Avengers: Age Of Ultron - 10 Biggest Surprises That Will Get Fans Talking
9. Black Widow's History
One of the other big twists, in terms of the characters, again involves Romanoff. After being bewitched by Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, she and a handful of her team-mates are forced to face their worst fears and memories: for Thor, it's the worry that he's going to fail Asgard; for Cap, the ever-present fear that he's old and out of his time; for Black Widow, meanwhile, audiences finally got a glimpse at that dark history she's always hiding. The leaking of S.H.I.E.L.D. info to the internet at the end of The Winter Solider implied that everyone would soon know about the former Russian assassin's past, but it seemed like that was all it would be - she used to kill people for the KGB. Big deal. She kills a bunch of people in Age Of Ultron without being part of any government organisation. It turns out there's a lot more unprecedented darkness than suspected: her training to become the perfect assassin involved a final examination that involved shooting a man in the head, and a ceremony that involved her being sterilised by having her ovaries removed. Which is pretty dark and hardcore for an Avengers movie (not to mention a wee bit problematic).
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
