As the leading comic book and movie franchise to date, Marvel has thousands of characters that go through constant changes depending on where and when they are portrayed. This applies more frequently to the most prominent characters, in Marvel’s case, The Avengers. Of the original team of seven superheroes, only one is a woman, Black Widow. Being one of the first female main characters for the franchise, she had to undergo many changes to be a suitable hero and role model for the intended audience. The differences between the comic book and the live action portrayals of Black Widow are subtle, but crucial to her character development and the development of women being portrayed in media.
The Black Widow character signifies strength, femininity, and control. She is represented by a red hourglass like symbol, a similar shape naturally occurs on the black widow spider to warn any possible predators of how deadly she is, this carries over to the character along with other distinctive qualities, like the name origins and killing patterns. Black Widow is intelligent, strong, and speedy, and is described as a master seductress and martial artist, and an expert spy, acrobat, and marksman. She also came to the Avengers in an unordinary fashion, being sent from the villainous side of Marvel. Black Widow was originally trained as a spy and assassin in her home country, before forming a friendship with Hawkeye (an Avenger) and choosing to turn away from her dark past and use her skills for good. This is what makes Black Widow such a great character and hero for Marvel and an outstanding female role model for media portrayal.
At a first glance, Black Widows character design looks dead on when compared to the comic books, but there are subtle changes that make a huge difference contextually. Her comic book design consisted of an hourglass body wearing a black skintight suit with a zipper all the way down to her crotch and exposing her breasts, red hair impractically left down while in battle, and a very feminine fighting style. In the movies, the suit is not clinging to her skin as dramatically as the comics, and the unzipped chest shows minimal cleavage; her body shape and fighting style are more realistic, and she blends in better with the male heroes she works alongside. Although being less sexualized in comparison to the comics, Black Widow still uses her femininity to seduce her enemies into situations she has better control of before punishing them for thinking they could ever take advantage of her. Other changes made include her name, Natalia Romanova in the comics versus Natasha Romanoff in the movies, and small twinges in her backstory that can be seen in her movie. Additionally, Black Widows’ turn from antagonist to protagonist is only featured in the comics, she is portrayed as always fighting for good in film.
Black Widow came into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fighting all odds. Being “presented as very attractive and Tony (Iron Man) sees her as desirable and not because she is fluent in four languages but rather as the female character that is a sexualized object for the fulfillment of male fantasy.” in her first on-screen appearance in Iron Man 2 (2010), Black Widow had spent little screen time being the “sexualized object”, preforming a boxing routine with another character to demonstrate her strength. As for body shape, Black Widow follows the stereotypical hourglass body in the comics, making unrealistic body expectations for women in the audience. “For women, comic book representations average to a woman who is only 4 in. taller than the average U.S. human, but 42 pounds lighter. U.S. women had an average BMI ten points higher than comic book women.” The change to Black Widows physique reduced this unrealistic standard and helped normalize a regular body shape, even though she is an extreme athlete. Later in the MCU, we can see an antagonist character attempt “to disrupt Black Widow by using her emotions against her, something he does not attempt on this same level with the male characters” . At this time, we can see a shift, the once normalized ways of treating women are now being used by a disliked character, showing progress in depleting many stereotypes against women.
The Black Widow character, from the Marvel franchise, is a well-rounded female role model who paved the way for many more female heroes to sprout up through the years. The change between her comic book representation and her portrayal in movies was revolutionary for women being represented in media. As more of this character gets revealed in time, only will her positive influence on women and girls in the audience grow.
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Libby Meldrum
Alyssa provides a thorough analysis of the depiction of Marvel’s Black Widow character across different media formats. She effectively discusses the similarities and differences between the comic book and film representations along with the evolution of character design and backstory in the movies. This emphasizes the shift towards a more realistic and empowered depiction. Further, Alyssa successfully captures the essence of Black Widow as a symbol of strength, femininity, and control, as well as how her character development reflects broader changes in gender representation in media.
The main points summarized include Black Widow’s portrayal in comic books, initially featuring a highly sexualized appearance and a more feminine fighting style, while the film representation presents a more realistic and empowered character with minimal sexualization. Alyssa addresses the implications of these changes, such as promoting a more diverse and relatable female role model and challenging traditional gender stereotypes. She also highlights the significance of Black Widow’s transition from a villainous past to a heroic figure – a central theme absent in her cinematic portrayal.
Alyssa’s use of scholarly sources strengthens her analysis by providing evidence and context to support her points. She incorporates research on both body image standards in comic books and gender representation in media, to stress the importance of Black Widow’s transformation in promoting healthier body expectations, and challenging gender norms. However, I would recommend incorporating more in-text citations to further support her analysis.
To further improve this analysis, I suggest delving deeper into the broader cultural and societal implications of this character, specifically surrounding gender equality in popular culture. The changes in Black Widow’s physical appearance and portrayal are well done but could benefit from further discussion on how these changes reflect shifting societal attitudes toward gender and sexuality.
Overall, Alyssa provided a strong analysis of Marvel’s Black Widow character in both the comic book version and the film version. Her incorporated images clearly illustrated her discussion well.
Great job, Alyssa!