Black Widow

1. 1927/1946. Origins and childhood. Start there.
2. 1946/1965. Early adventures, marriage, femme fatale missions.
3. Second half of the 1960s. Minor super-heroine with ties with the Avengers.
4. 1970s. Dark blue jumpsuit. Strong debut, then classic Daredevil era. This here profile.
5. 1980s. Light grey jumpsuit. Transitional era.

There’s also a disambiguation guide to the characters named “Black Widow” that you can use.

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More about this era

It starts with Amazing Spider-Man #86 (cover-dated July of 1970, the first appearance of the Black Widow in the very dark blue costume). It stops when she starts wearing the light grey costume with a spider symbol on the left breast, around 1982.

After Amazing Spider-Man #86, the Widow briefly had her own monthly feature — the second half of Amazing Adventures. This was written by Mimi Gold. Songbird’s (Melissa Gold, aka Screaming Mimi) name might be a reference to that writer and colourist. Ms. Gold worked for Marvel in the early 1970s.

Background

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Powers and Abilities

The Widow is now depicted as a redoubtable hand-to-hand combatant, acrobat and athlete. She’s seen beating up large group of thugs, or breaking boards with karate chops. This is a sudden change, reflecting rapid evolution in the depiction of Marvel super-heroines. Previously the Widow seldom, if ever, threw a punch.

Likewise she’s unusually charismatic for a female character of those times, directly influencing people. She no longer works through seduction and “feminine wiles”, whatever those are. Howbeit men still have a tendency toward chest-beating routines in the hope of impressing the beautiful Natasha.

Money, it’s a gas

Madame Widow starts this era flush with money – she mentions an “inheritance”. However, most of this money is blown on buying a mansion in San Francisco for herself and Matt Murdock. In the wake of this rash decision she eventually goes broke. This is a Wealth Subplot in DC Heroes terms.

For several years she goes from the jet set to impoverished. The San Francisco mansion is repossessed. Ivan and the Widow have to sell the Rolls, leaving Ivan to rent ordinary cars when they need an automobile.

By the time the Champions are formed, Ms. Romanova was looking for a job as a teacher to pay the rent. The Angel (Warren Worthington III) paying the bills for the team made that unnecessary.

After the Champions disband, the Widow lives in Avengers Mansion and conducts S.H.I.E.L.D. missions. She rebuilds her wealth with S.H.I.E.L.D. paychecks until she can move to her own place.

Early during this era, she calls herself “Countess Romanova”. This seems to be how she’s known among the jet set. This title may be related to the “inheritance”.

Presumably, making the Widow into a Russian aristocrat was a piece of character development that was contradicted, and dropped, once she received a full origin sequence.

No-Prize  explanations about where the money came from and why people though she was a Countess could be interesting. Down-to-Earth explanations are also possible. For instance the money came from S.H.I.E.L.D. missions and being a Countess came from a cover identity.

Weapons of the widder woman

The dark blue costume is just a streamlined version of her previous costume. Though it is briefly described as having “anti-gravity shoes” to adhere to walls, we are soon back to the traditional micro-suction-cups. Likewise the Widow’s bite has not really changed from what was briefly seen in Avengers comics.

The Bite’s swingline (often referred to as her “web” during those years) has occasionally be used to lash targets like a whip. While this is not an efficient attack, it can be useful for trick shots. For instance she once blinded Stilt-Man for a few seconds by cracking her line like a whip in front of his eyes.

Some months before the end of this era, during her mission to save Ivan in Russia, the Widow’s bite and her chain belt get upgraded. The various improvements likely were done by S.H.I.E.L.D. – perhaps by Fury’s lead engineer, Sidney “the Gaffer” Levine.

Soundtrack

Let’s have something that strongly evokes the early 1970s, and with ironically fitting lyrics.

Available for download on Amazon .

History

Though she intended to retire and live as a rich, idle jet-setter and arm candy, Ms. Romanova found herself craving action. She also was haunted by her past. By 1970, she cracked and decided to make her return as the Black Widow.

