Name

Current Alias

Aliases

How many more jobs... how long will it take... I don't know if I can do it... Even if I could forgive myself...this is what I am now. And you'll never knowwho I was before.

The Early Years[]

The exact year and location for the birth ofNatalia Romanova is unknown, as is who her parents were. It has been rumored that Natasha (whose name in Russian is:Наталья Романова, Наташа Романова, Наталья Романова-Шостакова) was somehow related to the last ruling czars ofRussia, but this rumor was never conclusively proven.^[33]

Raised by a Foster Father[]

There are varying accounts of Natasha's early life. One account states that in 1928, there was a fire inStalingrad which burned down the building that the infant Natasha and her mother were living in.^[33] According to the account, just before dying in the fire, Natasha's mother threw her out the window to a Russian soldier below. The soldier's name wasIvan Petrovitch, and he watched over Natasha for her entire life, remaining by her side as her "foster father".^[33] Another account dates the fire to the autumn of 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad.^[34]

While Natasha was under Ivan's protection,Baron Strucker abducted Natasha and presented her to the organization of assassins called theHand inMadripoor.^[35] Natasha had, in fact, been working under orders from amysterious source and her "abduction" was to lead her into pretending to become a Master Assassin for the Hand when, in reality, she was to assassinate theirJonin.Logan learned of this and killed the Jonin instead, while also freeingCaptain America under the guise of rescuing Natasha.^[36] According to this account, Natasha then grew and matured, proving herself to be an amazing athlete and scholar, while gaining distinction in theU.S.S.R. as a ballerina.^[35]

The Red Room[]

Another account establishes Natasha as being raised from very early childhood by the U.S.S.R.'s"Black Widow Ops" Program in addition to Ivan Petrovitch's care. Petrovitch was said to have taken her toDepartment X with 28 other young female orphans, where she was trained in combat and espionage at the covert"Red Room" facility. There, she was bio-technologically and psycho-technologically enhanced; an account that provides a rationale for her unusually long and youthful lifespan. In this account she never really trained in ballet in theBolshoi Theatre, having instead been implanted with artificial memories of doing so.^[37]

Regardless of which of these accounts (if any) is accurate, eventually it was arranged for Natasha to marryAlexei Shostakov, a distinguished Soviet test pilot.^[30] She was later blackmailed into agreeing to act as a spy when her husband's life was threatened.^[38]

The KGB[]

The Soviet Union's government intelligence organization (theKGB) decided that Natasha and Alexei's skill sets would make them both superb special operatives and split them up while Alexei was away on a mission. Trained as the Red Guardian, Alexei became the Soviet Union’s answer to theUnited States' Captain America. Natasha was told that her husband had died in an experimental rocket crash.^[39][30] She was drafted into the KGB and became their best operative, becoming excellent at fighting and information gathering. During this time, she had some training under theWinter Soldier and they started a secret relationship. After an incident during an assassination operation, Barnes was deemed unstable and put in cryostasis whenever he was not needed for a mission, leaving Natasha devastated when she found out about it.^[40][41]

Natasha later saved Logan fromHydra assassins when he surfaced in America without any memories of his past.^[42] She encountered the man again sometime later when she was on a KGB mission to stop three unknown American spies (Logan,Carol Danvers, andBen Grimm) from stealing Russia'sRed Storm Project.^[43]

Early Clashes with Iron Man[]

The Black Widow was assigned to assistBoris Turgenov in the assassination of ProfessorAnton Vanko for defecting from their country by infiltratingStark Industries in America.^[44] Tony Stark, the originalIron Man, continually foiled her schemes against Stark Industries.^[45] Natasha later met the novice archerHawkeye and set him against Iron Man,^[46] and later helped Hawkeye battle Iron Man.^[47] Unfortunately, Hawkeye's association with Russian spies would label him a criminal in the early years of his career.^[46] The Black Widow and Hawkeye next clashed against the novice super-heroSpider-Man.^[48] They resumed their focus on Tony Stark, clashing with Iron Man twice more - the first being an attempt to raid Tony Stark's munitions plant.^[47]

When that mission ended in failure, she was taken back to Russia by her masters and given a new costume that allowed her to scale walls as well as a device that allowed her to fire lines to swing from. She once more attempted to get Hawkeye to help her destroy Iron Man. The pair almost succeeded, but when the Black Widow was injured, Hawkeye retreated to get her to safety.^[49] During this period, Natasha was attempting to defect from the Soviet Union and began to feel love toward Hawkeye, weakening her loyalty to her country. When her employers learned the truth, they had her gunned down, sending her to a hospital, convincing Hawkeye to go straight and seek membership in theAvengers.^[50]

Association with the Avengers[]

