How Black Widow Justifies Natasha’s Hawkeye Necklace

Marvel’s Black Widow better explains why Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) wears a Hawkeye necklace, even though Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is married and has a family. Natasha and Clint have a strong bond throughout the films, though the exact details of their first meeting and subsequent friendship were left frustratingly untold through the course of the MCU until the release of Black Widow. Clint Barton does not even make an appearance in Black Widow’s long-awaited solo movie, but the origins of their friendship are finally revealed.

The necklace – a small arrow pendant that made its appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier – made many believe at the time that Natasha and Clint were a couple, much like they had been in Marvel Comics. However, after Hawkeye’s hidden family was revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron, some wondered how it was appropriate for Natasha to wear Hawkeye jewelry. Black Widow provides some potentially much-needed insight on this topic.

If the arrow pendant necklace, which appears in three MCU films, doesn’t signify a romantic relationship, then what does it hint at? Natasha’s past, revealed in further detail in Black Widow than in any other MCU movie, answers that question. It had always been implied that Natasha was a lone-wolf, Russian Spy who found it hard to trust others and build friendships but, Black Widow actually shows audiences why that is and, in doing so, justifies Natasha’s Hawkeye themed jewelry.

Natasha never knew her biological parents and although she spent three years as a fake family unit with Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), their relationship was also short-lived and came to a traumatic end while Natasha was still quite young. Natasha’s relationship with Clint Barton was likely the healthiest, strongest relationship she had had with a person since leaving the Red Room. Even though Black Widow and Hawkeye remain platonic (unlike their comic book counterparts), the fact that Clint vouches for Natasha’s character with SHIELD and also introduces him to his family shows just how much he trusts Natasha. After all of the abandonment that she has suffered in her past, Barton and his family accepted Natasha without question. Even the detail that Clint’s kids call her ‘Auntie Nat,’ and she becomes the namesake for his third child shows how much their friendship matters.

Natasha also views Clint as her saving grace, the person who helped her try to redeem herself by offering her a second chance with SHIELD and an opportunity to destroy the Red Room in Budapest. Even though Natasha ends up beginning a reconciliation process with her surrogate Russian family in Black Widow, especially her sister Yelena, the film highlights all of the ways that Natasha’s past saddled her with relationship baggage and trust issues, making her unwavering bond with Barton all the more important to her character. With all of this in mind, it’s no wonder that Natasha wears an arrow pendant platonically. It’s the ultimate friendship necklace for the only two Avengers without superpowers, and Black Widow only solidifies the significance of such a constant familial relationship in Natasha’s life.

Black Widow is streaming now on Disney+.

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