Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Black Widow
Textless variant cover of Black Widow #1 (April 2010). Art by Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee Don Rico Don Heck
In-story information
Alter ego	Natalia Alianovna Romanova
Species	Human mutate
Team affiliations	Avengers The Champions Daughters of Liberty Heroes for Hire KGB Marvel Knights Mighty Avengers Lady Liberators Secret Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D. Thunderbolts
Partnerships	Winter Soldier Hawkeye Daredevil
Notable aliases	Natalia Shostakova Natasha Romanoff Natalie Rushman Laura Matthers Mary Farrell Oktober Yelena Belova
Abilities	Expert marksman and mastery of various weapons Master martial artist and hand-to-hand combatant Slowed aging, and enhanced immune system Skilled hypnotist Expert tactician Expert spy Equipment via gauntlets granting: Radio transmitter Tear gas pellets Grappling hook Knock out gas Explosives Taser

Black Widow (Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanova; Russian: Наталья Альяновна "Наташа" Романова) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Don Rico, and artist Don Heck, the character debuted in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964). The character was introduced as a Russian spy, an antagonist of the superhero Iron Man. She later defected to the United States, becoming an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and a member of the superhero team the Avengers.

The character has appeared in numerous forms of media, such as animated television series, video games, and films.

Scarlett Johansson portrayed Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Widow (2021), with Lake Bell voicing the character in the animated series What If...? (2021).

Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964), the debut of Black Widow. Cover art by Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman

Biography: early life

First costume (and bouffant hairdo). From The Avengers #36 (Jan. 1967), art by Don Heck.

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

The first hints to Natasha Romanova's childhood come from Ivan Petrovich, who is introduced as her middle-aged chauffeur and confidant in the Black Widow's 1970s Amazing Adventures. Petrovich tells Matt Murdock that he had been given custody of little Natasha by a woman who died immediately afterwards, during the Battle of Stalingrad in autumn 1942. He consequently felt committed to raise the orphan as a surrogate father and she eventually trained as a Soviet spy, being eager to help her homeland. In another flashback, set in the fictional island of Madripoor in 1941, Petrovich helps Captain America and the mutant Logan, who would later become the Canadian super-agent and costumed hero Wolverine, to rescue Natasha from Nazis.

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

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

Powers and abilities

Black Widow has been enhanced by biotechnology that makes her body resistant to aging and disease and she heals faster than the average human. The white blood cells in her body are also enhanced by these implants, making them efficient enough to fight off most microbes, foreign bodies and other threats to her body, keeping her healthy and immune to most, if not all, infections, diseases and physical disorders.

Romanova has a gifted intellect. She displays an uncanny affinity for psychological manipulation and can mask her real emotions perfectly. Like Steve Rogers, she possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams (such as threat assessment) and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations, as well as having extensive espionage training.

Black Widow is a world-class athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist, capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats. She can coordinate her body with balance, flexibility, and dexterity easily, and is an accomplished ballerina. She has mastered several martial arts such as jiu jitsu, aikido, boxing, judo, karate, savate, ninjutsu, various styles of kung fu and kenpo, as well as the Russian martial art sambo. She also underwent training on how to masterfully use sidearms, marksman rifles and melee weapons such as batons and combat knives.

She is also a skilled hypnotist. She uses a combination of techniques such as direct eye contact, hypnotic speech patterns and a soothing voice to influence a subjects' mind, planting thoughts, ideas or post-hypnotic commands, or even affecting memories and personality traits.

Equipment

Black Widow uses a variety of equipment invented by Soviet scientists and technicians, with later improvements by S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists and technicians. She usually wears distinctively shaped bracelets which fire the Widow's Bite electro-static energy blasts that can deliver charges up to 30,000 volts, as well as "Widow's Line" grappling hooks, tear gas pellets, and a new element introduced during her ongoing series during the "Kiss or Kill" arc called the "Widow's Kiss"—an aerosol instant knock-out gas she has modified. She wears a belt of metallic discs; some are disc-charges containing plastic explosives, while others have been shown to be compartments for housing other equipment. Her costume consists of synthetic stretch fabric equipped with micro-suction cups on fingers and feet, enabling her to adhere to walls and ceilings. In the 2006 "Homecoming" mini-series, she was seen using knives, unarmed combat, and various firearms, but she has since begun using her bracelets again. While in disguise as Yelena Belova, when infiltrating the then Osborn-sanctioned Thunderbolts during "Dark Reign", she used a specialized multi-lens goggle/head-carapace that demonstrated various technical abilities, such as enhancing vision and communication. Later, she has used a modified gun based on her Widow's Bite wrist cartridge during her adventures alongside the new Captain America.

