Hawkeye and Black Widow Suicide Competition

This entry contains major spoilers for 2019 superhero film Avengers: Endgame.

About

Hawkeye and Black Widow Suicide Competition refers to a memorable scene from 2019 Marvel superhero film Avengers: Endgame in which characters Hawkeye and Black Widow attempt to prevent each other from sacrificing themselves for the purpose of obtaining the Soul Stone. Following the release of the film, the scene has been referenced in memes, with behaviors of Hawkeye, Black Widow and Red Skull presented via humorous metaphors.

Origin

On April 26th, 2019, Marvel superhero film Avengers: Endgame premiered in the United States.^[1] In one scene of the film, characters Clint "Hawkeye" Barton, portrayed by Jeremy Renner, and Natasha "Black Widow" Romanoff, portrayed by Scarlett Johannson" arrive on Vormir, where they attempt to obtain the Soul Stone, a key plot item, by sacrificing their own life and preventing the other one from doing it first.

Spread

In the days following the leak and premiere of the film, the scene was referenced in memes, with behaviors of Hawkeye, Black Widow and Soul Stone keeper Red Skull parodied. For example, on April 25th, Redditor ChuckyCheese555 posted a Lois Falling Down Stairs meme referencing the scene which gained over 1,800 upvotes in three weeks (shown below, left).^[2] On April 26th, Redditor The SparrowNet posted another meme which gained over 490 upvotes in three weeks (shown below, right).^[3]

In the following days, more memes referencing the scene were posted on Reddit, Instagram and other platforms, including notable posts in /r/EndgameSpoilers^[4] and /r/thanosdidnothingwrong^[5] subreddits.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References