Black Widow

This page refers to Natasha Romanova. For others that has used the name Black Widow, see: Black Widow for the golden age Black Widow, and Yelena Belova for the third Black Widow.

Origin

Early Life

Natalia Romanov was born in Stalingrad, her parents were left unknown. Natasha was possibly a part of the Romanoff family, the Romanoff were the last ruling czars of Russia. During World War II, Natasha Romanoff had the building in which she lived in set on fire, and a woman, perhaps her mother, threw her into the arms of Ivan Petrovich who was serving in the army. Ivan took care of her when she was growing up and is now her chauffeur. Ivan protected Natasha, though in 1941, she was kidnapped by the Nazi Baron Strucker and was made their assassin in the Hand. However, she was taken back by Ivan, Captain America and Wolverine.

Natasha excelled greatly in school and proved to be an excellent athlete and became a ballerina. She later fell in love with and married Red Guardian (known as Alexei Shostakov this time), but Alexei would die soon afterward during a testing of an experimental rocket.

The KGB decided that the Shostakovs would make good agents for them. While Alexi Shostakov was on a mission, he was informed of this decision, and that he could not make contact with anybody he knew, even his own wife. During this time, Alexi was being trained as the Red Guardian, who was basically the Russian Captain America. Meanwhile, Natasha was told that her husband died in an explosion. Natasha was deeply agitated, and wanted people to remember her as well as her husband. So she decided to honor his memory by achieving her husband’s goal of becoming an intelligence operative, she soon joined the Red Room Academy where they would train her and many other women to become skilled operatives. Natasha would become an extremely talented operative, the KGB gave her the name Black Widow.

Recton

In the 2004 Black Widow mini-series, Natasha’s origin was Retcon to fix continuity on her lengthy life span and youth. In the series, Natasha was raised by the U.S.S.R.’s “Black Widow Ops” program her entire life. Natasha, along with other young female orphans, were trained in the program to become skilled operatives for espionage missions. During the training, all the girls were subjected to be biologically and psychologically enhanced in the Red Room. This explains why Natasha lived from World War II till now and is still young. The program then subjects all the girls to be brainwashed and implants false memories in order to maintain loyalty. Natasha eventually discovers that her memories were all false and were there because of brainwash.

The Black Widow

When Wolverine came back to America, Black Widow saved him from Hydra assassins and encountered him again where Thing and Ms. Marvel stole the Red Storm project from Russia. She pursued them, but was ordered to abort the mission. Her first assignment was to infiltrate Stark Industries with her partner Boris Turgenov in the assassination of Anton Vanko. The Black Widow however had her plans stopped by Iron Man. Natasha showed an attraction to Tony Stark soon, and decided to try and distract him so her partner could destroy Stark’s plants. Soon after her partner Boris Turgenov and enemy Anton Vanko died, Natasha decided to stay in America and act as an undercover spy in order to regain the favor of the K.G.B. She began a romantic relationship with Tony Stark. However, her real plans were to steal his anti-gravity device. Natasha would be successful in stealing the device and used it to cause destruction. Eventually Iron Man would be able to take back his anti-gravity device, however was unsuccessful at capturing Natasha.    

Natasha would soon run into Hawkeye, who was a wanted man by mistake. She would sometimes used Hawkeye as he was attracted to her, and would help her in some of her missions. Natasha was able to convince Hawkeye into stealing plans from Tony Stark. Hawkeye would agree to her plan and he would eventually run into Iron Man. The two fought each other while Natasha watched from far away. However, one of Hawkeye’s arrows was reflected by Iron Man and it flew off and hit Natasha, knocking her unconscious. After she woke up, the K.G.B. gave her orders to stop attacking Stark Industries and gave her a new target, the Williams Innovations. Natasha would again convince Hawkeye somehow into attacking the company. However, Hawkeye would encounter Spider-Man, who convinces him that he is doing the wrong thing. However, Natasha would somehow convince Hawkeye again into stealing the Stark plans again. While Hawkeye was on the mission, the K.G.B. came and kidnapped Natasha, bringing her back to Russia. They designed a new costume for Natasha and new equipment. Natasha then returned to join Hawkeye in a battle against Iron Man. However, Iron Man would defeat them when he shocks Natasha with an electrical blast.        

someone likes her job

However, her attraction towards Hawkeye questioned her loyalty to Russia. Hawkeye refused to work with Black Widow, and joined the Avengers. The K.G.B. once again kidnaps Natasha, they then brainwashed her into serving for them again. They ordered her to attack the Avengers, but she disengaged herself from their brainwashing, reunited with Hawkeye. She became an ally of the Avengers, aiding them in many missions. However, she was not a full time member as she did not respect the Avenger’s oath of non-killing Natasha later decides to join SHIELD to be their double agent and operative against the K.G.B. 

