THE BLACK WIDOW II (Natalia Romanova, aka Natasha Romanoff)
Created By: Stan Lee, Don Rico & Don Heck
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964)
Role: Miss Fanservice, Femme Fatale, Lady Spy, Skillmonkey, The Hero's Girlfriend
Group Affiliations: The Avengers, The KGB, The Thunderbolts, The Lady Liberators, S.H.I.E.L.D., The Champions
Avengers Grade: B-Level
PL 9 (191)
STRENGTH 3
STAMINA 4
AGILITY 7
FIGHTING 12
DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 4
PRESENCE 4
Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+15)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 3 (+15)
Deception 9 (+13, +18 Attractive)
Expertise (Spy) 13 (+16)
Expertise (History) 3 (+6)
Expertise (Dancer) 1 (+8)
Insight 5 (+9)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Investigation 4 (+8)
Perception 6 (+10)
Persuasion 5 (+9, +14 Attractive)
Ranged Combat (Widow's Bite) 1 (+14)
Sleight of Hand 6 (+12)
Stealth 7 (+14)
Technology 3 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+8)
Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Attractive 2, Beginner's Luck, Benefit (S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance), Chokehold, Contacts, Daze (Deception), Defensive Attack, Equipment 4 (Spy Gear), Evasion 2, Fascination (Deception), Grab Finesse, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 3 (Unarmed, Widow's Bite, Gun), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Jack-of-All-Trades, Languages (Many), Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 7, Skill Mastery 2 (Spy, Deception), Taunt, Tracking (Sight), Ultimate Skill 2 (Spy, Deception), Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed
Powers:
Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]
Equipment:
"Widow Gear" Spy Gear (4)
"Widow's Bite" Blast 5 (Extras: Multiattack) (15) -- (16)
- AE: "Widow Line & Suction Cups" Movement 3 (Swinging 2, Wall-Crawling) (6)
- AE: "Tear Gas Pellets" Affliction 5 (Fort; Dazed & Vision Impaired/Stunned & Disabled/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (15)
Offense:
Unarmed +15 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Widow's Bite +13 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Tear Gas +5 Area (+5 Ranged Affliction, DC 15)
Initiative +11
Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +4, Fortitude +7, Will +8
Complications:
Relationship (Various)- Black Widow has dated a lot (I mean, she's old). Most recently, it was Bucky Barnes. She dated Daredevil for a while, too, and was a love interest for Hawkeye. She was married to the original Red Guardian.
Reputation (Femme Fatale)- Many people still don't entirely trust Natasha, based off of her history as a spy.
Enemy (Yelena Bolova)- The second Black Widow has attempted to kill Natasha in the past.
Disabled (Infertile)- Soviet interference with her genetics have left Natasha unable to have children.
Total: Abilities: 86 / Skills: 86--43 / Advantages: 44 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 17 (191)
The Black Widow- Sexy Soviet Spy Turned Heroine:
-Natasha Romanov has had a weird run in comics. Initially being a Sexy Lady Spy archetype in the James Bond vibe (but with an evening gown & veil as a "costume"), she quickly defected to the United States and fell in love with Hawkeye, finally joining The Avengers. She didn't get her now-iconic black catsuit until 1970, six years after she'd debuted. But then... well, being a relatively-unattached (she & Clint split up pretty quickly) super-hot chick can have negative effects on your relationship status in the Marvel Universe. To prove this point, Widow was basically known for being hooked up with various heroes over the years, as various writers can given the male character they wrote a token "Super-Hot Hero Girlfriend" in the Widow. She got a brief solo run in one of those half-books, and was a sidekick for a four-year chunk of
Daredevil history (ending around the time of Frank Miller when he resurrected the series as a gritty crime drama and not a generic hero book), she was the leader of The Champions, etc. And then all of a sudden after years of non-pushes and being ignored she's a big star thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Life in comics is weird.
