MCU: 10 Things You Learn Rewatching Captain America: The Winter Soldier

4. What Was With Natasha's Necklace?

Captain America Winter Soldier Black Widow Ending
Marvel Studios

Avengers: Age of Ultron was... divisive, to say the very least. It had its moments, but layered within its most compelling sequences came some rather bizarre storytelling decisions, including Bruce Banner and Black Widow's romance, as well as Clint Barton's secret family. Both features were heavily critiqued by fans upon the film's release (the former for its borderline painful "I'm the real monster' moment, and the latter for, well, just how contrived it was), but there may be another twist in the tale fans aren't aware of.

In the comics, Black Widow and Hawkeye shared a romantic past. Clint being Clint, the relationship didn't last, but fans nevertheless expected it to feature in the MCU at some point, particularly when their history together was made a focal point of both characters' development during Avengers Assemble. Winter Soldier only added fuel to the fire, with Nat actually wearing an arrow necklace for the majority of the film's proceedings. (Jeremy Renner was due to star in a brief cameo, but scheduling conflicts prevented such a thing form happening.)

Of course, it's just as good seeing Nat and Clint in a platonic light, but one can't help but get the feeling that a different path might've been planned for the pair. Not that it matters now of course, but it's interesting to consider that a small visual cue comprised a part of Black Widow's outfit for the majority of the story.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.