Black Widow

I’ll admit I hadn’t had much experience with Scarlett Johansson’s work before she was cast as Natasha Romanoff. In fact the only thing I had seen her in (that I can recall) was “The Island”. In my mind she just didn’t fit. Sure she’s pretty, but could she pull off the vicious skilled assassin that is Black Widow? I had my doubts. In my mind I wanted Mila Jovovich. Her Alice in the Resident Evil movies was how I pictured Natasha.

When I first saw Johansson in “Iron Man 2” she looked like the Barbie version of Black Widow. Even during the end scene when she beat up 15 guys I wasn’t overly impressed. She just didn’t seem to have that edge that is so essential to Black Widow. It could have been the hairstyle they gave her in that movie. Sounds stupid I know, but to me it make her look like a Barbie.

Then in “The Avengers” she got the shorter hair which is more practical for a spy. Her opening scene in “The Avengers” made me respect her a little bit. Using her wit and sultry appearance to get the information she needed from those thugs, but then skillfully beat the crap out of them gave me hope. The rest of the movie she showed that she did indeed have the chops to play a deadly spy.

In “Captain America The Winter Soldier” it felt like Black Widow was finally the way she was in the comics. Her hair was the right length, she was more secretive, almost to the point you wondered if she could have been a double agent, and you found it sorta hard to trust her because of that. In this movie they focused on the spy and Johansson executed it beautifully. It took three movies, but finally I got the Black Widow I was expecting all along.






So as I was saying, I didn’t like the casting at first, but through the evolution of three movies I grew to like her. Johansson went from Barbie to Black Widow in my eyes. Although I still don’t care for the poses they put her in for promotions. Such as the latest, “I gotta pee” pose they have her doing in the promos for The Winter Soldier.