"She wasn't at peace because she was gonna die; she was at peace and so it was okay to die." One minute in and I'm already crying. My coffee is going to be SO salty by the end of this video.

As a woman who can’t have children, I always took Natasha’s line about being a monster was less about her infertility, and more about the fact that in a way, some of her humanity was taken from her in the form of physical trauma, including the surgery and emotional trauma to keep her from feeling compassion for others. Her becoming a monster was the cumulative effect of her troubled early life, and getting sterilized was just one part of that: one priority and choice that was taken away from her

When she said this to him, "I don't judge people on their worst mistakes." I felt that as a line he said to her when he 'made a different call' and she is echoing it back to him when he is drowning in his own guilt and self-disgust.

I always believed the reason we saw her with the male gaze at first was because we first meet her while she's working a mark. Her mark was Tony and she knew exactly how to play the player. Since that movie was from Tony's point of view, it probably feels like she wasn't well represented since she essentially played the audience right along with Tony by being so much more than people expected her to be. Black Widow is an assassin/ spy who specializes in giving people exactly what they want to see so they'll do what she wants. Of course she seems understated until she's free to work her own angles. That's her whole approach to subterfuge in a nutshell. I'm beginning to think not many people noticed that because they expected her to be a hero first and an operative second - when she's really the exact opposite. Black Widow was a badass long before the scene with Loki framed her as a superhero as well as a super-skilled agent. Knowing that changes how you see her character entirely. Respect to the actress for understanding the role so well that she did the under-the-radar act well enough that even the audience bought into it. That's just as badass as her character!

My reading of the "Still think you're the only monster on the team" was always the same as Alan's. It's definetely not written well, but I never got "I can't have kids so I'm a monster" vibes, I always got "I'm an incredibly efficient killing machine that has had every emotional tie to humanity ripped out of me, metaphorically and physically" vibes.

"I don't judge people on the worst mistakes." "Maybe, you should" "You didn't" such an underrated dialouge

I remember being kinda surprised when I found out people read the scene as "I can't have kids ergo monster" because immediately before that she admitted killing became easier. She's not saying she's a monster because she can't have kids, she feels like a monster because the "red" she did came easily.

I always loved the Loki scene. He had a thousand years more practice at manipulation than her and it took her what twenty or thirty minutes to get the information out of it. I also always loved how she always called her torture sessions, interrogations. She is fully aware of what she is doing and knows the other might not get it even if she told them straight to their faces. It's the classic "I'm not stuck in a room with you, you are stuck in a room with me" moment.

I'll always love how Thanos/Gamora and Natashia/Barton were opposites. Thanos fought to throw Gamora off the ledge. Nat and Barton fought to throw themselves off the ledge. That's what Gamora meant when she said 'This isn't love'

I always wondered why Natasha never got as big of a send off as Tony did. Sure, he was their leader, but she literally sacrificed herself to undo Thano's snap.

The Black Widow, one of the most underrated characters in the MCU. Her arc is one of the most complete, and her sacrifice was noble, she was willing to give up her life for the good of the universe. I wish we had seen more of her as she was an integral part of The Avengers and they used her as a throwaway character. Her death was done properly, but I wish she had survived, I felt Clint’s pain when he lost her because she was like a sister to him, it was unbearable to see her die.

Alan is such a wonderfully sensitive man, and it always makes me feel better knowing that I’m not the only one who tears up and cries during movies. Thank you to you both for being willing to bare your souls and share your sensitivity with us.

I always loved how Natasha doesn’t become a bitter, closed-off, heartbroken victim because of her past. She becomes a hero and healer, and she has so much compassion and warmth inside despite all she’s been through, and put others through. It’s just amazing to see a traumatized character grow into someone good rather than fall apart.

The thing I like about the scene with Loki is how clear it is that he was also talking about himself without realizing it.

I feel like a line was missing in that Age of Ultron scene too. If not, a few words could have easily changed the context of that line. “They did everything they could to make me into a killing machine. Do you still think you’re the only monster on the team?”