Another element of her past returned around this time – Ivan had come to the US. He worked as her chauffeur.

(In the period stories Ivan is just her chauffeur. His past and role haven’t been introduced yet. In light of much latter retcons , one can imagine that he wasn’t talking about the past much to avoid triggering Natalya’s conditioning, and because he still hoped that she would settle down.)

(It is possible that Ivan came to the US and assumed such a low-profile position because he was in hot water in USSR. Perhaps he backed Alexei Kosygin ’s 1965 reform and was disgraced a few years later. Or some such).

The Widow modernised her costume and tracked down Spider-Man. Some of her gadgets were inspired by Spidey, and she wanted to see what she could learn from him to develop her arsenal. She engaged him in combat to test him, and because she didn’t feel like being a second-rate Spider-Man imitation.

But she soon realised that he was an actual superhuman with powers she couldn’t hope to duplicate. The Widow retreated.

Amazing adventures

After a few more boring days as a socialite, the Widow became a vigilante. She now battled street gangs and organized crime in New York. She started with the men who were threatening her maid’s son. Natasha quickly gave up the idea of having a secret identity, preferring to operate without a mask.

In those early days, she was briefly manipulated by the Enchantress (posing as the Valkyrie) into joining the Lady Liberators. She then foiled :

1. A plot by the Astrologer.
2. A plot by the Watchlord.

The Widow soon met another urban vigilante protecting the people – Daredevil (Matthew Murdock). They became partners in the field as well as lovers, with Murdock breaking up with his lover Karen Page.

As they later learned, their encounters had been engineered by an android from the future, Mister Kline. The Black Widow and Daredevil being a couple was apparently important to the timeline  that Kline was manipulating. However, the details were never revealed.

Mister Kline also arranged for Romanova to be accused of the murder of the Scorpion (Mac Gargan). He further forced Murdock’s law partner “Foggy” Nelson be the prosecutor. Though Murdock proved that Romanova was innocent, she would resent Nelson over this for years.

Be sure to wear flowers in your hair

Romanova and Murdock moved to San Francisco to start a new life together. There, they fought such menaces as the Man-Bull, Mister Fear, the Blue Talon, Dark Messiah, Angar the Screamer, Ramrod, Terrex, Kraven the Hunter, the Death Stalker, the Owl, El Jaguar, HYDRA, and Damon Dran – the Indestructible Man.

The latter encounter also led to a confrontation with her old acquaintance Danny French (see our Damon Dran profile).

Natasha wanted to build herself a new civilian career as well, and became a fashion designer. However, business never took off. Furthermore, her relationship with Matt became strained. She still had a fiery temper making her difficult at times, and Matt was behaving like a jerk – even in the context of 1970s social norms.

Still, they stuck together out of raw attraction. When Hawkeye came to confront Daredevil over what was essentially the ownership of the Black Widow, Murdock did end up admitting that he did not have a hold over Romanova.

Briefly an Avenger, brief return to DD

The Widow left Daredevil for a short while to serve with the Avengers, whom she had recently aided against Magneto. She :

• Helped confront the Lion God.
• Stole a doombot in Latveria for Iron Man (Tony Stark) to study, with some help from the Wasp (Janet van Dyne). (This 2010 —Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #2 — retcon is set in sliding time, but is clearly equivalent to a 1973 publication time. It features a more competent Widow than the 1973 material does, but in game terms it’s all stuff she could do with our 1970s stats.)

However, she soon left as she did not feel she fitted a team environment.

Natasha and Matt reconciled for a while, then split over her jealousy toward Moondragon (Heather Douglas), then briefly reunited.

Romanova eventually left for good. She was fed up over not being treated as an equal in battle.

The Black Spectre organisation captured her and brainwashed her to kill Daredevil, but she was soon freed from this programming.

We are the Champions

In 1975, while interviewing to become a Russian language teacher at the UCLA , Natasha joined forces with Ghost Rider (John Blaze), Angel (Warren Worthington III) and Iceman (Robert Drake). The four then helped Hercules and Venus against the armies of Pluto and Ares.

