WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Black Widow, now playing in theaters and available for streaming through Disney+ Premier Access.

One of the things fans were concerned about when Black Widow was announced was whether the Red Room could pose a real threat to Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) after all she accomplished fighting gods, aliens and other powerful enemies. Seeing as she took down the Red Room already, a revamped project had to be really impressive to pose any kind of threat to her just after Captain America: Civil War. But as the film's finale confirms, this new Red Room isn't just superior to the old version -- it's also a way better shadow organization than Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D.

What Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. prided themselves on was the ability to work in secrecy and manipulate the planet. Hydra wanted to take over, while S.H.I.E.L.D. was questionable in how it policed Earth. Ultimately, both entities were about control but seeing as they were so big, it was only a matter of time before they imploded. This came when Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. was exposed by Captain America. Their reach exceeded their grasp and in trying to become their own world power, both got corrupted and poisoned by their sinister ambitions.

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In Black Widow, though, General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) has turned the Red Room into the shadowy institution both wanted to be, moving past a mere training facility that bred assassins. Natasha discovers from Yelena, her "sister," that Dreykov is alive and has been using chemical subjugation to mind-control the Widows, as opposed to the psychological conditioning methods of old. Interestingly, he used Red Guardian/Alexei to steal the intel from a S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Ohio in '95, which was actually infiltrated by Hydra and working on Winter Soldier mind projects. Thus, he took from the very organizations that claimed to be the best and surpassed them in the process.

And make no mistake, when he adjusted the process into a unique chemical treatment, he converted his Widows into sleeper agents that acted as perfected versions of the Winter Soldier. He can control them remotely, kill them if he wants and they can't do a thing because their programming keeps their human sides caged while their murderous sides act out. Clearly, there are no flaws, per Bucky Barnes.

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But while the tools are better, it's what he's done with them that really makes Dreykov's Red Room something to fear. It's not grounded anymore, literally, as he's created his own Helicarrier-type in the sky that's gone undetected by anyone, including Thaddeus Ross, the World Security Council and Earth's Mightiest Heroes. That's a major feat seeing as Ross was on a global mission to suss out any and all threats during the Sokovia Accords era. Building this monument when the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra were in their heyday says a lot, as not everyone can fly so below the radar.

Dreykov talking to Taskmaster up close in Black Widow

And staying off grid, cloaked in the shadows, using Natasha's assassination attempt on him to fake his death has allowed the Red Room to flourish as an empire. It's steeped in secrecy and as he shows her in the third act of Black Widow, this allowed him to seed Widows around the world to influence politics, war and the global economic state.

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Dreykov's entrenched with the elite, turning the wheels in ways no one notices, hence why he's a multi-billionaire and ruling the world in ways Hydra's Alexander Pierce, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Nick Fury and many others couldn't. It's actually foreshadowed early on in Black Widow, when Natasha is watching Moonraker, not realizing she's got her own James Bond villain up in the air.

The only thing that brings Dreykov down is when he sends Yelena after another Widow who broke away. She was part of the old program, but while she dies, she gasses Yelena with the mind-control antidote and frees her from his control, leading to her team-up with Natasha and this new war on the Red Room. So, if it weren't for this inadvertent bit of self-destruction, the Red Room may well have taken over the world in a darker take on Secret Invasion.

Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Mason and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff. The film is in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access now.

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