29:19 a little detail I noticed, Clint drops his bow and runs and while this could be just him dropping weight to run faster I think it could also be him leaving something for Natasha to remember him by if he was successful in sacrificing himself

Natasha paved the way for other female super heroes to take the spotlight and show generations of little girls that they are powerful.

I really feel like part of Loki's question "can you wipe out that much red?" Is a little bit of him projecting on his own belief that since he's a Jotun, as well as not Odin's favorite he can't be an Asgardian anymore.

Natasha considered herself a tool used by others, mostly as a weapon to assassinate or destroy, which she tried to rebel against many times unsuccessfully. Her sacrifice is poetic, because she literally made herself into the perfect object to be used by and for her family, and she gave not her skills or physicality or mind or even her life, but the purest part of herself untouched by all the darkness in her life: her soul. And it was not a weapon, it was a jewel.

Going to put this out there -- I really hope that ScarJo and any of the writers that worked on Nat's story watch this video. Generally speaking as a writer, when someone spends this much time and effort into analyzing what you've put out there and come away as a net positive, that feels extremely validating.

Widow's death in End Game absolutely shattered my heart. Scarlett is massively underrated. Speaking to the "I'm a monster" line, I always thought it spoke to self loathing, a big part of her self image.

The scene where she is interrogating Loki represents Black Widow's special skill which is master manipulation, the fact that she can trick Loki god of tricksters is impressive and the scene is underrated for how amazing she is as a character.

7:03 I love it in Hawkeye when Kate asks him "Best shot you took?" and he responds, "The one I didn't take. ...I just had this feeling that she wanted out" when talking about Natasha. You can tell that he truly just loves and cares for her so deeply... I love their friendship so much PLEASE *cries in MCU*

The scene in which Black Widow tells her sister "It was real to me too." Man. That hits deep.

I would love to see a video focusing on Black Widow and Hawkeye’s friendship, it is an excellent example of a platonic friendship that is healthy and extremely loving. And you could do some on her friendships with the other men in Avengers probably in that same video but I think those kind of relationships deserved to be celebrated because we don’t see them done well very often, especially not in American cinema

There's a beautiful chapter in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King that talks about the mark of a true King is being a healer. Aragorn wasn't completely accepted as king after he won the battle, he was completely accepted as king after he came back and helped to heal the wounded. I kept thinking about this in connection with Natasha: she became a complete hero when she became a healer.

It's so encouraging to hear another therapist acknowledge that there are times that they have thought they were helping and were unintentionally harmful. As a therapist I'm constantly afraid of doing unintentional harm to my clients

I don't know if anyone is still monitoring this, but as a veteran, I'm literally crying watching this. I was instrumental in a way I wish I wasn't in things I wasn't in control of. The burden is inexplicable

The way Jonathan explained guilt really stuck with me, you can be guilty of an action - that’s your conscience leading you to resolve that- but to be guilty of being yourself, alive, what was done to you isn’t helpful and is hurtful… love you guyyyyyyssssss

12:00 I agree with how they view the "I'm a monster scene", but I'd like to present a different view: Banner is saying "I'm not human. I can't have humane things, I'm resigned to a life of being inhumane" Natasha counters by identifying herself, as well, as inhumane. As they stated, she's also saying "I'm an assassin who received cirurgical intervention to make me more disconnected and efficient at killing things. I'm just as inhumane." What this is doing is showing how she identifies who she is by the trauma that was inflicted upon her: "Inhumane things were done to me so I could do inhumane things upon others, therefore I'm a monster too". It ties back to her trying to take the responsability of "clearing her ledger" - she's a horrible person, barely more than a killing machine, until she can do so (in her own view). Hey, much as I loathe to ask, give this a thumbs up if you'd like Mr. Cinema and Mr. Therapy to read it.

"She wasn't at peace because she was gonna die; she was at peace and so it was okay to die." --- This was exactly my thoughts (not in the same words) when I was watching the scene in Endgame. I was so worried that they would let Hawkeye take the fall because Hawkeye had not completed his atonement, he is still very heavy with guilt and I think Natasha knew that.