From this case arose a new super-hero team, the Champions. Being the one with the cool head and tactical sense, the Widow soon became their leader.

The team was based in Los Angeles. Its goal was to defend the common man caught in extraordinary circumstances. Their successes and adventures were minor, though they did fight off Godzilla (nearly sinking the Helicarrier in the process) and were involved in the Magneto vs. Doctor Doom conflict.

On a more personal level the Widow was also briefly reunited with Commissar Alexei Bruskin. She and Ivan remembered him as one of their main instructors in espionage. With his help they defeated Ivan’s son the Crimson Dynamo (Yuri Petrovitch) and his allies.

During the battle, Bruskin sacrificed his life to stop the Soviet agents, largely due to his guilt over what he had done to Ivan’s family in the past. In the wake of this case another protégée of Bruskin, Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna) defected to the West with the Widow’s help and joined the Champions.

During her time as leader of the Champions Romanova had a relationship with Hercules. But that petered. She realised that being immortal, Herc saw her as fleeting.

The team eventually went bankrupt and disintegrated.

Don’t yield !

Along with the entire Avengers Reserve, the Black Widow served against the cosmically powerful Korvac. Like most Avengers she died and was resurrected during that case.

As she stayed at the Avengers’ Mansion for a bit, she found herself in the position to defend the badly wounded Daredevil against the fatal touch of Death Stalker. Daredevil and her resumed flirting after this, but it was neither serious nor sustainable.

Gratuitous shower scenes were a constant feature of this era of the Widow’s career.

The Widow then returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. as a contractor. Soon after the Helicarrier was taken over by the Viper (Ophelia Sarkissian) using an hypno-beam. Romanov discovered the truth, but was captured. The Widow was unsuccessfully interrogated for days.

The mistress spy escaped. However, the hypnotic interrogation had triggered a fallback to a S.H.I.E.L.D. personality implant installed for deep cover work. Natalia Romanova was now upstate New York elementary school teacher Nancy Rushman. Yet, most memories associated with her Rushman identity didn’t activate.

Spider-Man (Peter Parker) found the confused Rushman chased by S.H.I.E.L.D.. He helped her stay alive, and a mutual attraction developed – but the Widow’s normal personality gradually reemerged. Meanwhile Nick Fury, who had not been hypnotised, realised that something was off and had his MI-6 allies send him their best agent for support.

Back S.H.I.E.L.D.

Thus did a redoubtable team — Colonel Fury, the Black Widow, Spider-Man and the Master of Kung-Fu (Shang-Chi) — invade the Helicarrier. They foiled the Viper’s grandiose plan at the last minute.

As the Viper was trying to crash the carrier onto the White House, the Widow engaged her in a martial arts duel on top of one on the giant rotors. Romanova prevailed.

Bullseye then captured the Widow to bait Daredevil in. But she escaped and helped defeat her captor. Shortly after, Natalia realised that Matt was now in love with Heather Glenn, and stopped flirting with him.

Nick Fury sent the Widow to Israel to study Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) in the field. The two allied to stop a Nazi robot – a Sleeper that had been hidden under the city of Ashdod.

(This story was published in 2010 — Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #3 — but the flashback presumably takes place in 1979, just before Ms. Marvel rejoins the Avengers.)

Another bit of her past came to haunt Natalia during a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission to South Africa, to terminate a Soviet operative there. It appeared that she would clash with one of her former handlers, Irma Klausvichnova. However, nothing was as it seemed. The mission turned into an intricate game of deceit and death.

Masterminds

Her old enemy the Indestructible Man (Damon Dran) kidnapped Ivan to lure Natasha to his secret island base, staffed with female combat experts. The plan was to have a Black Widow impersonator infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and kill Colonel Fury while Romanova was out of the picture.

However the real Widow defeated the opposition, warned Fury, saved Ivan and called a S.H.I.E.L.D. bomb strike on Dran’s secret base.

The Black Widow later defeated the Owl, with the help of semi-regular ally Spider-Man and Agency man Simon Stroud. She then was one of the heroes assembled for the Contest of Champions between Death and the Grandmaster. Howbeit, the Widow was not part of one of the actual fights.

