Both of these characters are old in comic book years. I think Black Widow dates from WWII? But, like all comic book characters, they never age (see Richie Rich, who has been a kid for like 50 + years!)

Make them any age that makes sense to you.

*nods* Thank you! Yeah, you've got a point about Richie Rich, and comic characters in general.

Briefly: they don't have ages, so make it up! (I personally have Clint born in '69, Natasha '77, and Avengers happening in 2011 for various reasons)

They've been in the comics for decades, so they are...in a lot of ways, they are ageless (although I think comic!book Natasha was born in 1927, and when the Red Room got hold of her they did experiments on her so she's a lot like Steve - but other than an AU!idea where I want to poke at her being a freedom fighter at the age of 15 in the ruins of Stalingrad, I ignore this because I like her being normal!human.)

Also, I think you can pick and choose how much of comics!canon you want to have, because comics and movies are really happening in two very separate universes.

1969. is a good year. I like that year. *grins* THANK YOU.

I prefer them as real, ordinary humans as well.

Also, I think you can pick and choose how much of comics!canon you want to have, because comics and movies are really happening in two very separate universes.

I'm usually tried to stay as close to canon as possible in my other fandoms, so there. But knowing that I'm not limited by canon is pretty cool.

Yeah, I was just having a conversation about this on my lj with another friend. The characters have been around for a long time, so essentially they were 'born' long ago, but we know how the MCU likes to retcon things. Personally in situations like this I start with the age of the actor to get a ballpark, and then tweak as I see fit :) Since I'm not a comics person, I've (1) been trying to avoid writing about their backgrounds but (2) when I'm forced to, picking and choosing the bits that work/make sense to me and running from it. I don't think you're going to run into many people in this corner of the fandom, at least, who roast you over the coals because you don't precisely replicate comics!Clint in a movie!fic. I kind of think as comics and movie canon as their own animals.

Thank you! I think canon is a good point of reference, in most cases, and it's good to know that people won't be incredibly upset if I omit things simply because I didn't read comics. (If I'm not mistaken that's a ton of comics - and honestly I would rather read fics than comics anyway.)

Personally in situations like this I start with the age of the actor to get a ballpark, and then tweak as I see fit :)

Seems like a good approach to me. :D

So many debates about this *grins*. Personally I like the idea of there being an age gap between them with Clint being older by 10-13 years, because of a lot of chatter I've had in meta posts. To quote my own meta - um, I am lazy like woah today:

Partly because of the actor’s ages and workerbee73 said because Clint’s a hardened hired gun type which works well for him being a little older, and Natasha is a very old soul to being with – she’s seen way more in her life than most people could ever imagine. And so in my mind Clint needs to be older than se is just to have a world-weary experience that could possibly hope to relate to hers. We know Natasha has seen a lot. She is, after all, a spy and started at a young age. In the comics Natasha seems to be a lot older than she actually looks, due comics voodoo (see: Steve Rodgers on ice, genetic manipulation, the brainteaser that is comics timelines). For me Clint seems to have the experienced solider thing going on and if there’s no comics voodoo over Natasha’s age then Natasha being made and remade over and over, kind of forever and always beginning again, fits with Natasha being constantly young in some ways whilst Clint is the hurry up and wait soldier. Natasha being constantly remade then could, arguably, be the film version of the comics voodoo in a more ‘realistic’ manner: she would, in a way, be forever young.

//

If we're going with comics, there's no canon in those anyway, and Natasha has odd never-aging because of comics voodoo going on. Renner is 41 and Johnasson is 27 if you want to go by the actor and actress. There's no consensus anywhere that I know of. I see Clint as about 35-40 in the Avengers as well *shrugs*. If you want to play with the comics Marvel wiki on Hawkeye is probably a good place to start, but I love reading all the different interpretations and ideas we're getting - we don't know much about him or Natasha really from the films, so we get to play :D

I am in agreement with you and workbee73 when it comes to age gap - Natasha may be young in years, but everything else about her just screams old soul, and it makes sense, considering everything she's been through. You don't go through hell like that unscratched. So there's an age gap, but not a real life experience gap between them. if that makes sense.

Thank you! It looks like I can, basically, run with the plot and backstory that makes most sense to me. I kind of love that, hehe :D

It looks like I can, basically, run with the plot and backstory that makes most sense to me. That's the fun part of not having much to go off from the films :D

It depends. For example, in the original comic, Iron Man is kidnapped in Vietnam; in the movie this is updated to Afghanistan.

Times and ages are often updated so the age of the character matches RL time and history. So while originally Natasha was born in the 1920s and her origin is based in WWII, her back story has been updated so it's after the Cold War. That way, she can be a "normal" person who has simply been trained to be the best kick-ass spy and assassin in the world, rather than a super-powered never-aging comic book heroine.

Thank you very much! All these answers are really helpful.