I thought "do you still think you're the only monster on the team?" was just Natasha opening up about how SHE felt about herself, how she saw herself. It just made the scene more heartbreaking for me, because *nearly every woman I know has been convinced,* or at the very least half-convinced, *that they're a monster,* or a freak, or that there's "something wrong with them." To hear a woman, who was groomed through abuse to become both a slave and an assassin, call herself a monster... to me, it was one of the most realistic things about the movie. I'm just so used to hearing things like that from the women in my life, even the ones who haven't been abused, that I didn't connect it to the line before. I suppose I'm so isolated, from that archaic concept of femininity, that drawing such a connection never occurred to me. And I need to work on that, because that archaic concept of femininity is one of the sources of my friends' and relatives' pain.

As a woman who can't bare children, I always took that monster line, not as her calling herself one because she can't have kids, but because killing was easier for her because she can't. That's what the context spoke to me, anyways.

My read on the "I'm a monster" scene is that its not referring to her infertility, but rather to how it came to be; she says that the sterilization is like the "graduating" ceremony and for her getting sterilized is sort of a symbol of what made her that monster, like the final step in the grooming process that pushed her over the edge.

Florence Pugh is actually an insanely good actor. Like I mean fantastic. The whole breath and then filling the cheeks and blowing out during the dinner scene. Like she is overwhelmed with emotion. Her acting is literally off the charts.

This video came at the perfect timing. I am currently writing a Bachelor thesis about female representation in the MCU and Black Widow in particular. The input on atonement and her character arc really helps a lot. Now there's a KZfaq video part of the bibliography.

I love how shocked and confused Loki looks when Natasha outwits him. He looks like he thought it was impossible

Her arc is so powerful and I have always connected to it. The ability to form connections in the worst of circumstances, engaging with the past and trying to find new family.

Romanov and Barton are the best relationship on the screen. Period. I have always loved them, their banter, their love for each other, and the bone deep reapect.

I would argue with Steve being her closest relationship. It was clearly Clint and the fact that they were so close and loved each other so much is what makes her death all the more impactful to me. Their bond of trust and friendship was formed over years of working together - long before they ever knew the rest of the Avengers - and risking their lives for each other. They are family in everything but blood. The fact that she - aside from Fury - was the only one to know about his wife and children, children who even call her "auntie Nat" and that he and his wife chose to name their child in her honor are clear indicators of this. And we clearly see how much Clint struggles with her death in "Hawkeye". I would really love it, if you did an episode on Clint.

I am a woman and i've never had any problem with that 'controversial' scene, I always thought she was calling herself a monster because of the amount of pain and suffering she has caused other people and she feels guilty for it

I have always loved how Natasha plays into whatever weakness the enemy presumes of her to obtain the information she needs, only to turn it around on the , THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

Dismantling toxic masculinity one beautiful tear at a time. I love that you both are brave, strong, and secure enough to express your authentic emotions in your videos.

I wanna see a video of Yelena and how she deals with grief. The lose of her childhood and family. I'd love to see how she's finding herself for the first time.

"I don't judge people on their worst mistake." As an addiction counselor, this is the definitive act on non-judgmental gesture or behavior towards others, something that we all, individually and collectively as a community, are still finding so hard to achieve. If we can actualize this level of commitment to seeing the person behind every circumstance, letting go will be much easier.

Natasha and Bucky's character had a lot in common. They've been brainwashed to be a weapon, a killing machine, their hands wiped liters of blood, marked their knives at different lives, but they were willing to mend a tear. The difference is, Nat's character arc has come to a period while Bucky's arc is still unfolding. I can't wait for his story to be told. I hope in the future, you guys will make a Bucky video. He's one of my favorite characters in the MCU (him, Wanda, and Nat 💜)

I still remember how I went to the cinema three times for Avengers Endgame and I cried all those three times at the part where Natasha let herself go. And now, I cried again at that exact moment because, it hurts more when you have had the time to process and think about each word and every action being taken to reach that stage. I love what Alan had said about that part, how her coming to peace with her own heart and self has made death the good place to end, even if she should have been able to live on. She could make this choice because she has lived to the fullest, to the best capability of her and she, despite many regrets, can finally let go. Natasha is a brilliantly written character with the most memorable character arc in MCU. Most people remember the sacrifice of Iron Man in the Endgame as he was an icon of this universe, but the death that actually hurts me the most was Natasha's, because it resonates with me more. Tony Stark has always been a hero, even if many of his life choices were questionable, he was made to be a hero. Natasha wasn't, was actually designed to be a killing machine with all the most intimate and humane parts of her being taken away, but she took ownership of her own life again when someone was willing to see the good in her. She was born a normal girl, raised to be a monster, and died as the one person who just wanted to do good for the world.