Captured by her masters again and brainwashed, the Black Widow was forced to hire theSwordsman andPower Man to destroy the Avengers.^[51] This plot eventually failed when the Avengers defeated both of the villains and Natasha shook off the effects of the brainwashing.^[52] Attempting to make amends with the group, she assisted them against the racist group known as theSons of the Serpent.^[53]

Having been granted amnesty, Natasha made a bid for membership in the Avengers, aiding them in their battle against theUltroids.^[54] She threatened to kill their leader,Ixar, if he did not leave Earth, winning the victory; however, Hawkeye covered up this fact so that she could get membership in the group even though she had violated their code of ethics regarding killing.^[55] However, whenNick Fury hired her to spy on her former master on behalf ofS.H.I.E.L.D., she was forced to decline membership with the Avengers and publicly broke off her relationship with Hawkeye.^[56] As part of her mission, the press branded her as a traitor, breaking Hawkeye's heart.^[57]

Arriving inChina, the Black Widow was not easily trusted and subjected to the Psychotron, a machine that could brainwash anyone.^[58] She proved to be too strong-willed and had to be gassed and kept locked up.^[59] Learning that Natasha was now a prisoner of her former Communist masters, the Avengers traveled to China to rescue her, clashing with theRed Guardian, Natasha's ex-husband who was thought to be dead.^[60] The Avengers, with the help of Natasha, defeated the Communists' plot to use the Psychotron against the Western world. During the course of the battle, Natasha was injured and the Red Guardian seemingly perished.^[39]

After time recovering in the hospital, Natasha returned toAvengers Mansion and came to the decision to give up her career of costumed adventuring.^[61] This proved to be short-lived, as she returned to super-heroics shortly thereafter;^[62] however, her romance with Hawkeye became strained as he was usually too busy with Avengers business to pay any attention to her.^{[citation needed]}

Fed up with staying out of action, the Black Widow accepted another assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D. to preventEgghead from using an orbital platform to hold the world for ransom. She was captured, prompting Hawkeye (who still loved her in spite of everything) to useHank Pym's growing formula to become the second Goliath and rescue her.^[63] She aided the Avengers in stopping Egghead, although it ended in the seeming death of both Egghead and Goliath's brother,Barney.^[64] After a prolonged absence, the Black Widow eventually ended her relationship with Goliath.^[65]

Going Solo[]

Natasha was not able to avoid super-heroics for long and, after designing a new sleek black costume and adapting her bracelets with electric "Widow's Bites", she sought to prove herself a capable adventurer by bestingSpider-Man in battle. Although Spider-Man was sick with the flu and not at his full power capacity at the time, he was still able to beat the Black Widow; however, she resolved to continue her career as a costumed adventurer.^[38]

She mostly clashed with underworld figures and costumed villains during this period, notably theAstrologer and theWatchlord.^[66]

Partners with Daredevil[]

The Black Widow soon became a pawn manipulated by the computer known asBaal from the distant future ofEarth-71778. In that reality, mankind was wiped out and the past history ofDaredevil and the Black Widow played a crucial role in this event. This ultimately led to a long relationship and eventually a partnership between the two heroes, but it finally came to an end.^[67]

Nancy Rushman[]

While working with S.H.I.E.L.D., the Black Widow was briefly captured as part of aHydra plot to infiltrate and brainwash the organization, causing her to regress to an old cover identity of schoolteacherNancy Rushman. Fortunately, she was discovered and rescued by Spider-Man, subsequently working with him, Nick Fury, andShang-Chi to defeat their plan; she even admitted that the Nancy identity was attracted to Spider-Man after the crisis was over, even if she preferred to retain her independence.^[68]

The Champions of Los Angeles[]

She co-founded theChampions of Los Angeles after they had successfully foiled a plot byPluto to invadeOlympus.^[69] The team soon disbanded due to bankruptcy, and Natasha attempted a partnership withHercules without any success.^[70][71] After these two failures, Natasha decided to stay on her own and freelance as an agent for a while.^{[citation needed]}

Back in the U.S.S.R.[]

The Black Widow rekindled her ties with Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. to resume her activities as a spy. In this setting, GeneralSam Sawyer assigned her to investigate the disappearance of Ivan Petrovitch, who was dragged back to Russia. Fury vehemently opposed to this decision, considering Romanoff's personal connections.^[72] Still, she carried out the mission. Infiltrating the KGB as the defecting scientist "Laura Matthers", she got romantically involved with an actual defector,Michael Corcoran, while attempting to gather intelligence about Petrovitch's whereabouts. When exposing her ruse, the Black Widow was intercepted by KGB agents, who murdered Corcoran. Enraged, the Black Widow escaped the research complex she was in, going missing.^[73]

