bar getting beers while Clint tells her that the last hijacker was just detained by S.H.I.E.L.D. ten seconds ago. Natasha insists she'll drink to that as they both cheers until she asks Clint how it happened. He wonders what she means and Natasha points to her ears, Clint understands and explains how he grew up on a farm in Missouri. When he was eleven, there was an accident, he hit his head and it blew out his eardrums. That's actually what got him into archery, he wanted to train his eyes to make up for what he lost. Natasha asks if it worked and Clint tells her it did more than that. Micro expressions, little details, they're their own language, they tell a whole story, you just have to look.
Natasha comments that's really cool and Clint then asks about her deal, how does a twenty something year old find herself tangled up with an off brand KGB. Black Widow replies that she's been a part of it as long as she can remember, never even knew her parents. Taskmaster used to tell her they both passed in a house fire when she was a baby, that just before she died her mother threw her out the window and into the arms of a Soviet soldier standing outside below them. Clint wonders if Taskmaster raised her then and Natasha says more or less.
Clint tells her that wasn't real and Black Widow asks if that's so and Hawkeye explains how he's followed Taskmaster through dozens of organizations and each time he becomes exactly what they want him to. He's a perfect mirror, he doesn't just mimic movements, he reflects back everything, attitudes, feelings, desires, it's why he's so good at what he does. She wanted a family and he picked up on that, nothing more. Black Widow's mood suddenly drops as she quickly pulls herself together and tenses up, insisting that it was real to her.
Act 3
In St. Petersburg, General Georgi Luchkov is walking through the streets flanked by soldiers as he approaches his office building, clearly more cautious than before, until they all suddenly start getting trampled and torn apart by the Vanguard. Luchkov starts running terrified while Vanguard slowly goes after him, laughing in delight until the Police show up and start shooting at him. Even though the bullets do nothing, he becomes enraged and turns his attention to them.
In the middle of the bullets suddenly an arrow shoots past them and into Vanguard, knocking him back with a sonic boom as Hawkeye emerges and tells Black Widow on his com to get the General to safety. Black Widow responds that she's on it and finds Luchov who initially fears her until she escorts him onto the rooftops.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye and the police continue to try and detain Vanguard while it shows an armored vehicle driving through the city streets until slamming into all the police and Hawkeye only for Taskmaster to emerge from the hatch who instructs Vanguard to "go" as Hawkeye looks at him in disgust. Vanguard then starts running after Black Widow and Luchkov while the vehicle starts heading towards Hawkeye, who quickly shoots a grappling arrow across the street and glides away via zipline. He then calls Black Widow on his com and tells her that Taskmaster joined the party and he's hot on their trail, Vanguard's not far behind.
It then cuts to her jumping through the rooftops with General Luchkov, responding that they'll rendezvous in the alleyway to regroup and bail out. Black Widow then unhinges a metal pipe which she uses to bring herself and Luchkov down into a nearby alley until she suddenly gets bullrushed by Vanguard. He then finds Luchkov and grabs him before crushing his head in.
Afterwards, Vanguard turns his attention to Natasha telling her how she's no better than him. He grabs her by the throat and shouts that she's a traitor and deserves to be killed as one! Black Widow quietly asks him if he's sure he wants to do that and Vanguard looks puzzled as it cuts to Hawkeye continuing to evade Taskmaster.
As he jumps through the streets, off of walls, and through cars he shoots a putty arrow to stop the tires of Taskmaster's vehicle in place. Afterwards, slowing down to finish off with an explosive arrow, shooting it dozens of meters across the city right to the vehicle before blowing it up. Just as Hawkeye thinks he got him, Taskmaster begins to emerge from the rubble and Hawkeye's confidence disappears. Taskmaster then takes out his own bow and shoots an explosive arrow at Hawkeye, mimicking his accuracy.
Clint though is able to jump out of the way just in time, but is still rattled by the explosion as Taskmaster slowly walks over. Hawkeye afterwards gets up and they begin to fight one another as Clint finds himself getting outmatched as Taskmaster is able to copy his every move. Hawkeye eventually is beaten to the point of submission and handcuffed, Black Widow and Vanguard afterwards approaching where they tell him that General Luchkov is dead.