My understanding of Natasha's "monster" comment is simply that she feels like a monster. She's had everything taken away from her and all she knows is a life of violence. Also, as a man, I can't ever really know what it's like to lose the ability to be a mother but I can't imagine she's the first woman to feel that way about sterility. I suspect it was an attempt to voice those feelings, despite the unfortunate way it came out.

I squealed when you showed the Zuko "That's rough buddy" moment 😂 Would you consider doing a video on his redemption arch?

A lot of people say that Natasha and Bruce were out of nowhere. But that’s how it happened sometimes. I really liked them together. The line about her being a monster. I never thought of it that way. My brain literally said “oh she’s a killer, she’s calling herself a monster”. I was super taken aback at how people took it.

Jon, your explanation about guilt just hit me. Not about trauma, but about ADHD. I hold so much guilt about not being able to change enough for others. But you just made me realize that there is only so much I *can* change, and I don't need to feel guilt for something I can't change. Thank you.

So grateful for Alan. Thanks for crying as much as me, sweetie.

Including “that’s rough buddy” has cemented my desire for a Zuko psychology of a hero video.

This reminds me of something I always try to remember: "Anger is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies."

Her situation reminds me of something in 12 step programs call “living amends”. The idea is that while under the influence of addiction you made mistakes and hurt people along the way, and you can’t always make direct amends with those people, but you have to learn to forgive yourself, and you do so by living your life each day with the goal of being the best person you can be.

She really has a beautiful story when you look at it. My only "disappointment" is the missed opportunity to not have her and Bucky have more interactions. Bucky and Nat have so much in common especially where Bucky was in the Disney+ show. I think she really could have helped him out because he views himself as a monster as well.

"Forgive yourself for not knowing what you know now before you knew it." Powerful!

I don’t know what I was expecting but the emotional depth of Natasha’s arc really got me. Thank you for this!

I love Natasha because she is so unexpectedly powerful. Whenever they didn’t have a plan, SHE was the plan. Definitely deserves more love, from the team, the franchise, the fans, everyone

The "Wiping Red Out of My Ledger" is explored a LOT more in the Winter Soldier's storyline.

A moment of Epiphany: Something I never truly realized until your breakdown of the scene between *Natasha* and *Clint* in :Endgame (I say that because the scene was not between Black Widow and Hawkeye, but between two friends, as people, trying to comfort one another)... Was that scene was also showing us that, in becoming Ronin, Clint had accepted life as the same kind of killing monster that Black Widow had been before she was brought into SHIELD. That was Natasha's chance to make a different call for him, clearing the red in her ledger and giving him a chance at redemption too. Thank you for that.

So, I'm always gonna stand by the fact that I truly believe it *had* to be Natasha to die on Vormir. (Even though it hurts a lot!) For multiple reasons. And not because of the fact that Clint has a wife and kids, because having kids doesn't make you worth more than anyone else. Though that does factor into it, but not for that reason. I mean, for one, like you guys said, she wanted to wipe the red from her ledger, that was one of the biggest reasons it had to be her. This has been her journey from the beginning, she's been trying to make up for her past for so long and this was that final step to do that. (Though as said in the video, death is *not* the way to make amends for things in real life situations.) But also, *yes* because Clint has a family. Not because that makes him worth more, or anything, but because she cares about his family so much, she cares about him so much, she doesn't want them to lose their Dad. She was not about to let these kids who she absolutely adores lose their Father. And finally, she felt she owed Clint everything. She even said it in the first Avengers in that scene with Loki, that she owed him a debt. Now, you could say she more than paid it, but I somehow doubt she'd see it that way. He is the reason she got everything she ended up with. If he hadn't given her that chance, she never would've got him as a best friend, or his family as her family, or the Avengers, or *anything!* And that's not something you're just going to let go of or ever feel like you've truly repaid him for it. So by sacrificing her life there she was giving him that same chance that he gave her. To heal from the mistakes he's made in the last five years. In that moment, a part of him actually wanted to die. For one, he was very much still reeling from the guilt of everything, another his family was still gone even though they were working on getting them back, but also he was probably terrified of facing his family after those five years. If he had died instead of Natasha, it just wouldn't have worked because he had only just stopped the killing, it wouldn't feel as much like a sacrifice as it did with Natasha. Like, either way it would be both a sacrifice and a suicide, but with Natasha it felt like a sacrifice, with Clint it would've felt like a suicide. Does that make sense?

