I've been sitting on this post for a little while but now the time has come! I want to talk about how Endgame uses character deaths well to end character arcs. Character death is a writing topic that isn't easy; characters should be killed to further story and character development, not to add shock value. Even when they add to the story, I think they should be seriously considered because characters will likely do what they can to avoid a death, just like real people will. Deaths should be inevitable and add to the story in some meaningful way.
If you've seen Endgame you know that 2 characters die: Natasha Romanoff and Tony Stark. These characters are beloved and lots of people are upset that they're gone. However, these deaths, in my opinion, close off the arcs of these two characters well and impact the other characters in the right ways to further the story.
Let's begin with Natasha.
If I had to pick a word to define Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow's, character arc, I'd say "redemption." In the first Avengers movie we hear her say, "I have red in my ledger," a few times over, both to Loki (who she is playing for information) and also to Clint (her best friend), so we can probably trust it as true. We know she has a dark past and Clint was sent to kill her, but "made a different call" and brought her in to work for SHIELD, leading to her becoming one of the good guys and finding a family in the Avengers.
Natasha becomes the Avenger that has the most, and closest, ties with the other Avengers. We see her befriend them all, being the confidante for the rest of the team. She's the one who's there at Peggy Carter's funeral just so Steve isn't alone, despite their dispute over the Sokovia Accords. (This will be important later, so remember it.)
Okay, let's fast forward to Endgame. By this point, the Avengers have taken it hard, and Natasha especially. Five years after the snap, she's still depressed and doing everything she can to hold on to the little family she has left. She's looking for Clint, who has lost his family and gone off the deep end, murdering bad guys in vicious ways. (This is relevant later as well.) If there was any way to get everyone back, to fix this enormously red ledger (because Natasha may feel that this failure is only more she needs to correct), she'd take it. And when Scott Lang shows up with a solution, she jumps on it. In her words, she'll do "whatever it takes" to bring everyone back.
Let's talk about Clint now. He has become a dark version of himself. He's killed a lot of people, just like Natasha had, once. But she goes to find him, and bring him back, just like he did for her. The person saved becomes the savior and she goes further on Vormir.
Natasha dies on Vormir, getting the Soul Stone. We know, but the Avengers don't, that the price for the Soul Stone is a sacrifice of a person you love, a soul for a soul. In this way, it makes sense narratively that the team that goes for it is Natasha and Clint because as super SHIELD agents they're trained to handle dangerous and unknown situations and also because we the viewers would trust the love that Clint and Natasha have for each other more than we would the love between any of the other Avengers. (Their friendship is such that 1) Natasha is called "Aunt" by Clint's kids and 2) it survives Civil War when Tony and Steve's friendship did not.)
It makes sense that once there, once they know the price, Natasha would be the one to die. First, in an all-out fight between her and Clint, who do you think would win? And she does, choosing to be the one to sacrifice herself. Again, this makes sense narratively, since as the Avenger who has built up so many relationships with the others, her death would impact them way more than Clint's. But it also works thematically in her character arc.
Her arc is "redemption," remember? In Endgame, we have a Natasha who has moved away from her past to the point that she has found purpose and family in doing good. Then we have Clint, who has moved in the opposite direction. On Vormir, Clint is quick to write himself off as ruined. He's killed, he's done horrible things. He deserves to die, while Natasha deserves to live. (I acknowledge this truth; that's what adds meaning to what happens next.)
Natasha responds with, "I don't judge people by their worst mistakes." She's willing to sacrifice herself because it will save trillions, yes, but it also gives Clint another chance to redeem himself, like she did. To go back to his family and find purpose again.
If she's not judging Clint, if she finds value in him even after everything he did, that means that she has come to find value in herself.
Clint is her foil in this film; he's the one with red in his ledger, and he's ready to die as punishment to himself. He's ready for it, since he doesn't like what he has become. But if he had, his arc would have been halted: he is not at peace and is self-hating at this point. But Natasha has finished this arc; she doesn't hate herself anymore. She sees value in people who have made mistakes, including herself. Maybe seeing Clint fall (metaphorically) was enough for her to see herself in a new light and make the fall (literally) as proof as her own peace but also to "redeem" Clint from what she has also experienced.
I've heard criticism that this death was unnecessary, or that Natasha died just to further the character arcs of the other, male, Avengers. While I agree that it did affect the other characters (death is weighty, people! You can't have a death that doesn't affect the other characters. It doesn't work that way), I disagree that it was all about them. At the end of Natasha's arc, we have a Natasha who "doesn't judge people by their worst mistakes" and I think that applies to her, as well. She has found her value and purpose, and she is at peace with herself now. Her last words tell Clint to let go because "it's okay." She chose this, and it's very in character, given the circumstances, for her to choose this.
I think this death works because it marks the end of the character's arc, it exemplifies the theme of redemption (for herself, but now for someone else) that has defined Natasha's arc, and of course, because it's true to what the character would do when put in that situation. It also works narratively because of how it works on the other characters as well, but that's an idea for Part 2. This post is getting long.
So, see you next week, with a little more on dead people in Endgame.
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