After too many delays we’ll finally see the release of the Black
Widow movie. For those of you keeping track, you’ll know I’ve previously covered Natasha
Romanoff’s five fellow
MCU founding
Avengers, but until now I’ve held off on covering Black Widow.
As I briefly touched upon in a past
post, Natasha Romanoff as the Black Widow is seen
in Spider-Girl #60 on both the issue’s cover and within the
thoughts of May ‘Mayday’ Parker as the latter reflects on her
place amongst the other superheroines who came before her. Natasha is
not seen among the gathered Avengers who travelled to an alternate earth
for the original team’s final mission. So at least we can likely rule out her
dying on the mission. Either way, no specifics are given, and as such her
status remains unknown.
The Black Widow doesn’t make a physical
appearance in the MC2 outside her ‘Zombie’
counterpart’s decaying visage in Avengers Next #1. There, stolen
blood and tissue samples of Avengers members past and present are used by the Asgardian
Sylene to create ‘magical clones.’ These shambling creations are
sent against the current generation of Avengers. Requiring constant magical
energy and attention to maintain, the duplicate Black Widow crumbles to
dust alongside the other doppelgängers when Sylene’s focus is broken. It’s
unknown at what point Natasha provided a sample of her blood and tissue
to the Avengers.
To add a little context, let’s take a look at the most
likely point at which the MC2 Black Widow would have diverged from her Main
Marvel Universe counterpart. As I’ve covered in prior posts, the MC2 Avengers
history seemingly splits off from the Main Marvel Universe prior to the events
seen in Avengers (vol. 3) #1. Unlike many of her teammates, Natasha
did not seemingly sacrifice herself during the Onslaught event and wind
up as Heroes Reborn in a pocket
dimension created by a young Franklin Richards.
But as Natasha doesn’t play a significant role in these
aforementioned events, it seems likely we can include her Main Marvel Universe
counterpart’s history up until a little after the Avengers team returns
in Avengers (vol. 3) #1-4. The reason I’m suggesting this is two-fold. First,
there aren’t a huge number of major appearances during this period of time for Natasha,
mainly some Daredevil issues and solo adventures in Shadows &
Light and Journey Into Mystery. Second, when Natasha is next
back in the spotlight under the Marvel Knights imprint’s Black Widow
mini-series, there is a very clear shift in tone and we start to see retcons surrounding
her origin and past. Thus, it makes a lot of sense to propose this as the point
at which the MC2’s Black Widow diverges from the Main Marvel Universe.
On the subject of retcons to Natasha’s origins, an
oft-cited reason for their necessity is Natasha’s appearance as a child
during World War II with Wolverine and Captain America (Uncanny
X-Men #268). Even when this story was published in 1990 it presented a
continuity problem: why did Natasha appear so young in the present-day
if she was around as a child back then? Well, the truth is that this was not
the first time, with Daredevil #88 explicitly depicting Natasha
as child in Russia during World War II far earlier.
While there were several stories that mentioned Natasha’s
training as a spy for Soviet Russia dating back to her earliest
appearances, the Marvel Knights Black Widow mini-series' are usually credited with putting a name to the concept (the Red Room’s Black Widow
Ops Program) as well as greatly expanding and building upon the idea with
further retcons, such as the implication Natasha was actually an enhanced
human and as such had a better immune system, healed faster and didn’t age as
fast. ‘But this all takes place after the MC2 divergence, why are you
mentioning all this?’ I hear you say. Let me try and explain.
Long-time readers know I struggled with the World War II
origins of Peggy Carter and the impact on Sharon Carter
and the rest of
the family. I’m happy to say, I’ve not had as many issues reconciling Black
Widow’s appearance in WWII and her surprising longevity. Thanks to
this throwaway exchange between Natasha and Nick Fury
in Marvel Comics Presents #130 published in 1993, long before the aforementioned
divergence or later retcons:
Nick Fury: ‘Y’know how many guys are runnin’ ‘round
with spandex on their butts and secret formulas in their guts?’
Natasha: ‘Like Infinity Formulas?’
Nick Fury: ‘Or Super Soldier Serums?’
Natasha: ‘Touché’
So, while this isn’t explicit, the fact that Natasha
directly mentions the ‘secret formula’ that keeps Fury youthful and the
fact Fury seems to be responding in kind regarding Natasha
certainly makes it seem like the Black Widow has some kind of Super
Soldier Serum flowing through her veins. There you have it, a readily available
explanation for her longevity and abilities tucked away in an obscure issue
without having to reach further forward into a mess of further future retcons
and their unfortunate implications.
Where ever Natasha Romanoff is in the MC2, I
hope she’s happy. I’m personally of the belief she’s alive and well, living off
the grid someplace, laying low and doing what she does best.
Until I uncover more hidden lore for my spymasters, I remain
frogoat