Taskmaster tells them good work and Hawkeye looks to see Natasha taking the praise, becoming heartbroken over her turn. Once Black Widow notices him staring she punches and knocks him out. It then shows clips of the Triskelion where Agent Hill is informing Director Fury that Black Widow defected back to the Red Room and Hawkeye is MIA as it then cuts to Hawkeye himself waking up in a prison cell within the Red Room's flying base.
At the same time, Vanguard, still in costume, praises Black Widow insisting she was "magnificent". That look on the American's face when she smacked him into the dirt, priceless. Natasha responds that she's glad he enjoyed it, living with those people, eating their food, repeating their lies, she throws up in her mouth just thinking about it. Taskmaster, revealed to be standing behind her, asks if she's forgotten all he's taught her. Natasha turns around and Taskmaster continues on that the Chairman wants her to finish the job, don't show their prisoner the same mercy S.H.I.E.L.D. showed her.
Black Widow then escorts Hawkeye in handcuffs to Chairman Petrovitch's office and with the three of them standing inside, Petrovitch says at last, face to face with the famous Hawkeye, insisting that he's cost him a lot of good men. Hawkeye tells him he was just doing what he had to do and Petrovitch insists as are they. He then instructs Natasha to finish the job. Black Widow takes her glock out and points it at Hawkeye, as they both lock gazes for a few seconds, she then aims her gun the opposite direction and, without breaking eye contact, shoots Petrovitch instead.
As he falls to the floor his hand passes by his desk and slides through the touch screen. Black Widow meanwhile goes to help Hawkeye get his cuffs off and he asks what the hell is going on and she simply responds playing to her strengths. Suddenly, security breaks into the office and the two of them begin defending themselves. After beating all the Red Room soldiers Black Widow formulates a plan, telling Clint to get his equipment from storage and she'll find a plane.
Outside Petrovitch's office, alarms are going off throughout the Red Room while everyone starts looking for Black Widow and Hawkeye. Vanguard begins shouting that he "knew it!" until Taskmaster is revealed to be now dressed in his armor as he stoically puts his helmet in addition to his flash drive. It then shows Hawkeye breaking out of a vent into the storage room where he locates his bow and arrows. After equipping them he then sneaks out until suddenly he gets tackled by Vanguard.
On the other side of the Red Room, soldiers are continuing to search for Black Widow until they suddenly begin getting killed one by one by her camouflaged into the background. She camouflages once again trying to get through undetected until it shows Taskmaster leaning against the wall muttering that she broke his heart. She stops camouflaging and Taskmaster continues on that he gave her a home, he gave her love, and this is her thanks.
Natasha insists he didn't give her anything. He took her childhood, he took her choices, and she's never gonna let him do that to anybody ever again. They then start fighting as it cuts to Vanguard continuing to overpower Hawkeye who desperately pulls out arrows to try and get him off. None of the arrows are able to penetrate Vanguard who then finally starts trying to crush Hawkeye's head in until he gets a putty arrow and blows it up in Vanguard’s face, blinding and confusing him.
He instantly lets Hawkeye go as he tries to wrestle the putty off his face. Hawkeye then shoves the blinded Vanguard off of the ledge into the engine and due to his durability, clogs the turbine which causes it to explode and start collapsing the entire Red Room. The ground beneath him crumbles until Hawkeye shoots a grappling arrow to the ceiling and escapes the explosion just in time.
Black Widow and Taskmaster are still fighting and Natasha starts to get overwhelmed by him replicating all of her techniques until a piece of debris falls in their way and the entire Red Room starts to fall apart and explode. The wall then bursts open and the ground begins tilting causing Black Widow to start falling out of the side, desperately trying to hang on, but to no avail. She begins going through the air and navigating off the falling platforms, watching while the Red Room fully explodes. Taskmaster is then seen diving after her and knocks Natasha off balance, causing to go into a free fall. Just as it seems like she's about to fall to her death Hawkeye suddenly grabs onto her hand and, after using her poison to secure the grip, he shoots a parachute arrow with his legs and they land safely.