Backed up by S.H.I.E.L.D., the Black Widow resumed her mission, suspecting that the KGB was not actually her true enemy. She was hunted down and captured by a group of special agents, namely the warriorN'Kama, the frivolousLaralie, the lethalBlack Lotus, the mercenaryDeadshot Darrance, the wrestlerKono and, more prominently, the mysteriousIron Maiden.^[73] The dysfunctional group was not able to maintain the Black Widow's captivity. However, the competent Iron Maiden, who regarded Natasha as a rival, prevailed. Rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D. agentJimmy Woo, the Black Widow tracked the Iron Maiden down and defeated her, only to be knocked out by the deadly martial artistSnapdragon.^[15]

Taken to a remote island nearHong Kong, the Black Widow learned the mastermind behind the recent events was the billionaireDamon Dran, who planned for revenge for past aggressions concerning Daredevil. Counting with several infiltrated agents, including a doppelgänger of Romanoff, Dran planned to frame her as a traitor and Fury's murderer. In an attempt to escape, the Black Widow faced a brainwashed Petrovitch, who had been conditioned by Dran. After knocking him out, Romanoff had her revenge against Snapdragon. Petrovitch overcame the brainwashing and assisted his protégé in informing Fury about the impostor. With the notification, Fury obliterated Dran's island headquarters. The Black Widow returned with her mentor safe and sound.^[74]

On a freelance mission, the Black Widow attempted to prevent the Hand from stealing the long-dead body of their Master Warrior,Kirigi.^[75] Utilizing deadly poisons, Natasha was killed by the Hand. She was revived byStone of theChaste and joined forces with Stone and Daredevil to stop the Hand from revivingElektra. Natasha knew that they had failed in this endeavor, but kept the information from Daredevil for his own well-being.^[76]

On another mission, Natasha found her husband, Alexei Shostakov, to be still alive. Little did she know, however, that it was only aLife Model Decoy created by Russian agents to blackmail her back into the service of Mother Russia. Once she finished the tasks that they gave her, the Russians told her the truth and attempted to kill her. With Petrovitch's assistance, she defeated the Russians and destroyed the LMD.^[77]

Iron Man teamed up with the Black Widow to prevent an agent named “Oktober” from attempting to start World War III by launching missiles. The missiles were launched, but Iron Man kept them from detonating. Oktober ended up actually being Natasha under some old KGB reprogramming that had been dormant in her mind. Together, they captured the agent responsible.^[10]

An Avenger[]

In time, the Black Widow came back to the Avengers and became a co-leader, managing operations at home base while theBlack Knight led in the field. When the majority of the Avengers were killed during theOnslaught saga, the Black Widow attempted to form a new line-up alongside Hercules andQuicksilver. However, the Widow's initial attempt to recruit her old teammates from the Champions of Los Angeles met with failure, as both theIceman and theAngel were too busy with the X-Men to join the Avengers (with the Iceman also believing that the public blamed the X-Men for the death of the Avengers in the first place, which would bring the Black Widow's new line-up negative publicity if he or the Angel were involved). Her subsequent prospects fared no better, with theBeast,Ant-Man, theShe-Hulk,Moondragon, and theWar Machine all either turning her down or having unreasonable demands (with Moondragon in particular wishing to become the new leader of the team). The situation only got worse when Quicksilver angrily resigned over a proposed U.N. resolution that would collectively blame the entire mutant race for Onslaught's actions. When two Congressmen filed a motion to nullify the government's agreements with the team, Natasha ultimately decided to disband the Avengers and turn the mansion over to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supervision. She always felt as if the Avengers' dissolution was entirely her fault.^[78]

The Black Widow then vowed to apprehend all of the Avengers' former foes and ran into Daredevil while hunting theGray Gargoyle. Matt feared for her mental state, as he noticed how obsessive she became about bringing the Gargoyle down.^[79] As he attempted to help her, his girlfriend,Karen Page, became increasingly more angry and jealous.^[80] Natasha acknowledged Matt's love for Karen and left them to be together.^[81] Later, Natasha would even offer to help Karen clear her name from a murder thatMr. Fear had framed her for.^[82]

Once the Avengers who were thought to have been killed returned, Natasha was more relieved, but decided to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. instead, assisting them in destroyingFreedom's Light by pretending to be theEbon Flame.^[2]

Post-Onslaught[]

Daredevil came into her life once again when he needed her to take care ofBaby Karen, who he believed to be the Antichrist.^[83] He eventually came back to attempt to kill the child, and Natasha stood in his way. While they were fighting,Bullseye killed the child and Natasha was badly beaten.^[84] Upon the child’s death, Matt realized what he was doing, and he and Natasha reconciled. While she could admit that she still cared for him, they both decided that they could never be together.^[85]

