Black Widow (2021) Hollywood Movie Ending Explained Plus Review:
Hey I’m Hammad today I’m going to review and explain the ending scene of a movie named Black Widow which is recently released on “Disney Plus”. So let's get started...
The brand-new marvel movie stars Scarlett Johansson and it very much feels like a closing of the book on “Natasha Romanov's” story. The film culminates with a big cliff-hanger that sets up a showdown between Yelena Belova and Hawkeye.
Natasha's Origin Story Explained:
We open with Natasha’s childhood in “1995” that is part of a spy family made up of her father Alexi, mother “Molina” and sister “Elena”. This movie is very much about family and I was half expecting Dominic Toretto to show up and catch Black Widow falling from the sky on the bonnet of his car. Interestingly, Nat’s origin very much mirrors Val’s backstory as in the comics she was part of a sleeper cell family working inside an anti-communism movement. This was for the organization leviathan and clearly, she is not adverse to manipulating people and this may be because she was manipulated herself when she was younger.
There's very much an idea of ruined childhoods in this film and Nat’s is destroyed when her father infiltrates the north institute in order to steal shield secrets from the hydra front. They have one last
meal together before leaving the country and this idea of final suppers appears at several points in the film.
Now, the info he stole included a map of the basal ganglia which is the part of
the brain that controls decision making and choices, the hydra of course were masters at manipulating this and it explains how they were able to control Bucky’s mind in the winter soldier. The family has to flee and after landing in the Russian ally country of Cuba Nad and her sister are enlisted into the red room program.
Taskmaster:
This is a female assassin division headed up by a man named Dreykov who wants to create an army of all-girl assassins, we learned that during the mission in Budapest, Natasha made an attempt on his life and his daughter was also apparently killed during this. However, she survived and Dreykov transformed her into the taskmaster an almost unstoppable assassin that is able to perfectly mimic her opponent's fighting styles.
I know a lot of people yet will be annoyed by this reveal, especially as it reduces one of the best characters in marvel to being a mindless machine. In the comics, the taskmaster
was responsible for training several people and the change from Anthony masters to Antonio Dreykov is probably going to
leave a lot of people asking but why?... Taskmaster is played by Olga Kurylenko and what's funny is she's one of the only Russian actors in the film but she gets one line whilst everyone else is putting on this stereotypical accent anyway the main plot takes place right after the events of civil war.
Movie Plot Breakdown:
If you cast your mind back to that you'll remember that she stunned black panther when he attempted to get Stephen bucky at the airport and after this she was warned by tony stark that secretary ross would be coming for her.
Although she went
on the run and mirroring this her sister Elena does at the same time too, it
turns out that when Natasha defected to the west. Her sister was put through an
updated run of the Red Room that used the stolen north institute studies to
brainwash it, whilst out on a mission in Morocco, Elena is sprayed with red
mist that wipes the brainwashing from her and this gives her back her free will.
She realizes how evil the red room is and reaches out to her sister in order to
help bring everything down. Interestingly the person who sprays her with the
red mist is called Oxana, a character from the Black Widow comics that
was heavily tied in with the red widow.
The story of the
film also seems to be based upon the deathless frenzy which was a chemical
serum from the comics that could highly alter someone's behavior. Now sadly, I’m
not sure how much this brainwashing plot works and when that isn't able to kill
Draco because of pheromones, It's bad writing in my opinion.
I really wish
that they had handled it with there not being any brainwashing at all and Elena
simply saw her sister stand up to the government during the events of civil
war which inspired her to do the same thing in her country, this would give her
far more agency in my opinion and would make Natasha’s legacy a lot stronger as
we could see how she inspired others to do good, rather than simply having a
red miss McGuffin that solves all problems.
I think the film
is metaphorically making a comment about men in power controlling women and
getting them to act against their will but to me, it would just be much stronger
if they made these decisions on their own, rather than having them just being mined
controlled and then suddenly not anymore. It’s just my opinion.
Ending Explained:
Natasha and Elena rescue their father Alexia out of prison and they reunite with Molina who we learned was paramount to the Red Room programming due to her scientific discoveries. As a family, they destroyed Dreykov’s headquarters which look like a cross between the Triskelion and a Heli carrier.
Elena kills Dreykov
and they bring down the base with Natasha having to skydive in order to save
her sister who doesn't have a parachute, she catches up to her but Natasha is
tracked by the taskmaster and the pair plummet towards the ground. Near is able to
free Antonia from the programming using a vial of red mist and Antonia hugs her
whilst asking if her father is gone, she is finally free and though she could
pop up in the MCU again as a taskmaster. I very much view her arc as being over
as she seemed like someone who didn't want to fight. So it's unlikely, she'll
be up for returning to the battlefield anytime soon that apologizes not only to
her but also Elena who she feels like she should have gone back for
after her defection.