Description

This era is when the Widow starts being portrayed with dark red hair. Presumably the black hair lacked contrast with her new costume. When wanting to operate with a lower profile, she will often wear a raincoat over her costume.

Back before it became clear that the red hair was retcon extending all the way to infanthood, our No-Prize explanation was that the serum in her body had the side effect of turning her hair prematurely grey. Dyes used to combat this often have the effect of turning the hair redder.

Personality

At first, Natasha was haunted by her past. She was feeling guilty and unsatisfied over her luxurious, fashionable jet-set lifestyle.

Getting out in the street to beat up criminals and perform daring acrobatics was her vindication. It was also an attempt to both lose herself in the dangers of the vigilante life and jettison her memories of her previous life.

Duelling characterisations

The 1970s characterisation of the Widow was erratic. Writers had divergent ideas oabout whom she should be.

For simplicity’s sake one could contrast :

1. A “mild” characterisation, more in-line with traditional female characters in super-hero comics then.
2. A “strong” characterisation inspired by the women’s lib movement of that time.

The “strong” characterisation was chiefly upheld by Gary Friedrich, Mimi Gold and Chris Claremont. Claremont in particular was known in the 1970s for his “strong women” characterisations. These were indeed a break from common ways of writing female characters inherited from the 1960s.

This Personality section frames the Widow’s 1970s personality using the ’strong‘ take. There… isn’t much to be said about the ’mild‘ take. It’s generic. Frex during the Champions run she comes across like a soap opera character – think 1970s General Hospital episodes.

As a No-Prize hypothesis, the discrepancies could be blamed on her Pchelintsov conditioning. For instance, the Widow could affirm whom she is and whom she wants to be as per the ’strong‘ characterisation, which leads her to think about her roots – triggering the conditioning.

The resulting migraine, fatigue, nausea, diffuse anxiety, etc. then subtly grind her down and make her more emotional, less focused and more likely to go with the flow and think in a short-term manner – the ‘mild’ characterisation.

In the heat of the action and in the settled dust

The Widow is a political progressive, at least for the times. She’s fiercely pro-women’s lib , and often faces sexism and sexist insults – which she’ll confront head-on. She also champions the poor and minorities, as many areas of New York City were yet to be gentrified.

However, she’ll angrily reject any association with Communism, being ex-Soviet and with the Cold War still going strong. Her origins do lead to friction with Cold Warriors in the US. These are often men holding significant political power.

Romanova also has a fiery temper, particularly if insulted or faced with a conceited attitude. She’ll meet aggression with greater aggression, and is generally impatient and a woman of action.

On the other hand, Marvel cannot quite decide whether she’s a/ a killer and former assassin or b/ a super-heroine with a code against killing who can easily be shocked by sudden death around her.

This dichotomy recedes as the Widow becomes more of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and thus something of a female James Bond. She has a licence to kill and little hesitation in using it when necessary.

Still, the dual nature of the Widow — spy and super-heroine — has always been uneasy.

When I close my eyes when I look your way

A key subplot during the 1970s is Romanova’s love for Murdock. This was an unworkable relationship in which she nevertheless threw herself. Nat refused to admit that it wasn’t going anywhere.

Murdock was certainly not helping. His immaturity was notable even by contemporary standards, but the Widow was incredibly forgiving toward him.

These efforts and the resulting tension clearly were hurting Romanova. They drove her toward emotional volatility, worsening temper, jealousy and emotional stress over the years.

When she ran out of forgiveness it backfired. She grew determined to never be trapped in a relationship again. Her love life then became a series of brief liaisons, a few months long at most. She didn’t quite manage to let go of Matt Murdock until she saw him with Heather Glenn, though.

Even after that point there remained strong vestigial feelings that could lead to spurts of tenderness — or contempt — toward Murdock.

