18 Worst Moments In Every MCU Movie (So Far) - Ranked
8. Black Widow & The Hulk's Shoehorned Romance - Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The Film
Joss Whedon had the nigh-on-impossible task of trying to top his marvellous work on The Avengers with this sequel, and unsurprisingly, the results weren't quite as spectacular.
Overstuffed with questionable subplots, a mixed bag of action sequences and an overly-humourous interpretation of Ultron (though James Spader's performance was great), Age of Ultron was a prototypical sequel that went bigger, but left the soul of the original at home. Whedon has since stated that he was "beaten down" by making the movie, and it shows.
The Moment
The MCU doesn't usually do romance all that well, and Age of Ultron was heavily criticised for its seemingly out-of-nowhere love story between Black Widow and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).
After love-ins were teased with Tony Stark, Hawkeye and Captain America in prior movies, Black Widow finally appeared to settle down with Bruce Banner, serving as a calming influence over the Big Green Guy. But the question is: why?
It wasn't remotely built-up or telegraphed and feels like a random romantic pairing just because. That it also leads to the infamous scene where Widow reveals she's infertile is just another reason to hate it.