In other media

Television

• Black Widow was to appear in a proposed live-action 1975 series, portrayed by series creator Angie Bowie. However, the series was not picked up by a studio.
• Black Widow appears in the "Iron Man" segment of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Margaret Griffin.
• Black Widow appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Deadly is the Black Widow's Bite!," voiced by Lena Headey.
• Black Widow appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Vanessa Marshall. This version is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and member of Nick Fury's Secret Warriors.
• A young Black Widow appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by Ashleigh Ball. This version is initially a freelancer before eventually joining S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Black Widow appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Laura Bailey. This version is a member of the Avengers.
• Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced by again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced again by Laura Bailey. This version is a member of the Avengers.
• Black Widow appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers.
• Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears in the Spider-Man episode "Spider-Island" Part 2, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears in Marvel Future Avengers, voiced by Mayumi Asano in Japanese and Laura Bailey in English.

Film

• In 2004, Lionsgate Entertainment announced that a Black Widow motion picture by screenwriter-director David Hayter and starring Natasha Romanoff was in the script stage. Lionsgate subsequently dropped the project.
• The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Black Widow appears in Ultimate Avengers Ultimate Avengers 2, voiced by Olivia d'Abo.
• Black Widow makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, in which she joined the Avengers in stopping Ultron. Though she was killed in battle, she is survived by her and Captain America's son James Rogers.
• Black Widow appears in Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, voiced by Clare Grant.
• Black Widow appears in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, voiced by Jennifer Carpenter.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Scarlett Johansson. This version is a former assassin for the Red Room before joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and founding the Avengers. She first appears in the live-action film Iron Man 2 before making subsequent appearances in the live-action films The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and a self-titled film (2021). Additionally, alternate timeline versions of Romanoff appear in the Disney+ animated series What If...?, voiced by Lake Bell.

Video games

• Black Widow appears in The Punisher, voiced by Saffron Henderson.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in PlayStation Portable (PSP) and the PC versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Nika Futterman.
• Black Widow appears in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, voiced by Salli Saffioti.
• Black Widow appears as a boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced again by Nika Futterman.
• Black Widow, based on the MCU incarnation, appears in the Iron Man 2 tie-in game, voiced by Catherine Campion.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet, voiced by Grey DeLisle.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Black Widow appears as a card in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3's Heroes vs Heralds mode
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth.
• Black Widow appears in LittleBigPlanet via the "Marvel Costume Kit 5" DLC.
• Black Widow appears in Zen Pinball 2 via the "Women of Power" DLC pack's A-Force table.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Heroes, voiced by Julianne Buescher.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 2.0, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 3.0, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Five variants of Black Widow appear in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel's Avengers, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
• A teenage version of Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Academy, voiced by Alison Brie.

• Black Widow appears as a downloadable playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Maria Teresa Creasey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Powers United VR, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel's Avengers, voiced again by Laura Bailey.
• Black Widow appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Revolution, voiced again by Laura Bailey. Additionally, several alternate universe incarnations of Black Widow appear as NPCs, such as one who went undercover in the Hydra Empire and one who joined a secret rebellion against the Maestro on Sakaar.
• Black Widow's mainstream and MCU incarnations, with the latter based on her appearances in Avengers: Endgame and her self-titled film, appear as unlockable outfits in Fortnite Battle Royale.
• Black Widow appears in Marvel Snap.

Novels

• Black Widow appears in the novels Black Widow: Forever Red (2015) and Black Widow: Red Vengeance (2016), by Margaret Stohl.
• Black Widow appears in the prose novel adaptation of The Death of Captain America.
• Black Widow appears in the prose novel adaptation of Civil War.
• The MCU incarnation of Black Widow appears in Avengers: Everybody Wants To Rule The World.

Miscellaneous

• Black Widow appears in the Spider-Woman motion comic, voiced by JoEllen Anklam.
• Black Widow appears in Marvel Universe: LIVE!, portrayed by Louise Forsley. This version is a member of the Avengers.
• Black Widow appears in the Black Widow: Bad Blood audio novel.

Collected editions

See also

In Spanish: Viuda Negra (personaje) para niños