| “ | These world leaders, these great men, they answer to me and my Widows. Look at them. These girls were trash. They are thrown out into the street. I recycle the trash. And I give them purpose. I give them a life. | „ |
| ~ General Dreykov to Natasha Romanoff on his army of Black Widows. |
| “ | It's my network of Widows that help me control the scales of power. One command, the oil and stock markets crumble. One command, and a quarter of the planet will starve. My Widows can start and end wars. They can break and make kings. (Romanoff: You control all of that from here?) And with you, an Avenger under my control... I can finally come out of the shadows using the only natural resource that the world has too much of. Girls. | „ |
| ~ Dreykov to Romanoff on how he uses the Black Widows for his own agenda. |
General Dreykov is a supporting antagonist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, serving as a mentioned antagonist in The Avengers, the main antagonist of Black Widow, and a posthumous antagonist in the Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye.
He is a high-ranking officer in the Soviet Armed Forces who acted as the Red Room's overseer and Taskmaster's superior, the latter of whom is also his daughter. He orders Taskmaster to retrieve Natasha Romanoff, best known as Black Widow, back to the Red Room. He is responsible for turning Romanoff into the cold professional killer she used to be prior to joining the Avengers.
He was portrayed by Ray Winstone, who also played Captain Teague in Cold Mountain.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He abducted and brainwashed millions of young girls, putting them through harsh training in the Red Room in order to make them into professional assassins called "Black Widows".
- He also forces them to kill themselves when they fail him or if they're injured and justifies this behavior by saying that he gives these girl's lives purpose, calling them trash that needs to be recycled, demonstrating his hypocritical and misogynistic behavior.
- According to Yelena Belova, the training is so awful that only 1 in 20 girls even survive it and their organs get ripped out from the girls' reproductive organs.
- He also forces them to kill themselves when they fail him or if they're injured and justifies this behavior by saying that he gives these girl's lives purpose, calling them trash that needs to be recycled, demonstrating his hypocritical and misogynistic behavior.
- He turned his daughter Antonia into a living weapon known as Taskmaster, and the one time he shows her some kind of affection is rendered moot once he selfishly ditched his daughter to save his own life and prioritizes jewelry over his child.
- What's more, Antonia clearly resented her father, since upon being freed by Natasha Romanoff, she asked if Dreykov was really dead, showing that he had little to no care for Antonia from the start. Also, it is heavily implied that he brainwashed Antonia as Natasha used the anti-mind control serum on her, which snapped her normal, which shows Dreykov only saw his daughter as a weapon, and would've have abandoned her without a second thought.
- He had Natasha Romanoff's mother killed so she wouldn't expose his program, having her buried in an unmarked grave so no one would find out about her identity, then mocks Natasha about this when she asks her mother's name.
- He betrayed Alexei Shostakov by sending him to the Seventh Circle Prison for the rest of his life. It's also implied by Alexei that the reason for his betrayal was out of pettiness.
- He plans to put Natasha under his control in order to hold an influence over the Avengers and be able to escape from the shadows, but it never came to happen due to Natasha outsmarting him. When Natasha starts to mock him, Dreykov responds by brutally beating her to the ground in anger.
- He attempts to have Yelena's brain removed to identify what the anti-mind control agent is and how to counter it.
- He sends multiple Black Widows and Taskmaster to kill Natasha and Yelena, demanding that they make Natasha suffer in the process and causing the Black Widows to heavily beat her per their orders.
- He intends to use his Black Widows to cause chaos throughout the world so he can rule it from his chair by, among other things, crumbling the oil and stock markets, starving a quarter of the Earth, and even starting and ending wars.
Trivia[]
- It's possible that General Dreykov's Pure Evil status may have been affected during the filming of Black Widow as Ray Winstone stated that Marvel Studios required him for reshoots apparently due to feelings his original performance was too strong.
- He is the second Pure Evil in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be an original character, after Arthur Walsh.
- He is also the only Pure Evil of Phase 4, as well as the first Pure Evil of Multiverse Saga, preceding Infinity Ultron and the High Evolutionary.
External Links[]
- General Dreykov on the Villains Wiki
- General Dreykov on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- General Dreykov on the Disney Wiki
- General Dreykov on the Hate Sink Wiki
