Black Widow - July 12

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Black Widow’ film, which was released last Friday, (July 9, 2021), after about a year’s worth of delay.

The ‘Black Widow’ movie works. The characters are relatable, the plot is understandable, and the visuals are really good. Admittedly, the movie never goes ‘full woke’, but it still works; it is also politically detached, but fewer people are complaining about that.

Let us elaborate. No, ‘Black Widow’ does not go into the subjugation of women by men fully, though girl power is clearly the motto of the movie; male characters are shoved to the sidelines, or are outright evil, as they are in case of general Dreykov.

Again, let me elaborate: ‘Dreykov’, however you want to spell it, is not a Russian surname; Romanova, Belova, Shostakoff, Vostokoff are, however mangled by their adaptation to English. More importantly, while at least some part of the ‘Black Widow’ takes place in Russia, (because ‘Black Widow’, no duh), there’s little of that ‘Russian ethnic flavor’ that you could’ve expected this movie to have; aside from the occasional accent, (done for fun as much as for authenticity), and some throwaway location titles, the action of the ‘Black Widow’ could’ve taken place almost anywhere else, and in fact in part it does – in Budapest, which is a Hungarian city, not a Russian one. That is an important difference, you know!

…Am I griping? Perhaps. The fact is that the ‘Black Widow’ movie is also generic, by MCU standards; there’s the entire gender issue – some of the movie critics are complaining that Disney/MCU didn’t take it far enough, but the thing is that the ‘Black Widow’ movie isn’t controversial, there isn’t anything really controversial about it, that’s a big part of its’ appeal, (that, and the pleasant visual aesthetics), but it is also its’ main flaw – some of the people are upset about everything and anything – real life sucks, remember? – though many more of them would rather watch the ‘Black Widow’ – or any other movie, really – just to escape reality, for however little a time period. I know that I did. What next?

A brief mention of Marvel’s ‘What If?’ series, which arrive on August 2021. Even in the trailers, this series is already a spectacle, but if you dig just a bit deeper, you will recover the same lack of controversy that marks the ‘Black Widow’. There are plenty of Marvel characters that will be appearing in the ‘What If?’ episodes, but none of them belong to AoS, (aside from Brock Rumlow, but he was not a part of AoS at all). Clearly, Marvel is done with S.H.I.E.L.D. …that puts the ‘Black Widow’ in an odd position. Just like WV, ‘Sam & Bucky’, and ‘Loki’, ‘Black Widow’ is a transition story, one where the titular…well, title, passes from Nat onto Yelena, but to complete the circle, Yelena has to become an assassin for… S.H.I.E.L.D. Or an agent, technically speaking, but there is no S.H.I.E.L.D. in MCU anymore. AoS was supposed to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. back to glory after the events in ‘The Winter Soldier’ film, but due to a bunch of RL factors, that never happened.

…Ok, within the game terms it did, but in RL? Once AoS ended, Disney/MCU put S.H.I.E.L.D. under the rug and does not appear to be bringing it back anytime soon; rather, it is S.W.O.R.D. that is trying to fill-in the gap, but judging by how it didn’t appear beyond WV, MCU hasn’t quite worked-out all of its’ kinks with that plotline yet either.

…It would be nice to talk about the flaws of WV, and how that show flourished despite them, but I won’t; getting back to ‘Black Widow’, we got another shot of contessa Val…this time recruiting Yelena…or rather, she has already done that, and is sending her after Hawkeye in the mid-credits series. The story has come full circle, again. Natasha got involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. over Barton the Hawkeye, and Yelena might get involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the (new) Avengers over Hawkeye…either Barton or Kate Bishop, who will star in the upcoming ‘Hawkeye’ series. How will the absence of S.H.I.E.L.D. affect these series, (after all, Barton was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. just as Natasha was), remains to be seen.

And getting back to ‘What If?’, now that we’re talking about the various MCU series once more, the other thing that is noticeable about the (admittedly current) character roster is that there’re no Defenders, or X-Men, or anyone else that wasn’t a part of MCU, (up to Phase 4, anyways). By now Disney & MCU own them, of course, but apparently it isn’t a full ownership or something, and so the duo in question would rather keep them in a drawer somewhere rather than on… small screens and start yet another ruckus – the old one with Sony isn’t all that forgotten, it seems; the world of ‘Venom’ and cohorts stands apart from MCU, as do some other series, for example ‘Helstrom’.

…Here is a shout-out to MCU’s Ghost Rider, whose show died before it was born. Played by Gabriel Luna in AoS, it was supposed to be his first hurrah; instead, MCU’s Ghost Rider joined its’ Deathlok in being a one-hit wonder; at least Grant Ward lasted for three whole seasons… where were we?

…With a very good movie in the character of ‘Black Widow’, (or whatever). It may not be controversial, (even the Taskmaster does not really push the envelope, not yet, anyhow), but it is still fun to watch and easy to enjoy – and that is really what Disney, (MCU or otherwise), is aiming for.

Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!