Natasha and Bruce’s relationship

I don’t know if anyone has made a comment about these two but I remember the first time I saw Age of Ultron I felt so confused about how these two ended up having feelings for each other. I thought missed a movie or show at the time and that’s why I was confused but apparently not I was all caught up. Honestly, I would’ve believed Natasha and Steve having feelings for each other. Even though he loved Peggy. Bruce was involved with Betty Ross although that was the (Edward Norton Hulk). I’m curious about what your thoughts are with them.

Commentaires

Redhood5672026-02-02 08:16

Completely pointless and unnecessary.

Zenloff2026-02-02 08:56

And unbelievable.

ElBorracho20002026-02-02 08:17

I never cared for their relationship as it seemingly came out of nowhere

Professional_Ad_54372026-02-02 09:05

Yeah this feels like a Joss Whedon thing to me.

Auntypasto2026-02-02 09:23

It wouldn't surprise you to know he's a Hulk fan… Guy knows his comics, but this was pure fanfic.

Gambitismyheart2026-02-02 11:02

It was.

DuckyHornet2026-02-02 12:47

Yeah. Joss has a lot of hangups and constantly doing Beauty and the Beast is one of them. Both Buffy and Angel as shows are centred around that relationship, it's what he does just as much as the constant sarcastic quipping

Red_Zone_Broly2026-02-02 10:49

He's an unstoppable monster and it seems that she's the only one who can calm him down and tame him - he needs her. Bruce's scars are visible and external, Natasha's scars are internal (literally and metaphorically). There's danger, trauma and a sense of necessity, which is literally the DNA of every dramatic romance novel ever.

I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner lol

SendThisVoidAway182026-02-02 11:23

It seemed forced. Honestly, some subtle "hints" in Winter soldier with Cap and Nat I feel like had more flame to it and more chemistry than Bruce and Nat ever did. I could get down with that.

12thLevelHumanWizard2026-02-02 13:49

Came out of nowhere and went nowhere. Did they even talk after that movie?

urgirljoyce_2026-02-02 08:18

Honestly, they should have went with the comics and done winterwidow, the mcu really nerfed Black Widow.

silverBruise_322026-02-02 09:32

That was such a missed opportunity. But they mishandled both characters, and any potential relationship between them

Gambitismyheart2026-02-02 11:46

Mannn, even Sebastian Stan wanted that. He talked about it for years and they just never did it. Smh

_comicallycluttered2026-02-02 13:24

Man, that entire Brubaker run from start to finish was just incredible.

The way it ended for them both still hurts my soul a bit.

sanddragon9392026-02-02 08:19

Natasha has had some kind of romantic/sexual subtext with *three* of her male Avenger co-founders :O Steve, Tony and Bruce.

And she was very close to Clint and potentially there might have been a romantic subtext there as well if they chose not to reveal that Clint was a family man.

docpagliacci2026-02-02 08:42

They weren't working with much in terms of other female heroes. NOW? They'd have plenty to work with, but MCU is afraid of sex, so it's never happening.

Fi1thyMick2026-02-02 10:06

It happens all the time, you just ain't gonna find it on Disney type streaming sites

Scintoth2026-02-02 12:12

There was a sex scene in The Eternals

docpagliacci2026-02-02 12:47

An doubtful there’ll ever be another.

Larry_Lurex912026-02-02 09:08

I've encountered quite a few people that theorized Nat and Clint (possibly Laura as well) were much closer than just friends

unsupported2026-02-02 09:27

My boy never misses.

sanddragon9392026-02-02 10:23

Well in that case, Thor's the only one left out...

screamingkumquats2026-02-02 10:26

The people who write fanfics for them are still very active and I am there sometimes lol

pkjoan2026-02-02 11:48

Yeah, they were like family...

Oh...

Ohhhhh, I see.

db_blast72026-02-02 12:46

I’ve always taken it as the following.

