Why Black Widow Is the Best Avenger

The Avengers team is made up of some of the most powerful and skilled beings in the universe, and it features everything from a decades-old World War II soldier to a literal God of Thunder. That said, not everyone on the team has a fancy suit of armor that can launch a cadre of missiles or is blessed/cursed with being a giant angry green man that can smash things. Some have to rely on their instincts and unique skills to survive in this superhuman world, and Black Widow fits that bill to a tee. In fact, I’ll go one step further. Black Widow isn’t just good at what she does; she’s the best at what she does.

Black Widow’s ability in a fight is beyond impressive, but it’s actually her other skills that are the most critical to the Avengers. As we’ve seen in Avengers, Winter Soldier, Civil War, and Infinity War, Black Widow is willing to do things in unconventional ways to get the job done. There’s a lot of grey in Widow’s world, and that’s why deception comes easily to her.

Take for instance her brilliant acting job in Avengers. During a conversation with Loki, she pulls the strings perfectly, reeling him in throughout and providing a false sense of security and confidence right up to the point where he gets cocky and gives her the information she needs. She exhibits this skill once more when she surprises everyone in Winter Soldier, revealing she was disguised the whole time and subsequently taking out all of Hydra’s guards.

This set of skills allows her to get into places other Avengers simply can’t, and the importance of this edge cannot be overstated, even when it rubs other teammates the wrong way.

Take for instance Civil War, where she made the hard choice to let Cap and Bucky go and took down her own “teammate” Black Panther to make it happen. At one point in the MCU, she even threw Bruce Banner down a giant pit to get him to turn into the Hulk, and no way would Cap approve of that particular method. But someone needs to be able to pull the trigger on hard decisions, and Widow is the only Avenger who is up to the task.

All that and she doesn’t even have powers to rely on, making it even more impressive that she can literally take on a whole squad of high-level security by herself in Iron Man 2, or break herself free from being tied to a chair and knock everyone in the room out without any help in Avengers. She saves the day in Captain America: Civil War after tracking down the target and facing off against several people while still making sure a vial of stolen and dangerous chemicals doesn’t hit the ground and explode. That’s multitasking at its finest, something few other Avengers have shown the capacity for.

Widow’s also incredibly resourceful, a trait that comes in handy in just about every fight. From jumping aboard a Chitauri ship and taking control by sticking blades in the Chitauri pilots shoulders to using her environment to her advantage by utilizing baskets, crowbars, and her opponent’s weapons (or her teammate’s weapons for that matter) to take out her enemies. She also knows when to throw in some of her own gadgets, but it’s knowing when exactly to use them that is perhaps her best attribute, like throwing a tiny magnet to disable Winter Soldier’s arm in the middle of a fight.

All of this is why Black Widow is not only indispensable, but also the most important Avenger. Whether it’s infiltrating a hideout, stealthily taking down a target, extracting information from a villain to save the world, or taking out waves of Chitauri, no mission is outside of Widow’s purview. There’s no situation that Black Widow can’t handle, and frankly, without her, the Avengers wouldn’t even know of half the threats they fight against, let alone be able to defeat them.

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