Another Russian agent claimed the identity of the Black Widow, which brought her up against Natasha.Yelena Belova tried to keep Natasha from retrieving theDeathless Frenzy, but failed.^[31]

A short time afterward, Natasha captured Yelena and had their faces surgically swapped in an effort to find out what General Stalyenko was doing with the Rhapastani government in theHudson River Valley.^[86] After meeting with whom he thought was Yelena, Stalyenko figured out that it was not really her and attempted to kill her.^[87] Even though her plan failed, Natasha was able to prevent Stalyenko from selling theCold War nuclear weapons that he was hiding in the valley toRhapastan.^[88]

The government ofBulgaria later capturedMadame Hydra and requested an exchange with the United States for the Black Widow. As part of a sting to find out who it was that was going to allow Natasha to be exchanged, Daredevil and S.H.I.E.L.D. teamed up with Natasha and found out that her husband, Alexei Shostakov, had orchestrated the entire exchange. Alongside the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Daredevil, Natasha took Alexei into custody.^[89]

Widow's Hunt[]

The stress of seeing her once-dead/once-living/once-dead/once-robot/now-alive-again husband drove Natasha into retirement. She lived for a short time inArizona before agents from the Red Room began tracking down ex-Black Widow agents and killing them. Natasha recruitedPhil Dexter, an associate from S.H.I.E.L.D., and attempted to track down the killers. In her hunting, she foundSally Anne Carter,^[90] as well asLyudmila Antonovna Kudrin, who was the former head of biotech for the Red Room. It turned out that the Black Widows included 27 other girls who had been trained to be perfect killers. They were implanted with false memories, psycho-chemically conditioned, and chemically enhanced to be loyal and perform perfectly for the program.^[91] Even pheromonal locks and keys were implanted into the Black Widows as a control mechanism to keep them from rebelling. While taking Lyudmila to S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha learned that Nick Fury had used the pheromonal keys to make her defect from her home country and begin working for S.H.I.E.L.D. She also learned that Sally Anne was kidnapped, and Phil was killed in the process.^[92]

The trail of the Black Widow killings led toVassily Ilyich Ulyanov from the Red Room andIan McMasters, the CEO ofGynacon. Natasha caught up to them on his yacht and killed them, making her the number one most wanted criminal in the United States.^[92]

Natasha sought help from Yelena Belova inCuba. Yelena was running both a lingerie company and softcore pornography television channels at the time. In return for a place to stay, Yelena asked Natasha for help in exporting stolen medical supplies fromMiami. To her surprise, Natasha found the medical supplies to be from Gynacon and that Sally Anne was actually taken by the Mafia.^[93] TheKestrel andMartin Ferris captured Natasha in Miami and attempted to alter her mind using drugs to find out what she knew. With the help of Yelena, Daredevil rescued Natasha, who then tracked and killed both the Kestrel and Ferris. In all the madness, Natasha learned that Sally Anne had been experimented on by Gynacon, but had escaped.^[94]

Nick Fury's Secret War[]

The Black Widow was assigned to track down theTinkerer in an effort to find the financier behind the super-villains of America. Disguised in a burqa, she tracked the Tinkerer to the castle ofLucia von Bardas, the current Prime Minister ofLatveria. Unfortunately, the President refused Fury's request for a S.H.I.E.L.D.-focused overthrow of von Bardas. Forced to act alone, Fury gathered the Black Widow, Captain America, Spider-Man,Luke Cage, Daredevil, Wolverine, andDaisy Johnson to overthrow von Bardas. Unfortunately, the heroes disapproved of bringing downCastle Doom down on von Bardas. Afterwards, Fury erased all of the memories of the non-level 10 participants in his Secret War.^[95]

Daredevil Goes to Jail[]

When Matt Murdock's identity as Daredevil was leaked to the press, the government came to arrest him along with Luke Cage,Iron Fist, andFoggy Nelson. Natasha was able to keep everyone but Matt from going to jail.^[96]

Civil War and Initiative[]

During theSuperhero Civil War, Natasha became a supporter of theSuperhuman Registration Act and a member of the task force led by Iron Man.^[97] Afterward, Natasha allowed herself to be registered and joined the reconstituted Avengers.^[97]

Natasha, still one of the world’s most sought-after espionage agents alive, was recruited by Iron Man and Ms. Marvel to be on the newest team of theAvengers alongside theSentry,Ares, theWasp, andWonder Man. When S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Tony Stark was presumed killed and Deputy DirectorMaria Hill was incapacitated, Natasha assumed temporary command of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the highest-ranking agent present.^[98]