During a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha discovered that Alexi Shostakovwas still alive and was trained to become the Red Guardian. She and the Avengers fought Red Guardian and he died in battle. The Avengers were about to make her an official member, though she abandoned her Black Widow alias for a while. 

Relationship with Daredevil

Black Widow's relationship with Hawkeye ended when Natasha resumed her identity as the Black Widow. She told him that she wanted to pursue a solo career and had to break it off with him. She became an all new Black Widow, changing her costume into an all black color. She became a vigilante and fought against common criminals in New York. Eventually Natasha would be reunited with Ivan when he comes to America, Ivan served as Natasha’s chauffeur and would occasionally give her advice. While working in New York, Natasha would encounter Daredevil, the two quickly team up and eventually develop a romantic relationship. Natasha’s relationship with Foggy Nelson, Matt partner, was never good, as he was brainwashed into prosecuting Natasha for the murder of the Scorpion. Natasha never forgave Foggy for that incident, even though she was proven innocent. 

Eventually, Matt and Natasha’s relationship would go so far to the point where Matt broke up with Karen Page. The new couple decided to move to San Francisco to start a new life there. They continued their duo vigilante careers in the streets of San Francisco. Natasha would pursue a career outside of crime fighting and would try to become a fashion designer. However, she fails at it and it does not help her relationship with Matt, as it has become a bit shaky. Natasha and Daredevil would later aid the Avengers in a battle against Magneto, the two of them were offered memberships to the Avengers, to which they accepted. However, Natasha soon realized that she was not a comfortable fit for a team while fighting the Lion God. Natasha quits the Avengers and she reconciles with Matt. They continue their relationship for quite some time, eventually Natasha would break up with Matt because she felt he did not treat her equally in the battle field. She would remain friends with Matt and occasionally helps him.   

She remained on the West Coast and would also join the Champions of Los Angeles all the while having a brief relationship with Hercules. They were funded by Angel and achieved moderate success. The group was broken off due to bankruptcy, and Black Widow went solo for a while. Now solo again, Natasha was still widely known by the criminal underworld as one of Daredevil’s lovers. With this knowledge, Bullseye attempted to kidnap Natasha and was successful. He decides to use her as bait to lure Daredevil into a trap, however Natasha was able to free herself and aids Daredevil against Bullseye. Later, an enemy of Natasha’s named Demon Dran captured Ivan in order to lure Black Widow into his trap. He had an army of female combatants. Damon Dran wanted to send a fake Black Widow to assassinated Nick Fury. Natasha defeated Dran's agents and told Fury about the attempted assassination. Ivan was also saved from the bombing of Dran's island from S.H.I.E.L.D. 

The Hand wanted to steal Kirgi, a dead master warrior. Black Widow thwarted their plans but they poisoned her and she died, though was alive once again when the Stone of the Chaste restored her. She joined with Daredevil again and attempted to revive Elektra. Natasha assumed that Elektra had been successfully revived, but she kept that from Daredevil for his own good. 

Russian agents duped Natasha in doing their own dirty work by building a model of Alexi Shostakov called Life Model Decoy (LMD). They threatened to kill "Alexi" if she did not participate in their plans. When Natasha got what they needed, they revealed the truth and tried to kill her but she defeated them with Ivan’s help. Natasha's brain was then reprogrammed into an agent called "Oktober" launching missiles to ignite World War III. Little did Iron Man and Natasha know that she was in fact “Oktober”. Natasha was successful in launching the missiles. Iron Man however, stopped the missiles from detonating and helped her capture the K.G.B. agent responsible for the reprogramming.  

Joining the Avengers

Natasha returned to the Avengers and even though Black Knight was the leader on the field, she was leader in managing the team's plans. During this time, she was attracted to Captain America, but she ended up with Iron Man. Apparently, the team was all killed by Onslaught. She attempted to recruit new heroes, but failed and threatened legal action against her from Mary Stark Foundation and let go. 

Natasha considered herself to be the last Avenger and embarked solo on hunting down the Avenger's enemies, Grey Gargoyle and the Masters Of Evil. She came by Daredevil again who was concerned with her mental state, but it complicated his life because he was rebuilding his relationship with Karen Page. Natasha wanted to reconcile their relationship, but she understood that Karen and Matt were trying to rebuild there's, so left them their space. She even offered to help Karen when Mr. Fear framed her for murder. Later when the Masters of Evil had disguised themselves as the hero team Thunderbolts and Natasha would try to convince them that other criminals have turned a new leaf and became real good guys.  

