FLY*

Regarding the Black Widow kerfluffle about the way she is treated in the film series (Part One)

Way back when I first saw Iron Man 2 I wrote the following about how the women were treated in the movie:

One of my most favourite things about the first Iron Man is that in the final battle, once he knows she’s safe, Tony is not overly concerned with Pepper’s safety. He trust she’s smart enough to stay out of harm’s way and when he needs help he calls on her and in fact sends her INTO peril instead of shielding her from it. And she is integral to the victory. Beyond that, Pepper is a supporting character in absolutely the best way and though loopy and self-conscious, she is intelligent, capable and a force to be reckoned with when she needs to be.

In Iron Man 2, Pepper is all but relegated to “the love interest” — despite being promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. See, although we are led to believe that Pepper has really been running things all along, she is never shown to be succeeding at it. A cable news talking head tells us she is not capable and when Pepper looks at the TV with frustration I read her worrying it’s true as much as I also read her irritation that they don’t believe in her. Which means Gwyneth is a good actress and Pepper has depth (yay!) but is still troubling. When Tony is making a fool of himself at his birthday party Pepper is going to just leave until Rhodey threatens to have the army show up — then she tries to reign Tony in, and fails, leaving it to Rhodey’s first attempt at War Machine instead. Meanwhile, the rest of the time she is nagging Tony, making fun of any of his attempts to reach out to her, yelling at absolutely everyone, and basically being a shrew of Shakespearean stature. And then in the climax, Tony rescues her from peril, takes her to a rooftop where she has a tantrum and quits her job, and then they make out. The cute bit from the preview where she throws the Iron Man helmet off the roof after he asks her for a kiss is not actually in the film.

Now, she does get put in charge of running the company — it’s insinuated only because Tony thought he was dying and she tries to quit after the first week and the only ones who give her anywhere near the kind of respect they give Tony are the spy (so she’s not really showing respect, she’s tricking her) and Happy, begrudgingly, BUT — and that is important. And she actually is competent and takes her role as the head of SI and therefore the “Stark Expo” very seriously; she is only in peril in the first place because she refuses to leave until everyone is safe. And earlier at the racetrack in France she is commanding if, again, shrill. And I do think that Gwyneth gives her the right amount of weight and that with RDJ they build a relationship I can get behind. I’m not opposed to her being the love interest. I just wish she had the same spring in her step she did in the first movie, too.

Then there’s Natasha who is almost too good to be true, something Tony actually says to her: “You’re amazing … Is anything about you real?” She is not just Tony’s replacement Pepper Potts, but also both Pepper’s Pepper Potts, and Nick Fury’s Pepper Potts. And she is a SHIELD superagent, who can take down 12+ guards on her own. And in charge of doing psych files for potential Avengers (okaaaaaaay?). And a genius hacker. And she can speak at least 4 languages including Latin. And she models lingerie.

There is a lot to admire about Natasha and while Scarlett’s performance is not on par with Gwyneth’s, I liked her and I really, really, really want her to be in the Nick Fury movie. Really a lot. I love the idea that Black Widow is the first real Avenger in the modern era. That is super duper awesome and makes me like the idea of the Avengers movie more. But on top of the Pepper issues and then with the only other female character being Christine, the Vanity Fair reporter from the first film — well, it comes off like the movie thinks women are:

a) love interest/in peril (Pepper)
b) kickass/manipulative (Natasha)

c) slutty bitch who even other women hate (Christine)

d) absent mother (Maria Stark*)
or

e) Ironette cheerleader (Ironette cheerleaders)

*In the family film Tony watches, when BB Tony gets in the way Howard calls for Maria but a cameraman takes the kid away — therefore she is so absent she is not in the film.

Nothing about the previews for The Avengers indicates these complaints are being addressed. So, yes, barring any history with the character I understand being concerned that Natasha is simply the Token Woman aka Sexy Badass (and just as a vaguely related aside I am really, really, really, really, really, really not looking forward to any kind of Natasha and Clint flirtation). 

However, the previews actually tell nothing about anything so I am going to wait to see the actual movie before I have actual complaints. Also I have a lot of history with this particular character so I have a (rage) block about the idea that Natalia Romanova is a token anything.

So that’s all I have to say about that semi-directly. Indirectly I think now is the perfect time to show off my Young(er) Avengers Legacy Line-Up.