Natasha was among the Avengers infected, along with hundreds of otherNew York citizens, by aSymbiote virus, but were cured by Iron Man. Natasha became very suspicious of Jessica Drew, who was later discovered to be theSkrull impostorVeranke.^[99]

During this time, Natasha had also restarted her relationship with Barnes, who was still alive and had recovered all of his lost memories, now being the new Captain America.^[100]

The Thunderbolts[]

Natasha assumed the identity of Yelena Belova to infiltrateNorman Osborn'sThunderbolts for Nick Fury.^[101] Osborn discovered her breaking into an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and offered her the position of field leader. On her first mission, she andAnt-Man took control of Air Force One with the Green Goblin,Doc Samson, and thenew President aboard.^[102] Osborn began impersonating Fury in messages that were to set Natasha up in order to strengthen the Thunderbolts and lead him to Fury.^{[citation needed]}

Osborn ordered her to lead the current Thunderbolts team to kill former Thunderbolt theSongbird. Fury ordered "Yelena" to rescue and retrieve the Songbird for the information that she might have possessed about Osborn and his operations. Natasha found the Songbird and revealed to her that she was really Natasha Romanova in disguise. She tried delivering the Songbird to Fury, but the Thunderbolts had also followed them.^[103] The trio was captured as Osborn revealed that he had been impersonating Fury in messages all along. He ordered the team to execute Natasha and the Songbird, but they managed to escape when Ant-Man, theHeadsman andPaladin turned on the rest of the Thunderbolts and let them go. After being rescued byMACH-V and theFixer, they learned that the Fury that Osborn had shot was actually an LMD.^[104]

Widowmaker[]

Natasha was framed in a plot targeting global spies. She was accused of assassinating U.S. Senator Whit Crane. The Senator's son, Nick, was captured by a rival spy namedFatale, who wanted to know his source for implicating Natasha. Natasha stole Nick away from her and took him to a secretCIA base to scare him into giving her his source instead. The plan backfired when both of them were attacked. Natasha and Nick escaped, but while inPoland they were attacked byFantasma and theCrimson Dynamo. Natasha took down the Crimson Dynamo, but then Fatale showed up and knocked out Fantasma. Fatale revealed that she was hired to kill Whit Crane, but found out that he had already taken his own life and she needed to use Nick to track down who had actually paid for the hit. Nick gave them the name of a source, "Sadko" (not his true source of information), but when they arrived, it was revealed to be a trap wired with explosives and they were forced to escape. The conspiracy against spies turned out to be wider than anyone even knew and Natasha encountered theMockingbird and Hawkeye on the same trail in Russia, where they found out that many trainee spies and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had been killed. SoonPerun, the Crimson Dynamo, Fantasma, andSputnik showed up to apprehend Hawkeye, believing him to be the Ronin behind the spies' deaths. Discovering that this was merely a diversion, the three heroes andDominic Fortune alerted the true target: an ambassador inSt. Petersburg, Russia. They next traveled toJapan, Fortune and the Mockingbird discovering an amassing battle force on the Russian coast near the northern Japanese islands, while Natasha and Hawkeye tracked down "theMadame", an old ninja working with the new Ronin to bring about this Russian attack. The four heroes met up on the disputed island of "Iturup", where they met the Ronin, who was revealed to be Alexei Shostakov. His plan was to kill off world intelligence operatives, leaving countries blind while he made his attack, and brought the four heroes to him so he could kill them. Shostakov set off the volcano on the island, but Natasha and the others used the lava to defeat his forces. He was defeated when Natasha showed Fantasma his true plan and Fantasma then hypnotized him into seeing Natasha's death, allowing the real Natasha to take him down.^[105]

Again An Avenger[]

After theSiege of Asgard, the Black Widow joined Commander Rogers' newSecret Avengers. Some time later, whenStark Tower was rebuilt, she joined the Avengers' main team and even had a room there. She played a vital role in helping Spider-Man foil theSinister Six's latest scheme when she, Spider-Man andSilver Sable were the last heroes left standing after the Six defeated the rest of the Avengers (albeit because she was the Avenger closest to Silver Sable's cloaked plane).^[106]

During theAvengers' war with the X-Men, Natasha sided with her fellow Avengers. After the war, she was called upon to join the primary Avengers squad.^[107] Several months later, when S.H.I.E.L.D. took over the Avengers to find theIlluminati and bring them into custody, the Black Widow left the team and joinedSunspot's Avengers team.^[108] When the Illuminati and the Avengers set their differences aside in light of the imminent destruction of the universe as a result of the multiversal phenomenon known as anincursion, the Black Widow was tasked with bringing selected people aboard theFuture Foundation's Life Raft.^[109] When the final incursion was coming to a close, the Black Widow's ship was damaged and Natasha seemingly died in the ensuing explosion.^[110]

