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In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Black Widow, a.k.a. Natasha, a.k.a agent Romanoff, is seen discussing her past with Bruce Banner, a.k.a. Hulk. Prior to this, Bruce Banner is wary of the consequences of their relationship and tells her that he can not be a father and she would not be able to conceive and give birth to their next generation, if they indulged in this relationship.

To this, Black Widow replies that, she knows and understands this and reveals that, she too is technically not able to conceive, owing to a part of their training in the "Red Room" facility. The flashbacks of her past are shown in this scene.

But I am not sure, what exactly they do to incapacitate women agents from getting pregnant. Either it was not obvious to me from the scene or it was left for the viewers to imagine.

I have googled a lot but could not come to any conclusion. If someone can shed some light on the technicalities, preferably with some references that would be great!

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    And the irony is that Scarlett Johansson was pregnant whilst filming that movie!
    – Möoz
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 2:59
  • Black Widow is out now and one of the scenes explains this in detail.
    – Devraj Gadhavi
    Commented Jul 22, 2021 at 5:52

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She was sterilized.

"You know what my final test was in the Red Room? They sterilized me. Said it was one less thing to worry about."

Natasha Romanoff, Avengers: Age of Ultron

We don't know the exact procedure undertaken as part of the Red Room training, we just know that she is no longer capable of having children, as the people who trained her wanted to make sure that nothing would ever get in the way of her being able to complete a mission.

We don't have any more detail than that, and I think that's deliberate - a scene showing a woman being forcibly sterilized might be a bit heavy for a superhero movie, don't you think?

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    I wonder from where would you have gotten this dialogue? I don't think you watched the scene for the sake of answering this question, did you? If not, would you mind providing me a link to the source? Of course, provided it's public.
    – Devraj Gadhavi
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 6:21
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    @DevrajGadhavi I got the exact wording of the dialogue from this page on IMDb, which lists quotes from films - but I remember quite clearly the scene it is in.
    – Dr R Dizzle
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 8:55
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This is elaborated on in Black Widow, in a discussion between Natasha, Yelena (another Black Widow) and Alexei (the Russian equivalent of Captain America).

Alexei (to Yelena, after she punches him): Why the aggression, huh? Is it your time of the month?

Yelena: I don't get my period, dipshit. I don't have a uterus.

Natasha: Or ovaries.

Yelena: Yeah. That's what happens when the Red Room gives you an involuntary hysterectomy. They kind of just go in and they rip out all of your reproductive organs. They just get right in there and they chop them all away. Everything out...

Alexei: Okay, okay. Okay! Okay!

Yelena: ...so you can't have babies.

Alexei: You don't have to get so clinical and nasty.

Yelena: Oh, well, I was about to talk about fallopian tubes, but okay.

About 1 hour and 2 minutes into the movie.

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