BLACK WIDOW

Real Name: Natalia Alianovna Romanova ("Natasha" is the informal version of the name "Natalia," and is used by her close associates. Sometimes she has chosen to Anglicize her last name as "Romanoff." She has dropped her married name of "Shostakova.") She is also known as Yelena Belova

Group: Super-spy for the soviets and the Avengers
Origin: Kiev

First appearance: Black Widow #1 (1999)
Known Relatives: Parents
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 125 Lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red-Auburn

Former spy for the soviets, former member of the Lady Liberators, former member of the Champions, occasional agent of SHIELD
Origin: Stalingrad, Russia
First appearance: Tales of Suspense #52
Known Relatives: Alexi Shostakov, a.k.a. Red Guardian I (husband, deceased)
Citizenship: Citizen of the United States with a criminal record; granted amnesty through SHIELD's intervention
Place of Birth: Stalingrad, former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Mutant Physical Powers: None
Strength Level: The Black Widow possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: None
Abilities: The Black Widow is an Olympic class athlete Abilities:

Weapons: The Black Widow's wrist cartridges contain various tools of the spy trade: tear-gas pellets, a radio transmitter and spring-loaded cable, as well as a small device capable of emitting a high-frequency electrostatic charge. Also, microscopic suction cups built into her uniform enable the Widow to walk on walls and ceilings.

Usual Base of Operations: Mobile but maintains a home in New York City
Current Group Membership: Marvel Knights
Former Group Membership: Avengers, frequest freelance agent of SHIELD, former partner of Daredevil, former member of the Champions of Los Angeles
Marvel Knights
Occupation: Adventurer, intelligence agent, former ballerina
Legal Status: Former citizen of the USSR who defected to the United States; she now lives in the United States under an extended visa authorized by SHIELD; she has a criminal record in the United States for her espionage activities for other nations, but was granted amnesty through SHIELD's intervention.
Identity: Publicly known
Other Aliases: Nancy Rushman, Laura Matthers
Place of Birth: Stalingrad, former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Marital Status: Widowed
Base of Operations: Mobile, but maintains a home in New York City

Born in Stalingrad, shortly before the World War II, Natasha Alianovna Romanoff was trained by the Red Hall in Moscow. She graduated with the highest marks and, wanting revenge for her husband's death, she went to the US as the ultimate russian spy.
After spending some time in the States, she discovered that she had been manipulated and decided to desert from the soviets.
Years later, the russians managed to train someone as good as Natasha had been when she studied there. They gave her the code name Black Widow and sent her on a mission. Yelena's secret agenda included defeating her predecessor ...

In 1940, Timely edited Daring Mystery comic and Mystic comics. They were irregularly published and had no success. However, Mystic comics' first female star was the Black Widow. Eventually, the character became Natasha Romanoff, who debuted in Tales of Suspense #52. Through her history, Natasha has received more or less focus depending on what the current writer fancied. Lately, the Marvel Knights operation by Quesada and Palmiotti brought back the character, more interesting than ever. Natasha is now in her early forties and Moscow has finally found a replacement for her ...

Even after the Soviet Union was dissintegrated, the Red Hall in Moscow kept on training spies. They had trained no other as good as Natasha Romanoff, code-named the Black Widow, until a young woman from Kiev entered the program. Yelena Belova had the highest marks, even higher than Natasha's. She was also more faithful to the soviets than Natasha ever was. Unlike Natasha, who joined because of her husband's death, Yelena's only goal was to make her country proud of her. She received the legendary codename Black Widow and was sent in a dangerous mission. A lethal serum had been created. It made soldiers go berserk, even though it also consumed them. The soviets wanted it, but the americans were also interested. This mission brought her face to face with Natasha. Yelena kept claiming that she was better that the former Widow, even though Natasha kept proving she was wrong. They finally were forced to cooperate, even though Yelena despises Natasha for abandoning her homeland. In fact, Yelena is obssessed with Natasha and she lives for their confrontations. When they finished their mission, Yelena returned to Russia. She is currectly an active soviet spy.