Tony - mission. No feelings from her to him, and was exploiting for the sake of her mission that even though Tony is ‘with’ pepper his sexual urges could be exploited and they now have it documented. To me, Tony learned this lesson and that’s why he went more Pepper or no one fitting in the archetype that his suits upgrade from mistakes every movie cause it seems Tony Starks heart did too.

Steve - I think based on Tony, and what we learned of the Red Room Nat might have just appreciated Steve because he mostly saw her as a friend. It seems she was trying to flirt, and maybe based on her trauma just thought that sex was a way of communicating for manipulation purposes versus something deeper and mutual. The post clean up scene to me is one of Nat’s most vulnerable because the confidence and flirting is gone, and then it sort of changes to more teasing vibes of friendship between those two after. To me Steve was confident in himself and just wanted Nat to be Nat and this helped Nat learn to do it for herself then.

I think this is why she latched on to Clint so tightly as well. A male friendship that wasnt romantic at all. Yeah we read it that way in Avengers 1, but it seems Nat having people treat her as human is paid back in loyalty. I know some of my friends in my life I’ve had over a decade like this were and are crucial to me learning about myself. Just being able to have a friend and nothing more is awesome, and I wish I had learned that lesson sooner.

It’s also this friendship respect as to why she got the Spider-Man role as turncoat in Civil War. The respect she was shown as Nat, not black widow was returned because she was open to changing her mind versus needing that change beat out of her.

Bruce - to me this was one of the first times Nat was choosing to allow herself to be vulnerable rather than her actions or mistakes forcing it out. I think the shower scene (she has a lot of post shower vulnerable scenes lol) where she calls herself the monster is one showing that they had some real empathy for each other. I didn’t really get their relationship but that scene made me think it at least wasn’t a huge stretch. I think her forcing out the Hulk is something not discussed but the ramifications are felt since bruce was into her, but Nat was into both while Hulk was comfortable. She manipulated Bruce and that’s probably why they didn’t end up together in the end past the writers choosing for them not to be.

Nat is complicated and sadly most of her scenes are subtext versus actual dialogue. We had to find her stuff and when it was direct it was still sometimes vague. I wish we fleshed her character out more during everything going on because the trauma side of stuff and her healing journey was comforting to watch for me.

MillAUM25792026-02-02 12:47

If they had made it so Clint’s house was him and Natasha’s, it would’ve felt more organic for the stories already told. Instead, we get Clint married with kids and a weird relationship between Bruce and Nat. More characters suffered as a result.

team_lloyd2026-02-02 13:05

shooters shoot

Historical_Strain_812026-02-02 08:19

You know it’s bad when even the Russos decided not to make them a thing lol. I still liked their small interaction in infinity war. Was a nice way to address this relationship and then move on

paypaytr2026-02-02 09:15

infinity war didnt had time for that considering it also spent time with vision & witch. Also like you said they did acknowledge it but since its been years bruce has been in space so they moved on basically

ShaneH76462026-02-02 08:20

they'd clearly been working together to calm the beast when it comes out, perhaps Natasha saw that the most effective way was to seduce him and didn't feel anything at all.

Or, joss whedon had no logical reason and just wanted to objectify scarlet and do the fall on boob gag, in which he did again in justice league

Smooth-Mix-43572026-02-02 08:30

It sucks to say this but sadly the second part of your comment is likely to be true than first part

ShaneH76462026-02-02 08:44

He did the exact same gag on justice league too, so I think so. The first part of my comment is only false hope

Smooth-Mix-43572026-02-02 08:46

Yeah he did, Gal Gadot wasn't okay with that

Level-Ladder-43462026-02-02 08:57

This relationship would’ve worked so much better if Steve and Nat didn’t already prove they had chemistry in Winter Soldier. Honestly, if they had kept going with that, It would’ve been better.

spidervenom6192026-02-02 09:06

Once again I truly believes that Joss wanted the couple to be IronWidow and Feige/Marvel Studios Axed that immediately cause of Pepperoni so Bruce was the next nerd in site for Nat to date for no reason at all.