Natasha / Black Widow is my favorite type of character. Her struggles and growth resonate with me so strongly. And yes. I am now the biggest fan of Florence Pugh. She is a QUEEN of acting.

I loved the Black Widow character so much. ScarJo is so good in the role, and the movie is so much fun with some truly well done family drama. That foursome was special.

With Spider-Man out in theaters, would you be interested in making an episode on the loss all 3 Peter Parkers have had to go through along with the responsibility they have to shoulder.

I think 'Winter Soldier' is the best we got to see of Romanova. Wish her film was more like that in tone.

It's amazing how these old MCU movies and characters can tug at our hearts, and the newer ones, are just mush.

I love than Alan knows his strengths and embraces it. He's a good rewriter. In all honesty, I think this is a rare talent. So many movies remade and ruined by other directors. Alan is a gift.

- the Red Room made her a monster; is how I saw that scene - for the movie Black Widow. The main antagonist was the “family”. My take on it, as by this point I know the MCU has made great villains, but they were down played so the family could take front and centre. - the series Hawkeye did Natasha great service by showing how others dealt with their grief surrounding her death.

I’ve always loved Natasha’s character but this video put why in such a brilliant way

It Sincerely Amazes Me How The Life Affirming Themes Of The Avengers Always Resonate. ❤

Thank you so much for giving Natasha the time. So many people talked about how her death wasn't that sad but i think so many people forget how long she's been in the MCU, how important she was, and don't understand the struggle of dealing with how you were raised for one thing, brainwashed and manipulated. Only then to becoming an adult, trying to deal with the guilt of your childhood/younger years, and then trying to keep them from happening again, and make up for it.

13:58 reminds me of how my therapist would say "You can't know what you don't know." We are human, and we grow. And growth means that we can be better now, even if we weren't before.

I love your interpretation of the “you think you’re the only monster?” scene with Banner-Joss Whedon is definitely a misogynist in his writing a lot of the time, but I always read that particular line not about her infertility, but about the way she was forced to murder people, that THAT was the monstrous part of her (from her perspective). Whedon’s carelessness with the timing of the line is obvious, and I appreciate how you acknowledged the way that hurt a lot of women who were fans of the character and the movie.

"She wasn't at peace because she was gonna die; she was at peace and so it was okay to die." Damn Alan Seawright!! That's a line I will never forget!

My favourite moment was when Alan said he was a good re-writer and that's why he was a director. Thank you for owning your skills. This is a long way from the timid beginnings. Think this channel is good for not just us viewers for many reasons ;)

Wow, Jonathan, the part where you talk about "doing harm in therapy"... I, umm, think it's out of this world. For me... I personally, need to thank you for that. It is so hard to admit mistakes, to be vulnerable, especially when it comes to work.

I feel like that scene in Age of Ultron could have worked fine if they'd just worded it better, because it definitely could have been seen as her saying she was a monster because of how she'd killed so many people, including people who were implied to be innocent, or at least who she didn't think deserved to die, but got caught in the crossfire, and she was bitter because they sterilized her to make her a more effective killer. Even her being upset about the sterilization itself would be justified, because, while not every woman needs or wants to have children, the fact that the choice was taken away from her is still horrible. And I don't think she'd consider adoption because even if she could legally adopt a child, she probably would genuinely worry that the child would always be in danger, or even just fear what might happen if the child found out about her past.