HER HISTORY

Born in Stalingrad, shortly before the World War II, Natasha was saved from a burning building by Ivan Petrovich, who was looking for a lost sister he never found. Believing her parents were dead, Ivan took care of the child as if she was his sister. The girl was put in school by the state and she was a top student at every subject, even athletics, gymnastics and martial arts. Her gifts attracted the attention of the state and when she fell in love and married Alexi, one of Russia's best test pilots, they arranged the crash of his plane. Then, they went for the woman and told her that she could keep Alexi's memory alive by becoming a spy for them. They gave her the code name Black Widow and sent her to the States.
One of her missions was to steal weapons plans from Tony Stark, and she used Hawkeye, whom she had recently met and seduced, to achieve her goal. However, something made her fall for him and she decided to quit her rol as spy and to live in USA. She couldn't go on with her plans because she discovered that her parents were alive and that the soviets would torture them is she did not follow their orders. Then, Natasha took a costume and went back to the States.
Natasha had second thoughts, so she was also brainwashed. While fighting the Avengers, the sighting of her lover Hawkeye - now member of the group - getting beat on removed her brainwashing and she joined SHIELD. During one of her missions, she had to fight a guy named the Red Guardian, who happened to be her presumed-dead husband. He still loved her and sacrificed his life to let her escape, but Natasha decided that she could not go on living like that and left the spy biz and Hawkeye.
She had a quiet life for a while, but she could not stand it for much time. Finally, she adopted her current costume and started to work on her own. For some time, she worked with Daredevil and had a romance with him, but they broke up and she went to LA. Then, she formed the Champions with the Ghost Rider, the Iceman, the Angel and Hercules, who was her lover for a while. Eventually, she joined the Avengers, but she accepts occasional jobs from SHIELD.

Weapons: The Black Widow's wrist cartridges contain various tools of the spy trade: tear-gas pellets, a radio transmitter and spring loaded cable, as well as a small device capable of emitting a high frequency electrostatic charge. Also, microscopic suction cups built into her uniform enable the Widow to walk on walls and ceilings

Character History
Natasha Romanoff, a descendant of Russia's royal family, was found as a young child by Russian soldier Ivan Petrovitch, who watched over her as she grew to adulthood and today works as her chauffeur. Romanoff proved to be a brilliant scholar and athlete as she matured, and gained fame as a ballerina.

Romanoff married renowned Soviet test pilot Alexi Shostakov, but the couple's happiness was short lived. The KGB decided the two would make exemplary special operatives, and informed Shostakov of the state's new plans for him. He was told he could have no further contact with past friends or acquaintances, including his wife. A distraught Romanoff, believing her husband had died, sought a path worthy of his heroic memory. Having anticipated such a reaction, the KGB trained her to become the spy known as the Black Widow. Early in her career, the Black Widow was a frequent ally of Hawkeye. However, her growing love for the future hero weakened her resolve to continue her subversive activities for the Soviets. Hawkeye refused to act as a criminal any longer, and successfully sought amnesty and Avengers membership.

Subsequently the Black Widow fell into the hands of intelligence agents from the People's Republic of China. They directed her to attack the Avengers, bu Romanoff freed herself from their programming, was reunited with Hawkeye, and defected to the United States. She publicly revealed her true idenitity and offered her services to SHIELD, which has made use of her talents on numerous occasions. Romanoff's romance with Hawkeye eventually ended, as did a subsequent love affair and partnership with Daredevil, although she remains friends with both of them.

After working through a crisis of faith, Natasha accepted an assignment that brought her into conflict with Yelena Belova, another Russian operative claiming the mantle of Black Widow.

History: Natasha Romanoff, a descendant of Russia's royal family, was found as a young child by Russian soldier Ivan Petrovitch, who watched over her as she grew to adulthood and today works as her chauffeur. Romanoff proved to be a brilliant scholar and athlete as she matured, and gained fame in the Soviet Union as a ballerina. Romanoff married renowned Soviet test pilot Alexi Shostakov, but the couple's happiness was short-lived.