Secret Empire[]

Following the eventual restoration of theMultiverse,^[111] Natasha left the Avengers and returned to a life of espionage. The Black Widow was forced to both betray and defect from S.H.I.E.L.D. when a new adversary nicknamed theWeeping Lion blackmailed her.^[112] In an ensuing mission, Natasha discovered the existence of aDark Room Academy founded by the Red Room's formerHeadmistress.^[113] After turning the tables on the Weeping Lion and getting him to work for her,^[114] the Black Widow further investigated the Dark Room.^[115] She managed to stop an assassination attempt in theWhite House from Dark Room recruits,^[116] and subsequently prevented the Headmistress' daughter,Anya, from compromising S.H.I.E.L.D., freeing the remaining recruits from the Dark Room's grasp, driving them to a path of recovery, and clearing her name in the process.^[117]

When Hydra abruptly conquered the United States guided by the hand ofCaptain America, or rather a twisted fascist version of him that had secretly taken his place due to aCosmic Cube, the Black Widow joined the last line of resistance, theUnderground.^[118] Having grown tired of the Underground's reluctance to take the extreme approach to end Captain America even after his regime had leveledLas Vegas, Natasha parted on her own to kill Rogers. She was followed by theChampions, who joined her enterprise in an attempt to talk her out of murdering Captain America.^[119]

Over the course of the following weeks, Natasha trained the Champions in hopes to prepare them for the grim future while scheming her murder plot.^[120] The Black Widow also planned to kill Captain America herself to lift the burden fromSpider-Man's shoulders, as a vision projected by anInhuman profiler namedUlysses Cain had predicted that the young hero was going to murder Rogers. Unfortunately, the intervention of a Hydra agent delayed the execution of the Black Widow's plan, which gave Spider-Man enough time to confront Captain America alone. While Steve and Spider-Man were trading blows, the Black Widow stepped in for the boy's safety, taking a hit from Captain America's shield which broke her neck. Enraged, Spider-Man beat up Captain America severely. TheWasp stopped him and convinced him to follow Natasha's wish that he would avoid becoming an assassin like her.^[27]

The Red Ledger[]

Taking advantage of the original Black Widow's death, theBlack Widow Ops Program created a clone of her. Unbeknownst to her handlers, however, she retained all of the memories of her former self thanks toUrsa Major the Man-Bear having bribedEpsilon Red, the Red Room operative who was in charge of granting Red Room clones selected memories from their original selves. Her superiors tasked Natasha with targeting the remnants of bothHydra andS.H.I.E.L.D.,^[28] which drew the attention of her former lovers,Hawkeye and theWinter Soldier.^[118][121]

Weeks later, the Black Widow delved into the secrets of the Red Room and found out about their cloning program and learned in the process that she was a clone herself. Natasha was urged by Ursa Major to destroy the Red Room, so she started working behind the scenes against her handlers. When Natasha was ordered to kill former S.H.I.E.L.D. agentSally Blevins, she usedan amnesiac clone ofYelena Belova to fake Blevins' death. After the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye caught sight of her, Natasha hadanother clone of Belova impersonate her in order to mislead the heroes.^[28] Eventually, Natasha killed one of her handlers,Alexander Cady, and pinned his death on the Winter Soldier to make the Red Room believe that he was on their trail, which prompted her superiors to send her to deal with him.^[28] Natasha revealed herself to Clint and Bucky after abruptly killing theOrphan Maker,^[122] then used their disbelief and trust in her former self to trap them in a Red Room safe room in order to prevent them from interfering any further with her work.^[28]

The apparent disposal of both Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier, as well as Cady's death, allowed Natasha to rise to the ranks of Commander. She influenced the Red Room recruits to secretly turn them against their masters. Natasha's plan came to an abrupt end when Clint and Bucky tracked her down to the Red Room's base. The discovery by her superiors that the two heroes were still alive forced Natasha to drop her cover. She killed her superiors, liberated the recruits and killed all of the clones as well as Epsilon Red. When the authorities arrived at the scene, the Black Widow had made her escape. She left her former lovers two notes, one for Hawkeye asking him to stop looking for her, and another to the Winter Soldier inviting him to join her in her endeavors to end the Red Room once and for all.^[123]

Infinity Countdown[]

With the world still unaware of her existence, the Black Widow spent a few weeks traveling by freighter to arrive inMadripoor off the grid. Upon arriving, she went on to check her dead drop due to a signal, secretly left by a mysteriousLogan, only to learn that he had left theSpace Stone under her care.^[124] Since the Black Widow could only use the stone to teleport within her line of sight, she could not teleport directly to New York, where she intended to seek out Doctor Strange's help. Natasha started making small jumps, and when she reached London, she was targeted byJamie Braddock. Despite evading her pursuer with no problem, Natasha decided to take him down since he had enchanted several children to use as hounds. After taking down Jamie, Natasha was approached byMerlyn, who lent her a portion of his power so she could teleport directly to Manhattan.^[125]

