Spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- A young Natasha horrifically realizing during dinner that they have to leave Ohio and return to the Red Room. Made even worse by the fact that, as Natasha is riding her bike through the streets in an earlier scene, she waves to some of the neighborhood kids who also greet her. Therefore implying she made friends in her neighborhood with whom she knew and grew close with. She had to leave them all behind overnight, without even getting to say goodbye.
- During the escape, young Yelena can only sit in the back of the plane, with a spatter of Malina's blood on her face, crying.
- When the time comes for Natasha and Yelena to be transferred to the Red Room, a soldier grabs a scared Yelena, who cries for Alexei (her and Natasha's surrogate father). A fierce Natasha snatches a gun off of the soldier and instantly protects Yelena, who desperately clings to her. While pointing the gun and ready to fight, Natasha all but screams at them not to touch her sister. Natasha tearfully pleads with Alexei to not send her and Yelena back to the Red Room. She begs for him to just let her return to her happy childhood in Ohio, adding on how Yelena "is only six".
- This scene becomes even more emotional after watching Hawkeye, where Clint reveals how Natasha told him about her and Yelena's story, including their departure from Ohio and forced separation. When he asked her if she was scared, Natasha told him how the only thing that mattered to her was that Yelena was safe and how she never stopped thinking about her.
- The intro of the movie as we see Natasha holding a terrified Yelena as she and other kidnapped girls are transported in a crate like cargo to Dreykov and his men. We see the girls scream in utter terror upon seeing the masked and scary soldiers and all of the girls - who likely had their own siblings they grew up with - horrifically separated. The most gut-wrenching moment is when we see Yelena and Natasha try to hold onto each other, with a close-up on Yelena's tearful face, only for the soldiers to force their clasped hands apart. Natasha barely manages to get to Yelena to give her one last momento before being dragged away. After being brought to the Red Room, we see a montage of girls' mental conditioning and cruel training to become Black Widows. It shows how miserable the lives of Natasha and the other spies were prior to becoming Black Widows.
- The dark version of the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” fits perfectly in the intro and is noted as really adding to the raw emotion of the scene. Even worse, they intercut with happy family videos from the girls' fake life.
- Alexei's Fallen Hero status. He had it in him to be the Russian Captain America but was instead imprisoned in a gulag for decades for reasons he isn't even sure of. It makes his longing for his Glory Days a little more understandable.
- The scene right before his escape from the prison where he nostalgically looks over the Red Guardian action figure sent to him. One can't help but wonder how many people back in the day had genuinely looked up to him, and how many Soviet children must've had these toys and idolized Alexei in the same way Phil Coulson did Cap.
- The deaths of Oksana and Ingrid are both tragic.
- Oksana is on the run, hunted by the very people she's trying to save. Then one of them lethally injuries her in an alley. This happens because she relented when she saw how much pain she was causing (mind-controlled) Yelena. If not for a split-second decision, then her death would have counted as Shoot the Shaggy Dog.
- Ingrid has broken her leg in pursuit of Natasha and Yelena, and she knows what is going to happen next. You can hear how terrified she is when she says, "He's making me do it." Imagine being fully conscious of someone forcing you to shock yourself to death. When Yelena runs into the courtyard she has one of the gas vials in her hand. If she hadn't fallen inside the building she might have been able to break Ingrid's conditioning and save her.
- When Natasha angrily states that the "family" she had with Yelena, Alexei, and Melina in Ohio wasn't real, it brings Yelena to tears as she insists that it was absolutely real for her.Natasha: That wasn't real. Who cares?
Yelena: Don't say that. Please don't say that. It was real. It was real to me. (to Melina) You are my mother. You were my real mother, the closest thing I ever had to one. The best part of my life was fake... and none of you told me.- Note that she can say this to the two of them, but is too upset with Alexei to say this to him. But later on, they are able to reconcile.
- Crossing into heartwarming, it's subtle but still clear that Alexei and Melina did genuinely love the girls. In Ohio, when Alexei reveals that SHIELD had found them, Melina sadly says that she doesn't want to leave; having grown too attached to the family lifestyle she was instructed to live and simply not wanting Natasha or Yelena to suffer the abuse of the Red Room as she did. And while Alexei claims in the present that his time in Ohio was boring and unfulfilling for him, he still treats the girls as his own daughters, even having their names tattooed in Cyrillic on his arm. The Red Room put them all together as a ruse, but to a certain extent, the family became real to all of them.
