Black Widow | 2021 | PG-13 | – 1.6.4

Why is “Black Widow” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “intense sequences of violence/action, some language and thematic material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many scenes of fighting and action leaving some bloody wounds and an implied death, car chases and explosions, discussion of mind-control and the chemical subjugation of young girls, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A prequel to the MCU superhero movie franchise that traces the origin of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in 1990s Ohio, when as a young girl she posed as the elder child of a Russian spy couple (David Harbour and Rachel Weisz). Years later, she meets her fake younger sister (Florence Pugh) and together they try to track down and destroy a Russian operation that creates Black Widows through mind control. Also with O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt and Ray Winstone. Directed by Cate Shortland. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Russian with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:13]

Black Widow SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man tells her that she looks good and explains that he has been in prison and has “a lot of energy” (he’s trying to seduce her). A woman describes having been given a forced hysterectomy and describes the event as, “…they go in and cut out your uterus.”
► A man takes off his shirt and we see his bare chest and abdomen as he struggles to fit into a special suit. A woman wears low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes.

Black Widow VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A man pulls a prison guard through a protective barrier, he runs through several other guards and jams a door with a shield, he kicks a door open and other guards shoot at him as he continues to run; a helicopter flies overhead and a woman drops from a cable into the area and she fights the guards while the chopper is shot at and spins around nearly hitting the woman; the pilot shoots a tower with an explosive that kicks off an avalanche and the woman on the ground jumps onto a cable from the helicopter, the man on the ground grabs onto her hand and they fly away just as a wall of snow pours over the prison.
► A car is struck by an explosive and it flips on a bridge where a large armored attacker approaches the driver; the driver shoots at the attacker, who raises a shield and then throws it at the driver and she dodges it; they fight, the driver is kicked and thrown and she wraps a cable around the attacker and pulls him into the air, but he cuts himself loose and the driver is kicked off the bridge and into a river below (we see blood on her face and head).
► A man and a woman pack up guns and two children and speed to an airstrip where police arrive and the man flips over a large dumpster to make room for a small plane to leave a hangar; they are shot at by the police as they ride along the runway and the woman is struck and we see her bleeding as one of the children pulls the plane off the ground bumping an overturned car as they pass over it, while the man clings to the wing of the plane, shooting at the police.
► An explosion opens a hole in an apartment ceiling and armed troops rappel into the room and shoot at two women inside; the two women run away and onto the roof where they swing away from the building, holding onto a large pipe and one of the attackers holds onto the hand of one of the women but falls to the ground below (we see her leg twisted unnaturally), where we see her self-destruct (she is zapped by a mechanism on her wrist and we see a burn mark on her head and face). Planes circle over a house and armed people surround it, shoot a man inside the house in the chest repeatedly with tranquilizer darts (he collapses), and a woman is shot in the chest with an electric charge and she collapses. Two women hold guns on each other and fight: they throw each other breaking up furniture, one slashes the other with a knife, and eventually they wrap a curtain around each other’s throats nearly suffocating each other. A woman is surrounded by armed guards and she stands over a spinning fan; she throws a taser weapon into the mechanism and it explodes throwing her back. A woman fights many armed people and they punch, kick, and use taser weapons; one person is kicked repeatedly and punched relatedly while others watch. A woman and an enhanced person fight mid-air and they slam to the ground.
► A young girl takes a handgun from a soldier that moves toward her and a younger girl; she threatens to kill them all and pleads for them not to touch the child until a man convinces her to give him the gun and two soldiers inject the two girls with sedatives and carry them away unconscious. A SWAT team moves into a building searching for a woman and we hear that she is a federal fugitive; they find her tracker but not the woman. Two snipers take aim at a woman in a building and she deploys smoke to get away; she leaves the building, is struck by a taxi, encounters one of the snipers and they fight until the woman is stabbed in the abdomen, she sprays the attacker with a mist that stuns her briefly and the injured woman dies on the ground (we see blood pooling under her). A woman cuts herself free from restraints in a medical setting and attacks the surgical staff, knocking them all out and she is stabbed in the shoulder with a hypodermic (she pulls it out). A man punches a woman in the face several times and then kicks her (we see her with a bloody nose). A woman punches a man hard in the face. A woman hits a man in the face. A woman pounds her face onto a desk and we see that her nose looks broken and it bleeds. A man and an enhanced person fight, with lots of punching, kicking and throwing; the fight ends when the enhanced person is locked in a cell.