Her two other long-term drama subplots were :

• After a series of coincidences, Natasha came to think that she was a jinx and would make men around her die. This superstition might be one of the not-clearly-stated reasons why she left Hawkeye.
  She eventually let go of the idea after starting to associate with Daredevil, though it briefly resurfaced at the beginning of the her time with the Champions.
• Later, she sometimes thought that her leadership was terrible and would get the Champions killed. But this group was a right chore to lead.

For months after the Scorpion murder trial, the Widow was hostile toward Franklin Nelson, Matt Murdock’s best friend and the prosecutor at the trial. She let go of that hostility when he risked his life to save her from a special Dreadnought robot. In fact she became fiercely determined to save and defend him.

In the betting of names on gold to rust

From late 1975 to early 1978 the Widow chiefly appears in Champions. And the Champions were mostly written as a bickering band of incompetent, immature, emotional goofballs.

This wasn’t rare in the 1970s and 1980s super-hero comics. These often felt like a high school during recess. It’s worth mentioning in the case of the Champions though, since this is what led to the demise of the team.

The capabilities (in the sense of game stats) of the Champions were not affected by these genre conventions, just their behaviour.

The Widow was somewhat more mature than the rest and trying, for lack of a better simile, to play her character and concentrate on the game. But the rest was behaving like irresponsible idiots and made her job pointlessly difficult and unrewarding.

Quotes

“I’ve got to become the Black Widow once again ! I’ve got to do what I do best… to fulfill my destiny… to help me forget the haunted past ! And, in order to erase every last vestige of that past… I’ll begin by designing a new costume for myself !”

Thug: “Don’t sweat it, Max… It’s only a female.”
Widow: “There’s nothing so ’only‘ about being female, fellas.” (delivers a mean backhand to the thug’s face).

“Now, now, uglies — manhandling little ladies just isn’t in your Emily Post ! You need a small lesson — in manners !”

“I know you’re going to find this difficult, Electro — but women take science courses, too — and in Russia, one is taught to study long and well.” (short-circuits Electro’s powers)

“I’ve been your partner, Mr. Murdock — but you haven’t been mine ! Forget it, Matt ! I don’t want — or need — your comfort. That’s all you ever offer me — and it just isn’t — and has never been — enough !”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Matt — much as I think I love you — I’m my own woman first, last and always !”

Kraven: “Mine is the speed of the cheetah… the strength of the rhino !”
Black Widow: “And the mouth of the hyena !”

“I am a proud woman, Matt. Perhaps too proud. I won’t accept charity from anyone – especially you.”

“We are some couple, aren’t we, Matt ? Sometimes I think we’d make really great strangers. That way, whenever we did the wrong thing or said the wrong words, we could just go ’oh, I’m sorry… I didn’t know‘ and everything would go on as if nothing had happened — because nothing would have mattered and there wouldn’t be any pain. Except that we’re not strangers, Matt. We know each other too well. And I really do love you.”

(Aiming a rifle) “Maybe it can’t penetrate his armor, but there’s an open area at the base of the robot’s skull — and the Black Widow is a dead shot !” (ZZPKT ! KAWHOOK !!)

“Do you have any idea how it felt last week, Matt — helping the Thing save the entire Eastern seaboard. It felt good — being the Black Widow and not just Daredevil’s partner. I’d almost forgotten how good. No second class citizenship. No confidences kept without me. I can’t give that up again Matt — I just can’t !”

“That’s right, Samurai — only I’m my own woman now, nobody’s lover, nobody’s slave. Can you say the same ? Or are you still Mandrill’s errand boy ?”

“You speak so casually of death, Viper. I grew up with death. I’ve walked hand in hand with it all my life ! I saw children starve in the ruins of Stalingrad, and men freeze solid as ice overnight. I know how supremely precious life is.”

Soldier (stumbling upon the Black Widow holding one of his colleagues): “What the Hell are you doing, lady ?”
Black Widow (matter-of-factly): “Strangling him, obviously.”

(Holding a badly electrocuted agent) “The Black Widow is not accustomed to having her baths interrupted. And if you gentlemen don’t explain this disturbance now, you’ll soon wish I’d let you off as easily as I did [your friend]”.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Marvel Comics.

Helper(s): Marvel.com  ; Darci.