Hollywood has changed a lot since the early 2010s, particularly when it comes to the depiction of female characters in superhero movies. No longer relegated to thankless love interest roles or sexualised in an over the top way, we're now getting movies like Captain Marvel and Black Widow on a regular basis.
When Iron Man 2 introduced Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff, there's no denying that it was in a somewhat tasteless manner. The character was portrayed in a stereotypically "sexy" way, with Tony Stark looking at a photoshoot of his new employee and stating bluntly, "I want one."
During a recent interview with Time, Marvel Studios Executive Vice President of Production Victoria Alonso explained why that scene bothered her at the time and still does to this very day.
"It bothered me then and it bothers me now," Alonso explained. "I remember thinking, ‘She’s not a thing.’ But how apropos: the world sees a sexy woman and thinks that because she is beautiful, that’s all she has to give."
Since then, Black Widow has proven herself one of Marvel Studios' most badass superheroes, though Joss Whedon's depiction of the character in his Avengers movies was also criticised by many. Now, though, the character will get to take centre stage in a movie of her own when it's released next week.
"There was always a myth that women’s stories don’t sell," the Marvel Studios executive added. "That super-heroes can’t be women. We had to demystify a bunch of these myths that were very much a part of what Hollywood was all about."
In our review, we concluded by saying, "Black Widow is Bourne meets Bond meets Terminator...with two outstanding, badass female leads. Action-packed, funny, and at times surprisingly gut-wrenching, Cate Shortland's vision for the MCU is bold, empowering, and utterly unmissable."
In the movie, Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha/Black Widow, Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour portrays Alexei/The Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz is Melina. Black Widow is directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige; Black Widow - the first big screen story in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe - arrives on July 9th both in theaters and on Disney+.