Stealing The Show: Black Widow

• Hello, tailor analysis of Black Widow and Hawkeye's costumes: "But the reality is that there's no point during The Avengers when her looks are even commented on, and nor does she get any tiresome "feminine wiles" scenes. Most complaints or creepy sexist commentary on Black Widow's costume/body/character say far more about the commenter than about Johansson's performance itself."
• The Superhero Men Don't See: Evidence: "Overall, 24 of the 40 reviews mention Natasha/BW/SJ only in passing, in a single sentence; 3 others do not mention her at all. But look at Point 1 of the objective facts: Johansson probably has the second largest part in the movie, including at least *8* two-person scenes (if you include the Russians). Not mentioning her or not giving the impression that she's a major character maybe should qualify *all* those reviewers for the "420" designation, or at least for a couple of tokes."
• Scarlett Johannson in a Gorilla Suit: The Superhero Mundanes Don't See: "And in particular, it's usually a safe bet that if there's only one woman with a major role in a male-focused action movie, she'll be the stock sex symbol. So I think the Top Critics saw Scarlett Johansson as Natasha, tagged her as "the girl who's pretty but doesn't do much, you know, like Megan Fox", and then felt free to ignore her as they tried to keep track of what was going on (the basketball game, as it were) in a maximally distracting environment. When it came time to write their review, they looked at the list of actors, said, "hmm, what did Scarlett Johansson do?" and all that came back was the tag -- they never realized her character was the gorilla."
• The Avengers Brings Superhero Movies to Another Level: "Black Widow, given a personal stake in the fight when Loki brainwashes Hawkeye, tells the villain who wants to know if she’s in love with him, “Love is for children. I owe a debt,” and leaves it at that. Her refusal to clarify leaves room for Loki to speculate, and ultimately to reveal more than he intended. All sorts of skill sets matter in a conflict this big and complex. And without making her a victim or a lesser member of the team, Black Widow’s reactions are a regular reminder that superheroics and space invaders have real impact beyond the financial support of the Cinematic Demolition Industrial Complex."
• Black Widow Spins Web Around the Avengers: "To which I can only say—exactly! And: isn’t this remarkable? Two parallel realities! Men who see nobody at all and women who see the next Faith (without the crazy, I mean). Don’t tell Disney, or they’ll be marketing the film as 4-D."