Natasha decides
to stay behind and Elena and Cole leave to travel the world freeing the widows
that are still subject to the red room's mind control. Elena gives Nat her
tactical jacket which we see the character wearing in infinity war. Ross's
forces arrive and weirdly the movie cuts out, rather than explaining how Natasha
managed to get out of the situation.
To me, this was a
very strange thing to do. I think it just seems like they needed a reason not to leave the family but also didn't know how she would get of ross tracking
her down. Either way, though she does and we cut to two weeks later to see she's
still on the run. Thus, we know that she didn't agree to hand herself in or go
back with ross that meets with rick mason who throughout the movie provides her
with tech and also transports.
He gives her a Quinn jet and it is possible that this is the one that was found at the end of the age of Ultron as we know the one the hulk was in went in a car with him. Now, decides to go home and patch things up and we know which vehicle was used by her and the rug avengers during the infinity war. She travels off into the sunset to the avenger’s theme and we see fireflies drifting around a tree. This is symbolic on a number of levels as we learn in the film that Nat’s real mother was killed and she was buried under a tree.
Post Credits Scene Breakdown:
It also explains why the post-credits scene shows that Nat’s grave is being placed under one-two and here we see Elena visiting it. She’s also brought her dog which calls back to earlier in the movie in which she said she wanted to get one and have a normal life. She stands there crying which is when Val shows up out of nowhere offering her a job.
Clearly from the dialogue we can tell that the pair of work together as Elena says Val
shouldn't be bothering her on her holiday time when we last saw the character,
she was recruiting John Walker as a U.S agent at the end of falcon in the
winter soldier.
Now, they did
switch the release dates up for this and that was meant to follow after Black Widow
but I actually feel that the scene works a lot better now that we know who she
is. Knowing the comics, Val was even a love interest of nick fury so it makes
sense that she's sort of taken on his phase one role in forming the villains. DC
clearly rushed justice league in order to catch up with marvel. I always hoped
that they would have taken their time with forming the suicide squad. I really
wanted to see the villains in that pop-up in other movies before they made it
to the team and it looks like Marvel is once again following their formula and
taking their time.
I can see Val
popping up in a lot of films and properties in order to pull the villains
together, to either form the dark avengers or maybe the thunderbolts. Bal in
the comics ended up becoming Madame Hydra and it seems like she's up to no
good as she says to Elena, she knows who killed her sister and presents her
with an image of Hawkeye.
Now, we know that
there is currently a Disney plus show in the works featuring the character and
his protege Kate bishop. This will be starring Haley Steinfeld in the
role and it's due to release later this year.
According to the
wiki, Florence will also be popping up and obviously, these post-credits scene is
setting up their showdown. After the events of the end game, clint is probably still
viewed in many circles as a vigilante as we know he operated as the ronin
during the five years between the snap in the blip. There are several agencies
that likely won his head and think with Elena being the top assassin in
the “Red Room” program that she will have been selected first for the job. Obviously,
we know that he didn't kill Natasha but this has clearly been twisted so
that Elena will haunt him down.
However, I think
that it will be very much the undoing of Val’s plan and Elena is obviously
aware that her sister hit out with clint during the Budapest mission.
I think Hawkeye
will convince her he didn't murder her sister and she will then join the
avengers taking up the mantle of Black Widow much like how she did in the
comics. Val will then have to get together other members in order to form her
team and potentially the avengers may track down the group and go head-to-head
with them.
Short Review:
As for my thoughts on the film, I have to say it was a bit disappointing. I really wanted this to be a movie that encapsulated Natasha’s home and how she inspired those around her but instead, I think it felt a bit hollow. I would have loved to have seen the Budapest mission in full 2. Another movie touches upon these aspects, it does seem a bit shallow in terms of the character depth that we get. The piece very much feels like it's an Elena Bulova origin story, rather than a goodbye to black widow and I have no idea why it exists because there is nothing here beyond her introduction that I feel was all that substantial.
Taskmaster and Dreykov
were a big disappointment for me too. Considering these characters have so much
hype behind them, I was expecting a lot more. The movie does excel in its
action pieces and these are by far some of the best in the MCU. The Forecast does
a great job with Florence purely shining and I feel that Scarlett Johansson
gives her best mc performance thus far.
It's just a shame
that the stakes are really low and that the movie feels meaningless because we
know what comes before and after for the character. This kinda removes the
stakes a bit and although it's nice finding out what made natasha the way she
is, I think they just released this because fans demanded we finally get a film
for her, rather than the creators actually having a story to tell.
For me, it's one
of the more forgettable films in the MCU and I have watched it three times now
and still can't really tell you what happened in it. Overall although, I am
excited to see what happens next but unfortunately for me, this movie gets a 6.5
out of 10.