Taskmaster soon after lands too using his own backpack parachute and after reorienting himself looks to Black Widow and Hawkeye, prepared to keep fighting. Natasha and Clint both respond by simply looking at each other and nodding respectively. Hawkeye afterwards turns his hearing aids off as they both start fighting Taskmaster together, non-verbally communicating with one another to out maneuver him anytime he tries to replicate one of their moves.
Without being able to copy both of their fighting styles simultaneously, he soon finds himself overwhelmed, unmasked, and beaten by Hawkeye's arrows and Black Widow's powers. They then tie him up until S.H.I.E.L.D. reinforcements arrive to arrest him, with Agent Coulson commenting that taking down the entire Red Room alone and capturing Taskmaster, not half bad. Hawkeye assures him that he had some help, turning his attention to Black Widow.
At the Triskelion, Director Nick Fury is sitting in his office with Black Widow explaining how the Red Room isn't gone, but it is for all intents and purposes incapacitated after losing its base of operations, the few that scattered should be easy to take care of. Fury sighs and proclaims that he doesn't like to admit when he's been wrong, and usually those times are few and far between, but this isn't one of them.
He misjudged her, to a grievous degree, and as far as he's concerned saving his best Agent and possibly millions of lives in the process is enough to pardon anything she's done in the past. Black Widow guesses that's not it and Fury claims there aren't many people out there he can trust to do what needs to be done, and when he finds them, he likes to keep them close, then finally asking what does she say "Agent Romanoff" and Natasha responds there's nowhere she'd rather be.
Later that day, Black Widow is walking through the park by herself until seeing Hawkeye. She tells him that she got his message and Clint leads her to a picnic blanket introducing Natasha to his wife Laura, his son Callum, and his daughter Lila. They all kindly greet her and Black Widow likewise does the same.
End Credits
Teasing The Avengers
Taskmaster is shown to be in the Vault quietly sitting in his cell until S.H.I.E.L.D. security tells him to get up. He follows them out of the cell and into a quinjet, afterwards being led to a training room full of recruits where he's then given his helmet.
Trivia
- In the comics, S.H.I.E.L.D. is an acronym for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage and Logistics Directorate. This was changed in the movie for unknown reasons.
- The Red Room in the comics had never existed independently of the Soviet Union, having it be an independent terrorist organization with the goal to restore Communism in Russia was done to give Black Widow an origin story that could fit into the modern geo-political climate.
- Black Widow and Hawkeye are based on their Ultimate comics interpretation where they both work as elite Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as opposed to their 616 counterparts where they're, instead, criminals who fall in love.
- Nick Fury is also inspired by the Ultimate Comics version of the character, appearing as a bald African-American man modeled after the likeness of Samuel L. Jackson, who happens to also be the actor who portrays Fury in the movie.
- Ivan Petrovitch in the mainstream universe is Black Widow's adoptive father as well as the Soviet soldier himself who actually caught her after her birth parents threw her out the window.
- Vanguard in the comics is known as Red Guardian, the Soviet response to Captain America, with only his successor Nikolai Krylenko ever being called Vanguard. This was changed in the movie to prevent comparisons to the patriotic Canadian superhero simply called Guardian.
- Before this film, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been referenced to exist multiple times in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with its motives and purpose remaining unclear.
- Natasha Romanoff in other adaptations does not have any special abilities outside enhanced stats from her Black Widow Super Soldier Serum.
- Hawkeye in the source material only lost his hearing after becoming a superhero, it wasn't what inspired him to become an archer as explained in the film.
- Though the movie never received a sequel, Director Cate Shortland explained that if given the opportunity she would've wanted to bring in both Yelena Belova and Trickshot in some capacity.
- In the end credits, Taskmaster is temporarily escorted out of the Vault to train a group of recruits, revealing that S.H.I.E.L.D. is using him as a teacher despite also being a prisoner.