The Avengers returned and Natasha would sometimes help on their missions, though she felt she was responsible for their break up. Natasha worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. and shut down Freedom's Light, a terrorist group and asked Iron Man's help in her infiltration of a forced-labor camp run by The Mandarin. Natasha then battled a man called Vindiktor, claiming that he had diaries from her deceased mother. This wasn't true, and also revealed that he was her brother. He died before he could confirm this, however. Later Daredevil believed that baby Karen was the Anti-Christ, but Natasha protected the baby and was severely injured by Daredevil anyways. In the end, Karen Page died protecting the child. Natasha revealed that she still loved him, though they were too far apart to become a couple again. 

Natasha joins the Mighty Avengers

Natasha came in competition with another Black Widow named Yelena Belova. Yelena was also trained in the “Red Room” and became obsessed with being the only Black Widow. They encountered each other on a mission where while attempting to retrieve that Endless Fury bio weapon. The two would eventually fight, after wards Natasha and Yelena traded appearances in order for Yelena to realize that her superiors did not care if she died or lived. Despite the other Black Widow, Natasha remains to be one of the greatest S.H.I.E.L.D. agents alive. 

Civil War  

Natasha is a supporter of the Superhuman Registration Act, and also worked on Iron Man’s group to capture rogue Super Heroes. After the death of Captain America, Natasha was assigned to transport Captain America’s shield. However, she would be attacked by Bucky Barnes. Bucky knocks Natasha unconscious and steals the shield. It is revealed that Natasha and Bucky had a romantic relationship back when she was still training to become an operative. Natasha was also chosen to become a member of the Mighty Avengers and She helps the team defeat Ultron.

Natalia and the Falcon rescue James Barnes from the Red Skull and brings him to S.H.I.E.L.D. and is there when James becomes the new

Natalie and the New Captain America

Dark Reign

Natasha is revealed to have been posing as Yelena Belova on Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts team, secretly working for Nick Fury.

Natasha has taken a different version of the Super-Soldier Serum. This allows her to have abilities much like Captain America, though not as great as his. Natasha was trained to become an excellent sharpshooter and martial artist. She was also trained and became one of the best espionage operatives. Natasha has proven herself to be one of the best information gatherer in the Marvel Universe. In the 2004 Black Widow mini-series, Natasha's background was retconned. She was subjected to bio-technological and psycho-technological enhancement. This answers the question to why Natasha is still so youthful when she has lived since World War II. 

Paraphernalia

The suit that she wears has tiny suction cups that allows her to stick to walls. She has wrist cartridges which carry all the gear that modern spies carry, such things as: stunners, tear-gas, a cable and a transmitter. Natasha travels across rooftops with a grappling hook and a retractable line called the Widow's Line. She also carries various types of weapons, ranging from melee to long distance.

Alternate Realities

Natasha in the Ultimate universe

In the Ultimate Universe, Natasha is a former K.G.B. spy code-named the Black Widow. She defected to the United States and became a part of SHIELD's Ultimates' black ops team, this team is kept quiet and acts in the shadow. Eventually Natasha would be promoted to public status on the Ultimates when a suitable background was written for her. She teamed with other heroes such as Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, Giant-Man ( Hank Pym), Thor, and others. Natasha's skills were genetically enhanced when she was a part of the K.G.B., allowing her to coordinate battles far better then those of human level. Natasha would later develop a romantic relationship with Tony Stark. He even creates an Iron armor for Natasha. However, unknown to Natasha, the suit injects her with nanites that will short circuit her brain. Natasha would eventually reveal to Tony that she was a traitor and reveals that she is the one responsible for making the knowledge of Bruce Banner being the Hulk public, framing Thor and Captain America, and the invasion of America by the Liberators. Natasha was also responsible for the death of Hawkeye's family. After Tony gained all the information, he activated the nanites in her brain, causing her to go unconscious. After the Ultimates were able to stop the invasion, Natasha was in the hospital from loss of blood. Hawkeye comes in and reveals that she cut her own wrist to get medical attention. Hawkeye pins Natasha to the walls with his arrows, then he shoots one last arrow in between her eyes.

In the reality known as 1602 Natasha is a mysterious agent, referred to as "the most dangerous woman in Europe", who, after attempting to kill Matthew Murdoch, is eventually revealed to work for the nefarious Count Otto Von Doom.

In this reality, Black Widow is one of the first heroes to become zombie as she and the Avengers were first on the scene where a zombified Sentry was waiting to take a bite out of them.

In this reality, Black Widow is part of Shang-Chi's group, the Red Dragons.

Natasha Romanoff of Earth-398 was known as Tsarina and was a member of the Queen's Vengeance.

Earth-717 Natasha Romanoff

Film Appearances

 

The Ultimates