Morgan Whitaker

"Marvel Cinematic Universe Uses Black Widow to Challenge Russian Stereotypes"

Being the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, Marvel Studios has a huge audience. Rated PG-13, the films’ stories and characters are influencing children, teens, and adults. How characters are portrayed shapes public opinions on gender, nationalities, race, and so on. Characterization influences how audiences view people from different backgrounds in real life as the movies develop characters with obvious and subtle details. Due to Marvel’s success, their characters reflect on how people from other nationalities are seen in modern media, more specifically Russians. One prominent Russian featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow. The MCU casts her as a strong, intelligent, good-looking, trained assassin who fights evil with the Avengers. Her long-standing existence in the MCU is a testament to the impact Natasha’s character has on how Russian are portrayed.

During the early 20th century, the Russian tsarist government collapsed, ushering in a new era of communist rule. Because communism was starkly different from American capitalism, the two countries became distrustful and fearful of the other. As Americans grew more cautious of Russians, Hollywood films began stereotyping Russians as villains. The MCU’s Natasha Romanoff is an anomaly to the common portrayal of Russians in American films. Unlike the commonly portrayed brutish Russian villain, Natasha Romanoff is a hero who is physically and emotionally strong, intelligent, and attractive.

As shown in the MCU and the comic series, Natasha Romanoff experienced significant trauma from communist General Dreykov in his organization, the Red Room. Dreykov kidnapped numerous young girls to train them to become skilled assassins through brain-washing and intense physical training, naming them Black Widows. Natasha, through her determination and mental strength, was able to overcome General Dreykov’s control. Natasha demonstrates her intelligence by creating an elaborate plan to eradicate Dreykov and his Red Room. Through her mission, Natasha's physical strength, mental strength, and intelligence are evident as she physically fights numerous other Black Widows, controls her emotions, and devises a complex scheme to kill Dreykov. Heroically taking down the Red Room and Dreykov breaks the evil typecasting of Russians.

The MCU also depicts Natasha as an alluring woman who uses her physique and femininity to achieve her goals. By luring men with her attractive appearance and revealing clothing, she combines her beauty with her dangerous persona to be an embodiment of the femme fatale. The femme fatale is a seductive woman who uses her features to attract men to gain intel and an advantage. A prominent example of this is when she uses Tony Stark’s attraction to her to infiltrate his private life to spy on him for her organization S.H.I.E.L.D.

By showing Natasha in a favorable light, the MCU is changing the way that Russians are shown in modern pop culture and might break the negative stereotypes of Russians for generations to come. This, in turn, will help change how impressionable Americans view Russian people, breaking the negative stereotypes Hollywood has cast on Russians for decades.