Whose side are you on? This is a question that has been thrown around a number of times this year already, but we’ve finally reached what is arguably THE event where this question applies. Later this week, ‘Captain America: Civil War’ will finally hit theaters and True Believers will get to see whether they were right to side with Steve Rogers or Tony Stark. And while we each have our own reasons for picking Cap or Iron Man, we’re all probably wondering how each Avenger came to choose which side to be on. The allegiances of people like Falcon, Winter Soldier, and War Machine are fairly easy to determine, but what about the rest of the team. Though we don’t get all the answers right now, we do have some new insight as to why former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff chose the way that she did.
One of the most ambiguous characters in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe is the Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson’s character is constantly shrouded in mystery thanks to her many years of spy training, but we’ve learned that she will team with Iron Man in the conflict over the Sokovia Accords. As someone who essentially gave the finger to the government and their agencies during ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, it’s hard to believe that this would be the choice that she makes. However, ‘Civil War’ executive producer Nate Moore recently weighed in with some new comments regarding Romanoff’s choice, and really the whole team’s thought process in making their choices, while speaking to ComicBook.com:
“I think it was unexpected even for us but as we talked about it from a storytelling point of view, it really made sense because I think Black Widow is more pragmatic than we give her credit for. And sometimes she’s looking at the solutions from a different angle than Tony Stark, who’s very emotional. Even though they don’t react to the same things, in the same way, their conclusion that they came to ended up being the same. So it really was talking each character through like that to figure out who would end up where.”
I could definitely see Widow’s pragmatic mind factoring into her decision, but I feel like guilt may play an even bigger role in the choice. In the past, we’ve heard about the red in her ledger due to her checkered past. A lot of bad things happened because of her, but by becoming a hero, maybe Natasha thought that her actions as part of the Avengers would negate some of that. But now that the Sokovia Accords are pointing out that there’s still a sizable amount of bad things happening on her watch, she might see registration as her way of atoning further for the things that happened under her watch. Of course, we’ll presumably find out where everyone’s heads are at once the movie comes out.
What do you think about Black Widow siding with Iron Man in ‘Captain America: Civil War’? Are you surprised that she isn’t standing with Steve Rogers? And do you think that there’s a possibility that she could be going into business by herself and making her own side with her own agenda instead? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.
‘Captain America: Civil War’ starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chadwick Boseman, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Frank Grillo, Daniel Bruhl, Martin Freeman, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Emily VanCamp, Paul Rudd, and William Hurt opens in theaters on May 6, 2016.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences and puns far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