14:10 That whole bit about guilt. Absolutely beautiful, and something I needed to hear. Thank you.

Jono's confession spoke to me big time. I'm no therapist but I have a sort of life-calling as a healer. And I used to help someone while I myself wasn't completely healed and thus did her more wrong. I already have taken the responsibility owned it up to her but it seems things won't get back to normal. Since I am no professional -albeit naturally gifted - how Jono experienced the same thing means a huge comfort. Thank You so much! Emily from Hungary

The problem with the Banner/Romanov relationship is that she ended up choosing the monster. The look of hurt on Ruffalo's face was amazing.

As a woman who suffers from infertility... when I was living in Utah I definitely felt like a monster. A lot of women in my community treated me like something must have been wrong with me mentally or spiritually for God to have decided that I don't diserve more kids. Or on the other hand that I was a horrible parent for not giving my child a sibbling. Some parts of society 100% do treat women who can't have kids as monsters. (Stephanie Meyers did it with female werewolves and vampires. It's a whole thing. It left a deep impression on me when I was younger). When I watched that scene in theaters it cut me because I know the pain she feels. I know what it's like to feel broken. I am not saying that this is how everyone in Utah thinks. I'm not trying to bash. But it is a pretty dominant mindset in some circles and it did me so much harm. (I didn't seek treatment for years because I thought I was being punished and got hit with pre-cancerous endometrial hyperplasia.)

Yes! I absolutely loved Florence Pugh in The Black Widow. She was my favourite character in the movie.

I love seeing men being more open to therapy because they're the ones that open up least and it sometimes shows in the elderly, it takes a big toll on their physical and emotional health. I have never done therapy, but I wish I could get a therapy session with both of these guys 😊

When talking about forgiveness, I think it's important to mention that sometimes a person can hurt you so bad that you'll never want to have anything to do with them again, and that's okay. Even if they do change and even if they do eventually become a good person. I wish you would've briefly talked about how forgiveness is never owed to someone, no matter who they are, and how it can be incredibly harmful, particularly to victims of abuse, to push someone to forgive when they aren't ready. As a victim of abuse, it was very damaging to be told that I eventually should forgive my abuser. You should NEVER tell, or even encourage, a victim of abuse to forgive their abuser.

11:46 honestly, I got and still get a different read on that whole scene. I am a trans woman that is post-op and has been, for lack of a better term, sterilized. Honestly, I see Romanov's confession as how much of her humanity has been stripped from her. How she empathizes with Banner about having a broken life. How she tries to soothe not only his fear of hurting her but also his fear of not giving her everything he thinks she wants. And the line about being a monster has nothing to do with fertility, since her sterility had more to do with making her a more effective killer. From my perspective, she was trying to strip away the pedestal he had put her on. It was more about recognizing the brokenness in another and choosing to be with them by being monsters together. Romanov is a very layered character where even her words carry multiple yet true meanings. So taking the monster line on the base interpretation of being sterile does not give the full context. It's very good writing and it encapsulates someone who is an expert at manipulation and misdirection. So much so that it becomes a barrier to her being vulnerable.

I love, love, love this episode and I might have cried a few times. There is one thing I'd like to add though. Forgiving works if the other person is showing some signs/ anything that they understand they did wrong. I'm from a family with a parent who has npd/aspd and is sadistic, violent, manipulative, r**ed me, and an enabler parent who I don't know what's wrong or any diagnosis. I'm not bitter, I don't want vengence, I understand why they are the way they are and I have pity, because they have to live with themselfs and aren't capable of change, not really. Their mind is pretty dark, their thought processes are f***ed up and there is no conscience or sense of self or empathy. There is nothing to work with for me. So I'm no contact for a long time now. I stopped loving them which for me was freeing, because it's terrible to love a horrible person. For people like me ( not for people from more normal families!!! ) having to forgive is like being gaslighted all over again. I'm in a self-help group and we just had a talk about this and someone said it feels like another violation of boundaries and like being gaslighted again and I agree. Not forgiving doesn't mean that we can't heal or are bitter. Not needing to forgive actually feels freeing to me. It brings me a peaceful, calm feeling. I have no bitterness or anything like that towards them, I don't wish them anything bad. But I'm not going to forgive my r**e or some other things they did. That is my boundary and that is ok. This of course is very specific and can't be applied to everyone. I forgive friends too and agree that it isn't helpful to hold grudges or be vengeful. I agree with everything said in the video! Just wanted to add there are terrible families out there. And for people who are the scapegoats in narcissistic/ psychopathic homes it's ok to move on and live your life and strive without forgiving everything. It's alright. You can still be fine. English isn't my first language, sorry for mistakes!