Missing Memories[]

Natasha started to lose some of her memories and at the same time awoman started to watch her. She consultedTony Stark about her memories and he told her that the easiest way to restore them would be to find the source. She had several violentencounterswithimportantpeople from her life when she was following relatives of her old supervisors from theRed Room, where the mysterious woman set her up before finally confronting her when thinking Natasha was all alone, revealing herself as Anya. In truth, however, all of those fights with her friends were staged to set up Anya herself. The resulting fight ended with Anya taken into custody and Natasha having her memories restored by Tony Stark.^[126]

The Ties That Bind[]

One night, while returning home, Natasha noticed that her apartment had been breached. As she entered through her window, she was taken down by tranquilizers and abducted by Hydra forces led by Madame Hydra. Under their custody, her DNA was mixed with the DNA of a stranger, a man namedJames Grey, to create agenetic son. Natasha and James' minds were then manipulated to form fabricated memories and make them believe that they were in love and engaged. After three months of leading a false life with her "fiancé", Natasha was seen in the background of a news report by Clint Barton and Bucky Barnes, and they came searching for her. Meanwhile,Yelena Belova started posing as their babysitter, Helen.^[127][128]

After some Hydra associates barged into her home, Natasha subconsciously used her decades of training to defeat them. During the attack, she regained all of her memories, and (with the help of Clint, Bucky and Yelena) took James and their son, Stevie, to a safe house. The group that abducted her, including Madame Hydra and a few others, then went on the offensive, aiming to kill her since their plans of mind manipulation had backfired. After Bucky helped Natasha fake the deaths of James and Stevie, the group of heroes finally faced Madame Hydra and the other masterminds, successfully defeating them, although Madame Hydra managed to escape.^[129]

Venomized[]

For her next mission, the Black Widow began looking into the criminal organizationNoname, which had been after the employees ofAlchemax. She went to a warehouse where one employee was being held hostage, but by the time she arrived, the Widow found it destroyed from an explosion afterVenom andToxin had broken inside. There, she came across anoffshoot of the Venom symbiote and, seeing it as useful, she decided to bond with it.^[130] As Noname threatened to kill the children of Alchemax's employees, which included Toxin's alter ego, Bren Waters, the Black Widow teamed up with Venom to save the victims. She and Venom learned about Noname's true nature and goal, and convinced Bren's father,Ozkar, to expose Alchemax's crimes, saving Bren's life just in time.^[131]

The Black Widow came to Hawkeye's rescue after he was accused of assassinating a Russian diplomat by the name of Mikhail. Their relationship went through some turmoil due to Hawkeye unwilling to reveal the whole truth behind this situation, which was made worse by the symbiote intermingling between them and the assassins going after them. It was eventually revealed thatDamon Dran had planned to frame the U.S. for Mikhail's death in order to start World War III, but Hawkeye intervened by taking the blame for himself to avert any direct conflict. The Widow and Hawkeye then worked together to take down Dran, with Clint reconciling with the symbiote, and once Dran was taken out, the duo once again went their own separate ways.^[132]

She continued researching Alchemax's nefarious operations while working on her bond with her symbiote.^[133] With the assistance of Agent Anti-Venom, the Black Widow broke inside theAlchemax Tower to gain additional intel, but had inadvertently freed Alchemax's latest experiment, thezombiotes. They fought their way out, coming across Alchemax's CEO,Liz Allan, who had also bonded to asymbiote. As Agent Anti-Venom was needed somewhere else, the Black Widow was left with Allan to hold off the zombiote horde.^[134]

Natasha is a professional and sly secret agent who will getany job done, regardless of the difficulty. She went from being one of the best operatives inS.H.I.E.L.D. to a super-hero. She held her own as a part of theAvengers for years, even leading them for a time; however, she doesnot belong with the super-hero community due to her helping S.H.I.E.L.D. Nevertheless, shewill keep her word by being behind the scenes or assisting the Avengers if needed. Despite Natasha being a super-hero, she willalways resume her mission of being a spy.Nick Fury commented on Natasha that "running in the shadows is what she was born to do."^[136]

Relationships[]

Artificially-Enhanced Physiology: Natasha was biochemically enhanced through theBlack Widow Ops Program when she was an infant. She received the Red Room's version of theSuper-Soldier Serum^[140] that was created by Dr. Lyudmila Kudrin to enhance her immune system, bodily condition, and longevity.^[141][29]Nick Fury's intel classified her asPower Level 7,^[136]

