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*Note: Yes this article is late. Yay for jet lag from ECCC and hey, I thought it would be cool to publish when Winter Soldier actually came out. Oopsies.
Who:
Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow
Nicknames/Aliases:
Black Widow, Natalia Romanova (ok that’s her given name for you aficionados), Czarina
Skills:
Advanced combat skills and training, acrobat, ballerina, slowed aging due to Soviet experimentation, and a great knowledge of how to use a gun.
Origin Story:
Like most Marvel heroes, Black Widow has been retconned. Either way, her history is way sketchy. I guess that is what happens when a girl is trained by Russia to be a spy and is genetically mutated. Yup, so that is basically her history. Her real name can either be Natasha Romanoff or Natalia Romanova. This just adds to her mystery. She was trained by Ivan Petrovich, and in her retcon, by the KGB. She has been experimented on to make her age slower and make her more agile. She has also had her memory altered so she doesn’t remember significant chunks of her life and is given the memory of being an esteemed ballerina. Originally, Natasha was sent to kill Iron Man. She wore an evening gown with a sweet cat-eye mask with a veil over her face. She was also raven haired before she had her fiery red mane. She met Hawkeye and convinced him to help her. After a failed mission, she was kidnapped by the KGB and brainwashed to kill the Avengers, of which Hawkeye was a member. Because she had fallen in love with him, she eventually found the light side and became good ole American. She also became the 16th Avenger. She has found herself in a romantic relationship with many Marvel characters, mainly being the main squeeze of Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, but she also has been with Iron Man, Captain America, and Bucky Barnes. In her current issues, she is an independent spy who sometimes takes jobs with Nick Fury’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Notably, Black Widow saved Wolverine from the HYDRA and was a leader of The Champions which included Hercules and Ghost Rider. She led them to battle with many baddies including The Stranger and The Crimson Dynamo. Yeah, she pretty much has done everything.
Why is she important?:
Let me count the ways as to why Natasha Romanoff is important. Ok, first, she currently is the female face of The Avengers. I mean she is carrying the entire female population in all the current movies. That’s a lot to handle. And all this is just my opinion of course, but I really think she is the inspiration for two of my other favorite women: La Femme Nikita and Echo from Dollhouse. As far as La Femme Nikita goes, she was also a Russian spy who was used as a tool for the government. And Echo? Well, Natasha was also brainwashed and supplied with false memories. She was made to be super strong and acrobatic. So were the Dolls. Pretty cool, I think. Not only that, but Natasha has kinda saved a lot of our favorite superheroes. Like, their lives. Oh, and she’s smart, witty and can kick a lot of ass. I’d say she is really important not only for the Marvel Universe, but to women ad little girls who go to the movies and read comics. Thank you, Miss Romanoff.
What she means to me:
Honestly, before The Avengers came out, I had limited knowledge of who Black Widow was. But considering my celebrity doppelgänger, Scarlett Johansson, played her, I needed to find out as much as I could. As a little girl, I used to play spy. Didn’t every little girl? Ok maybe about half of us. Anyway, Black Widow is the woman I think of when I wish I had a different life, except in my head, it is a more glamourous world without all that experimentation. Now that I know tons more about her, I think every girl should idolize her. She is a woman who has been through hell and back, is smart as a whip and can kick some serious ass. Yup, pretty much one tough as nails chick. And that’s why I love her.
photos belong to Marvel
written by Adrian Puryear
Hush Comics 
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