Natasha Romanoff

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See also Black Widow for a complete list of references to clarify differences between these closely named or closely related articles.


Natasha Romanoff
Aliases:	Black Widow; Natalia Alianovna Romanova; Nancy Rushman; Nadine Roman; Natalia Shostakova; War Widow ^[1]
Continuity:	Marvel Universe
Notability:	Main character
Type:	Spy
Gender:	Female
Race:	Human
Location:	Mobile
Relatives:	Ivan Petrovich (foster father); Taras Romanoff (adoptive father); Alexi Shostakov (ex-husband); Vindiktor (husband)
Status:	Alive
Born:	1928 ^[2]
First:	Tales of Suspense #52
Actor:	Vanessa Marshall Ashleigh Ball Laura Bailey Scarlett Johansson

The Black Widow is the name of several fictional adventurers featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first and most well-known of these characters is Natalia Romanova, aka Natasha Romanoff, who was introduced as a KGB spy in Tales of Suspense #52 and a foe of Iron Man. She eventually severed her ties with the Russian government and became a freelance costumed agent and a member of the Avengers.

Biography[]

"Natasha, you are without a doubt the craziest female I've ever tangled with."

―Matt Murdock^[src]

Natasha was born in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia. The first and best-known Black Widow is a Soviet agent trained as a spy, martial artist, and sniper, and outfitted with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry, including a pair of wrist-mounted energy weapons dubbed her "Widow's Bite". She wears no costume during her first few appearances but simply evening wear and a veil. Romanova eventually defects to the U.S. for reasons that include her love for the reluctant-criminal turned superhero archer, Hawkeye.

Romanova's parents were killed in a fire during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II when Romanova was a child. She was saved from death herself by Ivan Petrovich, who raised her as a surrogate father. Ivan also served as Natasha's chauffeur.

In 1941, the superhero Captain America and the mutant adventurer James Howlett aided Petrovich in rescuing Natasha from Nazi forces on Madripoor.

Natasha was arranged by the KGB to marry the renowned Soviet test pilot Alexei Shostakov. However, when the Soviet government decided to make Alexei into their new operative, the Red Guardian, he is told that he can have no further contact with his wife. Natasha is told that he had died and is trained as a secret agent separately.

Romanova grew up to serve as a femme fatale. She was assigned to assist Boris Turgenov in the assassination of Professor Anton Vanko for defecting from the Soviet Union, which served as her first mission in the United States. Natasha and Turgenov infiltrated Stark Industries as part of the plan. She attempted to manipulate information from American defense contractor Tony Stark, and inevitably confronted his superhero alter ego, Iron Man. The pair then battled Iron Man, and Turgenev steals and wears the Crimson Dynamo suit. Vanko sacrificed himself to save Iron Man, killing Turgenev in the process, using an unstable experimental laser light pistol. Romanova later met the criminal archer Hawkeye and set him against Iron Man, and later helped Hawkeye battle Iron Man.

Natasha once more attempted to get Hawkeye to help her destroy Iron Man. The pair almost succeeded, but when Black Widow was injured, Hawkeye retreated to get her to safety. During this period, Romanova was attempting to defect from the Soviet Union and began falling in love with Hawkeye, weakening her loyalty to her country. When her employers learned the truth, the KGB had her gunned down, sending her to a hospital, convincing Hawkeye to go straight and seek membership in the Avengers.

The Red Room kidnapped and brainwashed her again, and with the Swordsman and the first Power Man, she battled the Avengers. She eventually broke free from her psychological conditioning (with the help of Hawkeye), and successfully defected, having further adventures with Spider-Man, with Hawkeye and with Daredevil. She ultimately joined the Avengers as a costumed heroine herself.

After breaking up with Daredevil, the Widow moved to Los Angeles and became leader of the newly created and short-lived super team known as The Champions, consisting of her, Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Hercules (with whom she has a brief romance), and former X-Men Angel and Iceman.

A former Soviet assassin named Leonid Novokov used Cold War-era brainwashing techniques to take control of the Black Widow. While functioning as a sleeper agent, she was brought aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, but Novokov activated her trigger programming and she killed Jasper Sitwell while trying to escape. ^[3]

Revised origin[]

A revised, retconned origin establishes her as being raised from very early childhood by the U.S.S.R.'s "Black Widow Ops" program, rather than solely by Ivan Petrovitch. Petrovitch had taken her to Department X, with other young female orphans, where she was brainwashed, and trained in combat and espionage at the covert "Red Room" facility. There, she is biotechnologically and psycho-technologically enhanced—an accounting that provides a rationale for her unusually long and youthful lifespan. During that time she had some training under Winter Soldier, and the pair even had a short romance. Each Black Widow is deployed with false memories to help ensure her loyalty. Romanova eventually discovers this, including the fact that she had never, as she had believed, been a ballerina. She further discovers that the Red Room is still active as "2R".