- The scene is sadder when you remember that, after her sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, Tony asked if Natasha had family and Steve's answer was "Yeah, us." Apparently, Natasha never talked to them about Yelena, Alexei, and Melina, or they were killed during the Snap, leaving the Avengers as her only family left. This would make Nat's desperate attempts to move on from and, later, reverse the Snap that much worse.
- Even worse: Natasha comments that they once took photos for multiple holidays in one sitting, with props and backdrops and presents that they knew were empty. It was all fake, and the girls knew it. But Yelena was desperate enough for a family that she convinced herself that it was real just to give herself a happy memory; even if it was fake.
- You can see those photos being set up in the opening credits. At one point the two sisters have to take a photo. Natasha steps away to be a little further from Yelena, but Yelena just follows right after her to stand next to her. This is, of course, intercut with the girls being herded like cattle, tortured, mutilated, and made to kill.
- It’s possible that Natasha is acting out of disillusionment with what happened with her other surrogate family, the Avengers. Earlier in the movie, she is clearly crying about what happened during the events of Civil War and she later says she thinks she does better on her own and spurns Mason’s friendship. Thankfully, her sense of family has been rekindled after she reconciled with her first surrogate family and she's fully ready to help out her second surrogate family.
- Melina revealing to Natasha (who thought her birth mother abandoned her) that her biological mother actually relentlessly searched for her until Dreykov had her killed to prevent her from interfering with his work. Read that again: far from abandoning her, her mother didn't stop searching for her until she was murdered. Natasha's heartbroken reaction, "I was taken?" shows how hurt she is in discovering she was actually abducted from her mother as a child. Melina also explains that, normally, civilians didn't pose as a risk to the Red Room. But Natasha's mother (a normal civilian) was just that determined to find her daughter, to the point where Dreykov actually considered her a threat. It's difficult to read if Natasha feels better knowing her birth mother loved her enough to never give up on finding her or if it's a new trauma knowing her mother was killed for her determination to reunite again.
- Natasha's face betrays a look of Tranquil Fury when she when she confronts Dreykov in the climax and asks him what her mother's name was. All he can recall is leaving her mother's body in a grave marked "unknown".
- This revelation adds an extra layer of sadness to Red Skull addressing Natasha as "Daughter of Ivan" in Endgame. Though he names her father, Natasha still dies not knowing her real mother's name (the woman who literally died searching for her because of how much she loved her and wanted her back). And any memory or trace of her mother's existence dies with Natasha at Vormir.
- The first thing Antonia asks Natasha after she's freed from her mind control? "Is he gone?" No doubt that whatever Dreykov did to her after the explosion left her resentful towards her father and she was unable to do anything about it.
- Her father abused her so terribly that when her will is finally freed, the first thing she does is desperately seek reassurance from the person who blew her face off that he's dead and she's finally free from him.
- The Stinger with Yelena mourning Natasha at her grave.
- Note that Natasha's grave is in a quiet area, and isn't publicly honored like Tony Stark's was. According to Word of God, Natasha wanted it this way.
- While Natasha's resting place is quieter, it is worth noting that her grave is still covered with flowers, cards, and other tributes. It's clear that the people of Earth know about her sacrifice and are mourning her along with Tony. Spider-Man: Far From Home confirmed this, as Natasha was in the memorial video that Peter's fellow students made, along with Vision and Tony Stark.
- She does the call-and-return whistle at Natasha's grave. Not hearing that return hurts.
- Things take a turn for the worse at the very end when Valentina gives Yelena her next target: Hawkeye. Thanks to Valentina's assertion that Barton was responsible for Natasha's death, it's incredibly clear that the two people Natasha trusted and loved the most are about to come to blows.
- And, of course, there's the bitter irony that Clint actually tried to save Natasha and literally fought her to perform the necessary Heroic Sacrifice himself so she could live. But Natasha defeated him and forced the death on herself to save Clint and let him return to his family, leaving him grief-stricken... and now her sister is being told he caused Natasha's death and will likely try to take his life in revenge. The best friend Natasha gave her life to save.
- As Natasha waxes nostalgic over the photo album, she recalls the photo shoot where they did the pictures for all of the holidays in one day. Although she never loses her smile, it's heartbreaking for the audience to think of two little girls wanting to open boxes they already know are empty simply because they want to pretend it's real. Would it have been so terrible to give them one real present? At least their "parents" give them some proper toys once they're in the field.