• Peak Human Strength: Natasha's physical strength is enhanced, enabling her to consistently Overhead press 500 pounds (226 kilograms).^[140]
• Peak Human Speed: Natasha's speed is that of an Olympic athlete,^[142] enabling her to run at speeds of 32-36 mph.^[143]
• Enhanced Durability: Natasha's body is enhanced to withstand greater physical injuries than normal humans.^[140][7] She has also withstood blows from superhumans likeImus Champion,^[144] explosions,^[145] and managed to continue fighting after being shot.^[146]
• Peak Human Endurance: Natasha is extraordinary resistance to physical pain. She once resumed functioning in spite of her undergoing unbearable surgery without anesthesia.^[147]

• Peak Human Reflexes: Natasha’s reflexes are similar to those of an athlete.^[143]
• Peak Human Stamina: Natasha’s stamina is similar to that of an athlete.^[143]
• Peak Human Healing:Dr. Kudrin theoretically stated Natasha's wounds heal five times faster than the average human rate.^[26]
• Enhanced Immune System: The Black Widow has been enhanced by biotechnology that has slowed her aging and augmented her immune system.^[148]
• Enhanced Longevity: The serum extends Natasha's lifespan and youth, resulting in her maintaining the appearance of a young woman despite being born many decades ago.^[35][148]

• Master Martial Artist: Natasha has mastered many fields of hand-to-hand combat including aikido,^[4] judo,^[152][4] karate,^[152][4] savate,^[4] boxing,^[4] and various other martial arts.^[4] She foughtWolverine during her training in theRed Room Academy.^[33] She was able to hold her own against other dangerous opponents like theWinter Soldier,^[40]Elektra,^[153] and thePunisher.^[154]
• Master Acrobat: Natasha is an extraordinary skilled gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist.^[7]
• Master Assassin: Natasha is heavily skilled in assassination techniques. She uses her skills as a martial artist, acrobat, and spy to further enhance her skills as an assassin. She has been sent by both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the KGB to eliminate numerous enemies.^[44]
• Weapons Expert: Natasha is an expert with most weapons.^[4]
• Expert Vehicular Driver: Natasha is an expert at operating most vehicles.^[4]
• Disguises Expert: Natasha is an expert with disguises.^[4]
• Multilingual: Natasha is fluent inRussian,^[155][115]English,^[156]French,^[157]German,^[33]Chinese,^[90][158]Japanese,^[90] and various other languages.^[30][7]
• Learned Intelligence^[4] Natasha possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams, such as threat assessment, and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations.^[26]
• Graceful Dancer: Natasha is a profound ballet dancer.^[159]
• Talented Hacker: Natasha can hack into all computer systems without tripping any firewalls or security with ease.^[115]
• Master Seductress: Natasha is an expert in the field of seduction. She has been infamously known to bend many different men to her will and sometimes even get them to do her bidding for her. She sometimes continues deceiving certain men through means of acting if she still has any further use for them.^[156]
• Master Spy: Natasha is a dangerous secret agent trained in espionage, stealth, disguise, infiltration, and demolitions. She is capable of killing in cold blood when the need arises. Her talents and years of experience have enabled her to reach a high-ranking position as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.^[90]

Costume Specifications: Synthetic stretch fabric which has been augmented to be highly resistant to damage from even small arms fire and high temperatures. Microscopic suction cups on her costume allow her to scale walls and cling to ceilings, just as her namesake.^[7]

TheBlack Widow's Gauntlets: The Black Widow's gauntlets are wrist cartridges containing various tools of the spy trade: tear-gas pellets, a radio transmitter and the ability to fire a 100-foot spring-loaded cable.^[7] The gauntlets also include a "Widow’s Bite", which is capable of stunning an opponent and emitting highly potent electric shocks with a maximum of about 30,000 volts at a range of at least 20 feet.^[7] The functions of the gauntlets are activated via sensors keyed to her wrist musculature.^[4]

Natasha uses her Widow's Line, a grappling hook with a retractable line, to swing along rooftops for increased mobility.^[161]

• Despite the Black Widow having been introduced in 1964, it was not until 35 years later in 1999 that theRed Room was established as a part of her backstory inBlack Widow #1.

• The Black Widow was ranked as 74th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011.^[163]
• The Black Widow was also ranked as 42nd in "The Top 50 Avengers."^[164]
• She was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Level 10,^[165][166] or "Level 10 Operative".^[136]
• Romanova occasionally cared for a cat that hung around her apartment until she eventually named itLiho and unofficially adopted it.^[167]
• Nick Fury's intelligence classified her as Power Level 7.^[136]
• Natasha has been shown on occasion to have been at least somewhat Russian Orthodox.^[168][169]

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