Silver & Bronze Age Black Widow:
-Natasha Romanov (a "Russian-sounding" name if their ever was one- "Natalia Romanova" is more likely if she were real) debuted as a non-costumed, black-haired Soviet spy in the pages of
Iron Man in 1964, sharing a name with a forgotten Golden Age character. She attempts to bring back Ivan "Crimson Dynamo" Vanko, but Vanko & Natasha's partner (named Boris... yes, the pair were literally named "Boris & Natasha" in their debut- she is named for the
Rocky and Bullwinkle character) are killed in the battle. She became a bit of a recurring antagonist- leading on the archer, Hawkeye (who's in love with her), they fight Iron Man, and she later gains some high-tech stuff right before falling for Hawkeye for real and defecting to the United States! The character doesn't really be a subject of focus (Hawkeye moves on and joins the Avengers after Widow is hospitalized) until 1970, when she gains a new costume (first seen in
Spider-Man), with long red hair- this almost immediately becomes her iconic look, and she never truly strays from it! She features in half of
Amazing Adventures #1-8, a 1970s book (sharing pages with the Inhumans), where we learn a tiny bit about her past, though the book was cancelled after less than a year. Here we meet her middle-aged chauffer Ivan Petrovich, who was her adoptive father of sorts after the death of her mother.
-After this, Natasha immediately popped up in the
Daredevil book, in the post-Silver Age years and before Frank Miller showed up- here, she was Matt Murdock's sexy, somewhat-capable girlfriend, paired up with him frequently for a period of about four years on DD's title. Writer Gerry Conway confesses it was because he was a big fan of hers, and figured she'd have interesting chemistry with DD, though most of the issues I've read feature her getting Damsel-In-Distressed against a series of Jobber Villains. But still, fifteen issues were titled
Daredevil and the Black Widow, so that's something. However, the later writers pretty quickly phased her out (she felt that being a "sidekick" was negating her identity), leading to...
The Champions- The Widow Gets Forgotten:
-
The Champions was a goofy, mostly-forgotten book that was basically "Hey- let's throw together every character we're not using onto a team, regardless of how much sense it makes!")- in it, the Widow became the only female team leader at Marvel, leading a squad of unused side characters like Hercules, team guys from a cancelled book (Angel & Iceman), and the mid-tier Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze). The book ran for seventeen issues before being cancelled, and is largely a footnote. The character spends most of the '80s not really doing anything- Elektra gets to play the "Sexy Dangerous Woman" card instead, though Natasha joins the Avengers off and on. She was briefly in a George Perez series in
Marvel Fanfare, and was one of the members of the early '90s Avengers team when I first got into comics, so I always kind of associated her with the team (even though she hadn't ever been on it much). She has the unfortunate status as the leader of the horrid "Leather Jacket" Avengers phase, which nearly 86'd her standing with that team, and she ultimately became a minor recurring character by the 1990s. She'd show up as a guest star or for a Limited Series most of the time, really, and things only got worse when Marvel pushed a NEW Black Widow- Yelena Belova, who appeared in a bunch of books sold mostly on the photorealistic art used for the covers. Somewhere along here, someone posited that she had part of the "Super-Soldier Serum" and had Peak Human Abilities, but this hasn't been a thing for twenty years.
Natasha Becomes A Thing Again:
-Then, suddenly, the Widow got a push again! Well, sort of. She was a back-up star on the
Mighty Avengers Bendis/Cho book (for like five seconds), and was the "Super Hero Girlfriend" of Bucky Barnes/Captain America, playing up an old relationship she had with the "Winter Soldier". But Marvel soon shifts her backstory around, revealing her past in the "Red Room", where Soviet spies were trained. Ivan Petrovich gets de-emphasized in her history, and she's now a brainwashed killer in her original form, and only "breaks" that later on. This also creates the idea that she's actually VERY old- something used to justify her being a Soviet agent when that's almost thirty years ago in our time. This was around when Marvel REALLY fell in love with the notion of Black Ops/Superspy stuff, and of course when SCARLETT JOHANSSON played her in
Iron Man 2, and suddenly Natasha was wanted again! Off and on, she would appear on
Avengers books, and often be seen doing wetwork and dirty deeds "too clean" for other heroes- Jon Hickman's uber-
Avengers arc barely used her at all, but had a gag where she executed a bunch of HYDRA goons when she & Julia Carpenter were trying to get some information out of them.