Auntypasto2026-02-02 10:04

I mean… Tony was a flirt all the time, even when he was with Pepper; if Whedon wanted him with Natasha, they would've had at least some interaction. Reality is that Joss is a self avowed Hulk fan; that was his plan from the start (see the scene in Avengers where she tracks him down and they speak in the most insinuating way).

Funmachine2026-02-02 11:05

Tony and Pepper kissing in Iron Man 2 is totally out of nowhere too. He doesn't flirt with her any more than her flirts with any other woman. That scene on the rooftop was a reshoot to. Tiny has always been a womaniser so making him get with Pepper was kind of inexplicable.

trevelyan_alec2026-02-02 08:31

Stupid. Nuff said

zothiiago2026-02-02 08:35

One of Marvel's biggest mistakes. Like, why?

KrifeH2026-02-02 13:06

top 100 mistake at best

FluIvy2026-02-02 08:39

In another universe I could see this working over a couple of movies but the way it was done all at once was garbage, it's true. I like it on paper but not in execution.

MC_chrome2026-02-02 08:42

Joss Whedon had apparently fleshed out this particular romance subplot quite a bit for AOU, but Marvel axed most of it so what was left didn't make much sense.

I love Age of Ultron but it is perhaps the best example of the Creative Committee interfering a bit too much in the creative process

Auntypasto2026-02-02 10:23

If anything it was the creative committee taking Whedon's side while Feige fought to remove this nonsense plot until they drove him to threaten to quit. The fact you think it needed more screentime to make it make sense is precisely proof of how forced it was. This was supposed to be a superhero movie, not a romance comedy.

RanierW2026-02-02 08:43

Hide the zucchini

skippermonkey2026-02-02 09:05

Where’s the gif?

spidervenom6192026-02-02 09:08

a 5 mins scene prior the team teaming up and Bruce is literary looking at the back of Nat's head while Nat is looking at everyone (Including Maria Hill) more then Banner.

Brother there's more chemistry with BlackHill looking at each other then any of Brutasha scenes in either of the movies lol.

paypaytr2026-02-02 09:13

not much to discuss in first avengers Nat was who encountered Hulk and hired Bruce. In age of ultron they are both troubled souls (which is pretty much explained in those red velvet room and bruce dialogue) its not out of ordinary that two good looking people feel some romantic relationship to eachother that happen to be in same work environment and they are unique personas.

Uncanny_Doom2026-02-02 09:17

It really just felt like they had nothing for either character to do in the script and said well, why don’t they do each other?

I think on paper the concept of Bruce and Natasha being romantically involved for a stint can work, it’s interesting for both of them as believable characters who would pus someone away and is also interesting as a general premise of superheroes getting intimate while on a team together. But they kind of just don’t have chemistry or time, and this also led to one of the worst MCU jokes ever with hide the zucchini.

Kaden41202026-02-02 09:31

It felt like Whedon trying to subvert expectations and make her more “complicated” than she needed to be.

Sharikacat2026-02-02 09:38

You have to read between the lines and fill in a lot of gaps on this. The crux of this relationship is that they grew close out of Natasha being the one that soothes the Hulk after a battle. From this, we're likely meant to infer that they spent a lot of time together for her to have this level of trust and calming effect on him. This could, over time, cause them to develop feelings towards each other, especially since they both believe that their individual broken status keeps them from having any sort of conventional relationship with a "normal" person.

Yes, as a spy, it's been her job to successfully fake relationships and deep connections, but since she's no longer an active undercover agent, that frees her to at least be open to the idea of finding something for herself.