Equipment[]

Black Widow's gauntlets: The Black Widow wears twin gauntlets on each wrist as part of her crime-fighting arsenal. Originally, the gauntlets were nothing more than fanciful bracelets manufactured by the KGB, but they have gone through numerous upgrades over the years and are now the Widow's primary weapon. The gauntlets include an electrostatic charge, referred to as "Widow's Bite", as well as knockout gas and tear gas pellets, a retractable grappling hook line and miniature explosives.
Photostatic veil: The Photostatic veil was developed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and could be worn like a full mask that covered the entire head. It could be programmed with the likeness of an individual, allowing the wearer to successfully pose as that individual, at least facially. Natasha Romanoff wore one to pose as Councilwoman Hawley of the World Security Council as part of a mission to prevent Hydra agent Alexander Pierce from activating Project Insight.
War Widow armor: The War Widow armor was a suit of black power armor utilized by Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. This was a special-needs item and not something that she employed in everyday use. While on a mission to the Ravenstarr Galaxy with the Avengers, the Black Widow and her comrades, Blade, Boy-Thing, and Ghost Rider were stranded on a prison planetoid. They were attacked by alien inmates and Natasha was forced to don the armor in order to fight them off.

Affiliations[]

Teams

Organizations

Partnerships

Notes & Trivia[]

The character of Natasha Romanoff was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck.
The Black Widow was featured in her own back-up spotlight series in issues #1-8 of Amazing Adventures from 1970-1971.
The Black Widow co-starred with Daredevil in his own title beginning with issue #92 and ending with issue #108.
The Black Widow had her own four-issue story-arc in Marvel Fanfare #10-13 in 1983-84.
The Black Widow received her own three-issue limited series in 1999. The storyline is called "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider".
The Black Widow received her first own ongoing series in 2004, but it only lasted eight issues. Another Black Widow ongoing series began in 2010, but again lasted only eight issues.
Natasha defected to the United States after discovering that she had been brainwashed by the KGB. ^[4]
The Black Widow first donned her traditional black bodysuit in Tales of Suspense #64.
The Black Widow began wearing a single grey body-suit with a short red haircut in Daredevil #187. Fortunately, this look did not last very long.
Her friends often call her "Natasha", the informal version of "Natalia". She has sometimes chosen the last-name alias "Romanoff"—evidently as a private joke on those who are not aware that Russian family names use different endings for males and females. She has been hinted to be a descendant of the destroyed Romanov royal family and a relation to Nicholas II of Russia.

Statistics[]

Height: 5'7"
Weight: 131 lbs. (60 kg)
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue

Alternate versions[]

Another canon Marvel Universe character who assumed the name Black Widow is Yelena Belova. She was selected by the Russian government to replace Natasha as an agent loyal to their aims. She served as a foil to Natasha and the two fought against one another in the second Black Widow limited series, which primarily featured Belova.

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, the Black Widow is Monica Chang - an American soldier who was briefly married to Nick Fury and later became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates. This version also appeared in the 2006 direct-to-video film Ultimate Avengers where she was voiced by Olivia d'Abo. She also appeared in the film's sequel, Ultimate Avengers II, released that same year.

Alternate media[]

The first television version of the Black Widow appeared in "Hulk vs. the World" micro-episode that preceded the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series in October, 2010. Actress Vanessa Marshall provided the voice for Natasha in this program.
A version of the character also appeared in the "Hawk and the Spider" episode of Iron Man: Armored Adventures in October, 2011. She was voiced by Ashleigh Ball in this series.
Another version appeared in Avengers Assemble and was introduced in the premiere episode, "The Avengers Protocol (Part 1)". She was voiced by actress Laura Bailey.
The Black Widow made her live-action debut in the 2008 feature film Iron Man 2. She was played by actress Scarlett Johansson and also went by the alias, Natalie Rushman. Johansson reprised the role of the Black Widow for the 2012 film The Avengers.
Actress Meghan Manning played a dancer performing as the MCU version of Natasha Romanoff in the fictional Rogers: The Musical, which was featured in the premiere and finale episodes of Marvel's Hawkeye in 2021.