-She even got ongoings! Well, sometimes. I mean, EVERYONE was getting ongoings at this time. One by Nathan Edmonson & Phil Noto was really good, actually, though I just remember the great art. It was VERY light on characterization and real depth. Most of these would last a year or two and change nothing, as the character herself is a very "blank slate" upon which writers would project whatever they needed- she's a snarker or a grim spy! She was on a couple Avengers squads, too, but then was KILLED during
Secret Empire, and the one walking around since was actually an immediately-revealed CLONE who just had Natasha's personality placed onto her... so really it's just Natasha.
-This was largely when she was the ultimate Supporting Character in much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where she was never given her own starring vehicle (unlike almost everyone else who wasn't already on a team), but was kind of the "glue" of the Avengers for a bit there. Her biggest focus ended up being in
Endgame, where she of course sacrifices her life to save the universe, bringing all the heroes together. And FINALLY got her own movie, which is a Prequel, because she's dead. This means that Marvel's Natasha is kind of in stasis- the character is still around, with most people acting like she's the same one they've always known (it's also likely many writers don't even realize she's dead), but at any minute they could just swap her out for Yelena Belova (who's also appearing in the movie). So a "holding pattern" for several months is probably the smartest course of action.
The Black Widow As A Whole:
-Therein lies an interesting issue with Natalia (the more correct name, apparently- it's a less-familiar form of "Natasha". And Romanova is a female's last name- Romanoff is only used for dudes): She's not so much a great character, but much like Wonder Woman, exists as this random-personality Symbolic Character- a symbol of the Cold War and Sexy Lady Spies everywhere. This means that she's often been seen as a sultry, evil spy, a noble woman, a flirty (but useless in a fight) partner to Daredevil, and more. In the Noto series, she's gotten even WEIRDER, talking in modern slang (I just CAN NOT imagine Natalia Romanova saying "Dude, seriously"), while being guilt-ridden for a past full of assassinations (which didn't seem to bother her for like thirty years of continuity beforehand). She was perfect for the movies, because while some of the guys had wild origins that required full movies to elaborate upon, she was just "Trains Hard; Is A Spy" and that's simple and easy- it made her an iconic Avenger when she literally never was at any point prior, jumping ahead of earlier Avengers like the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, and more!
The Black Widow's Abilities:
-Yeah, I knew this one was gonna be pricey. I mean, Skillmonkeys are REALLY expensive in 3rd Edition, and Natalia/Natasha (nobody can make up their mind) is THE iconic "Spy" character in all of comics, and that's the one job that defines "Skillmonkey" better than any other. And the Widow's GOOD... she can lie, sneak and cheat with the best of them, and surpasses all comparable characters (Black Cat has a very similar schtick). Her fighting skills put her a notch above characters generally seen as awesome in melee (Domino, The Punisher, Bucky-Cap), despite her relatively low Strength score (I don't see her lifting over 200 lbs., but I pushed it higher thanks to some ill-defined fluff about her being partially Super-Soldiery). And I think it's fitting that she's among the most expensive and skilled characters around, yet is only PL 9 overall- she's good, but is usually the weak link in every book she's in. She was Daredevil's weaker partner all through his series, she's lesser than Bucky-as-Cap, and she was weaker than every other Avenger when she was on the team. She's still very CAPABLE, mind you, she's just not that powerful (PL 9.5 with the Widow's Bite, PL 9 in melee). A +5 Multiattack Blast is the best thing she's got, despite being a great fighter who's nigh-impossible to hit.
-Regarding her actual capabilities, I find the Widow to be one of the very DEFINITIONS of an overrated character in terms of credibility. We're expected to buy her as a top-tier Human-Level Fighter, but she's nothing more than a Sidekick to most heroes. Moreover, when she was Daredevil's "partner", she was basically a useless Damsel in Distress, constantly being captured or beaten by villains! She was low-tier throughout her entire career, but then all of a sudden somebody half-assedly writes in that she has PEAK HUMAN ABILITIES? That is GARBAGE, and is so unused these days (it's not even treated like a power in any modern book I've ever read) that I ignore the
Official Handbook completely and leave it out- she's your standard +3 Damage human being (still pretty high for a lady martial artist).