AirWalker92026-02-02 09:53

🤮🤮🤮

Striking-Following892026-02-02 10:27

I hate it with all my heart.

screamingkumquats2026-02-02 10:28

I’ve never understood why they went that direction. Natasha was more chemistry with Steve, Tony, Maria, Sam, T’Calla, Clint and Laura than she did with Bruce

monsterinthecloset282026-02-02 10:35

Generally I like Age of Ultron more than most people but even I don't like this. As another commenter said, I can see how it could work on paper but it's not executed well and felt totally out of nowhere and rushed.

Immediate_Channel3932026-02-02 10:41

Makes no sense to me. idk why people even ship them in the first place. After TWS, everyone can see that it should've been Romarogers all the way to the end. They could've made it one of the best slow-burns in cbm history...

Gambitismyheart2026-02-02 11:00

"I don't know if anyone has made a comment about these two but I remember the first time I saw Age Of Ultron I felt so confused about how these two ended up having feelings for each other"

When exactly did you watch AOU, 2018?? Because that was one of the biggest things/disappoinments the fandom ever talked about for a longgggg time. There was HUGE backlash on Bruce and Nat. Especially since Nat has a romantic relationship with Clint, Steve, and Bucky ultimately and Whedon just decided to say "fuck all three of them" to fit his own agenda with Bruce who had the least chemistry with Nat the most. Not to mention it didn't even make sense. Whedon tried to explain his decision on them but it was a bunch of bullshit and no one bought it. Their relationship was just a random shift for no other than that reason.

Soulwarfare422026-02-02 12:17

One of the most random and stupidest thing in the MCU

It is one of the things that brings down Age of Ultron a lot. Glad it is barely a thing in future entries.

Hefty_Emu_48702026-02-02 12:32

it was kinda cute, but the MCU should've stuck with Bucky

dawne_breaker2026-02-02 12:33

Honestly just a case of the "not gays". You can't have that many hot guys around Scarlet without someone pointing out that someone needs to be banging someone. Cap had his kiss but is in love with Peggy. Tony has Pepper. Clint has his wife. Betty wasn't returning anytime soon (due to rights and re-casting) so it had to be them. It's just forced and lazy. If they had to force her together with someone Cap would have been the better fit. And then more of just a fling.

stasersonphun2026-02-02 12:52

My headcanon is Natasha was Furys agent with a mission to keep the Avengers together. Shes tough when fighting, vulnerable when she wants to steer them, smart with Tony, loyal to Steve, emotional to Bruce.

They needed a 'handle' to keep Banner and the Hulk in the Avengers so she got close to them, as while the Hulk may be a Big green rage monster he still has feelings

Remember Nat once tricked the literal God of Mischief

aspenextreme032026-02-02 12:59

Bruce or the hulk tried to kill her in the Avengers so yeah… it’s a little far fetched

Real_Walk53842026-02-02 14:03

Her going from "Love is for children" to tearfully confessing she's barren is such a huge character assassination I literally groaned in the theater.

Cheese-It172026-02-02 14:06

Zero chemistry.

Vegetable-Abroad31712026-02-02 14:15

Trash, shouldve been Bucky and Nat

Spirited-Aspect-15512026-02-02 14:17

I really resent Whedon on this. He took a character who has two great popular romances with tons of history available (Clint and Bucky) and decided to grab instead the one character that's been shown to scare her. And they bonded because she was...the only one who could calm him down? Because of course it took a woman to calm the angry dude down. And on top of that, it's the only relationship of hers that doesn't feel natural. Her friendships with Clint and Steve feel earned. Her family relationships are believable. Her being the one with the least patience for Tony's shit feels solidly in character. But the Bruce thing falls flat. Every time I watch it I find myself going, "yup, here's where Whedon ignored chemistry and history so he could shoehorn in another Beauty and the Beast set-up".

Alternative-Push76482026-02-02 14:27

Weird relationship

OdileOdile192026-02-02 14:29

Steve and nat makes more sense

No_Read_50622026-02-02 14:35

The fact that they forced this and never went Natasha Bucky road is criminal