For me it's not the dying scenes in all those MCU movies that make my cry everytime. It is the "Dinner Scene" in "Black Widow" and at the sametime it fills me with such a deep urge to hug Yelena.

The way Natasha says "Let me go" kills me every time.

The first time I watched Natasha’s death I cried so hard my nose bled violently and I had to walk out. The second time I watched her death in End Game, a year later, I once again cried so hard that my nose bled everywhere. Never have I ever cried so hard that it caused my nose to bleed before this movie. It is the only cinematic moment that has ever evoked that much emotion from me. Not to mention that I couldn’t see most of the scene through the tears and blood. It’s all in Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson’s voices in the end.

One minute in and I already feel the tears forming. The black widow arc gets me every time. Scar Jo played this role to perfection.

I am sad that the implications of the "You're not the only monster on the team" line can be hurtful to other people. But for me, I saw Age of Ultron with a friend who loves Bruce Banner more than life itself and who has spent her whole life desperately wanting to have children while being pretty positive that physically she could never do that. So that scene, while it fell flat with basically everyone else in the world, was so, so important for that one friend. Who never sees those kind of struggles represented on screen, let alone with a superhero speaking to one of her favorite characters, who she saw as the ideal man. So I can't be mad at that scene no matter how hard I try.

Black Widow!!!!! OMG. Thank you so much for this!!! She's by far an all time fave. Edit: I'm don't want to cry, someone is cutting onions.

Age of Ultron has a lot of issues in my mind, but I tend to read it the way Alan explained it here. I also think that if it had been made more clear in the movie that Nat was deep in trauma and not thinking clearly at this point of her story, it would have played better.

This segment right here 20:30 hit really hard for me, about the foster care people. I was adopted, abused by my adoptive sister and mother, then went to foster care after a year in juvenile detention. I loved all my foster parents but the longest I was with them, specifically my final foster family, was one year. Now I will admit that I was a bad kid, but my foster family loved me like I loved them. And when I got too old for them, I had to move into a group home. And my foster mother, Miss Melissa, vowed to keep in contact with me. In 2018 she stopped contacting me back. About two years after I moved out, one of the brothers I lived with did something, I don't know exactly what, but Miss Melissa lost her license and her house over it. And something similar happened to my first foster family, my dad lost his license and wasn't allowed to contact his foster kids anymore. All this time I thought Miss Melissa was harboring resentment towards me for being an autistic kid with too much baggage. But another former foster brother shed the light on the situation. Miss Melissa stopped texting me back, not because she hates me, but because she can't. 😢😢 I miss her. I miss her so much.

You two should go through The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The line where Sam tells Bucky "How can you be of service" rings true when seeing Natasha do whatever she can to redeem herself

I never really related to Natasha, but I'm just glad that we're seeing more female heroes taking the spotlight. Especially Florence Pugh.

I think we actually meet her, as a person, albeit briefly in Iron Man 2 in the before-Tony’s-birthday-party He asks her what she would do if she knew it was her last. Her verbal response isn’t super significant, but Natasha knows he is dying of palladium poisoning; the hint of mild seduction of ‘Natalie Rushman’ drops, and her genuine warmth comes through.

I love the way they took this, and it especially helped me deal with the fact that Natasha dying is evidently fridging - very much a bad trope and decision in the writing world.

Black widow and hawk eye seemed like siblings but near the end he also seemed like the father figure she needed and wanted... because of him she found the familial bond that was missing from her childhood...