► A man raises his fist to hit a woman but does not do so. A woman holds a shotgun on three people that approach. A woman tries to shoot and stab a man but cannot do so; he explains that there is a pheromonal lock on her, rendering her unable to harm him.
► An armored vehicle chases a motorcycle through streets and the motorcycle crashes and throws two riders into the hood of a car; the two riders steal the car at gunpoint and speed away crashing into other vehicles and they are chased by a motorcyclist that is thrown when the bike crashes into a car door that is flung off the car. An armored vehicle crashes through many cars on a street throwing them aside and the driver shoots an exploding arrow under a vehicle, causing it to explode and flip and the two occupants get out with one suffering a bloody arm wound; they run away and hide and the person chasing them follows their blood trail into a hatch in the ground. A helicopter runs out of fuel and lands hard on the ground (no one inside is injured). A woman blows up a facility and runs as flames chase her, she jumps away from the structure and swings from a railing, a plane takes off from the facility and a guard jumps onto the windshield but is thrown and hits the tail breaking it and causing the plane to spin out of control. A woman falls through the air and another woman jumps after her with a parachute and straps it onto her.
► A woman tells a pig to enter a room and when it does, she tells it to stop breathing and it does so; it collapses after not breathing and the woman eventually tells it to breathe and it revives. Girls at various ages are shown going through training and programming, watching TV programs and taking target practice. Many children are shown packed in a container and we hear them screaming as armed soldiers enter and a man chooses a few for training to become elite soldiers. We see footage of warfare with gunfire and explosions and flames burning in oil fields.
► A woman is shown strapped onto a medical table and a line is drawn around her forehead after a man says, “Cut her brain out.” A man says that he wants a woman to be killed slowly and to “make her suffer.” A man in a prison arm wrestles several other men while getting a tattoo on his back; he slams one man’s arm to the table so hard that he breaks his wrist (we see the wrist bent unnaturally) and he accuses the man of crying “like a girl.” A woman cuts her own leg and pulls out a tracking device (we see blood). A woman is taken away on a stretcher and we see blood on her neck and clothing. A woman has a bloody wound on her arm and she pours alcohol on it causing her to moan. A young girl falls down and skins her knee; she cries and a woman consoles her. A man accuses a woman of blowing someone’s face off.
► A woman realigns her own broken nose (we hear a crunch). A woman is shown with a badly scarred face. A woman talks about having killed a man and we see the event where a building exploded and a man and his young daughter were inside. A woman talks about having been “taken” as a child. A woman describes another woman as having been executed. A woman talks about “chemically altered brain function.” A woman describes having been given a forced hysterectomy and describes the event as, “They go in and cut out your uterus.” A man describes a woman as having been, “The greatest child assassin,” and says, “Your ledgers must be dripping red.” A man describes that as a child his father urinated on his hands to treat them from frostbite while ice fishing.

Black Widow LANGUAGE 4

 – 11 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (deserter, Fanny Longbottom, sensitive, annoying, liar, fat, weak, nasty, idiot, coward, needy, emotional, pathetic, rats), exclamations (ugh, oh great, huh, wow, oh, stop), 1 religious profanities (GD), 6 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, My God, For God’s Sake, God From Space, a couple of song lyrics including having “faith in God above” and “if the Bible tells you so”). | profanity glossary |

Black Widow SUBSTANCE USE

 – A red mist is sprayed into the faces of a few people and it seems to stun the individual before snapping them out of a mind-control state. A woman drinks a glass of wine and a man drinks from a bottle of beer, two women drink beers, four people drink vodka, and a song contains lyrics about drinking whiskey and rye.

Black Widow DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Genetic manipulation, brainwashing, mind-control, chemical subjugation, making your own decisions, sacrifice, betrayal, dreams, family.

Black Widow MESSAGE

 – Pain only makes you stronger.