It was decided at the KGB, the department of the Soviet government whichserves as the intelligence agency and secret police, that the Shostakovs would make good special operatives. While Alexi Shostakovs was away on a mission, he was informed of the state's new plans for him, and told that from then on he could have no contact with past friends and acquaintances, including even his own wife. Shostakov was then trained to become the Red Guardian, a costumed agent who was intended to act as the Soviet Union's counterpart to Captain America. Meanwhile, a Soviet officer told Natalia Shostakova that her husband had died in the explosion of an experimental rocket he was testing. Distraught, Natalia Shostakova said that she wanted to do something to be worthy of the memory of her heroic husband. The KGB had anticipated her reaction, and trained her to become the spy known as the Black Widow.

At first the Black Widow did not act as a costume agent. Her first major field assignment was to infiltrate Stark Industries in the United States and to assist her partner Boris Turgenov in the assassination of the defector Professor Anton Vanko. The Black Widow was thwarted repeatedly by the original Iron Man in her various schemes against Stark Industries. The Black Widow used Hawkeye, who was then sought as a criminal and who found himself attracted to her, as an ally in some of her subversive activities. The Widow was given her first costume in her fourth mission in the United States. However, her growing love for Hawkeye led to a weakening of her resolve to continue her missions for the Soviets. Hawkeye refused to act as a criminal any longer, and successfully sought amnesty and Avengers membership.

The Black Widow fell into the hands of the intelligence agents of the People's Republic of China, who brainwashed her into serving them. They directed her to attack the Avengers, but she freed herself from the brainwashing, was reunited with Hawkeye, and revealed her true identity and offered her services to SHIELD, which has made use of her talents on numerous occasions.

Her romance with Hawkeye eventually ended, as did a subsequent love affair and partnership with Daredevil, although she remains friends with both men. She was a member of the Champions of Las Angeles, and serves from time to time as a member of the Avengers. She remains active as a freelance adventurer.

After working through a crisis of faith, Natasha accepted an assignment that brought her into conflict with Yelena Belova, another Russian operative claiming the mantle of Black Widow.

History: Natasha Romanoff, a descendant of Russia's royal family, was found as a young child by Russian soldier Ivan Petrovitch, who watched over her as she grew to adulthood and today works as her chauffeur. Romanoff proved to be a brilliant scholar and athlete as she matured, and gained fame in the Soviet Union as a ballerina. Romanoff married renowned Soviet test pilot Alexi Shostakov, but the couple's happiness was short-lived.

It was decided at the KGB, the department of the Soviet government whichserves as the intelligence agency and secret police, that the Shostakovs would make good special operatives. While Alexi Shostakovs was away on a mission, he was informed of the state's new plans for him, and told that from then on he could have no contact with past friends and acquaintances, including even his own wife. Shostakov was then trained to become the Red Guardian, a costumed agent who was intended to act as the Soviet Union's counterpart to Captain America. Meanwhile, a Soviet officer told Natalia Shostakova that her husband had died in the explosion of an experimental rocket he was testing. Distraught, Natalia Shostakova said that she wanted to do something to be worthy of the memory of her heroic husband. The KGB had anticipated her reaction, and trained her to become the spy known as the Black Widow.

At first the Black Widow did not act as a costume agent. Her first major field assignment was to infiltrate Stark Industries in the United States and to assist her partner Boris Turgenov in the assassination of the defector Professor Anton Vanko. The Black Widow was thwarted repeatedly by the original Iron Man in her various schemes against Stark Industries. The Black Widow used Hawkeye, who was then sought as a criminal and who found himself attracted to her, as an ally in some of her subversive activities. The Widow was given her first costume in her fourth mission in the United States. However, her growing love for Hawkeye led to a weakening of her resolve to continue her missions for the Soviets. Hawkeye refused to act as a criminal any longer, and successfully sought amnesty and Avengers membership.

The Black Widow fell into the hands of the intelligence agents of the People's Republic of China, who brainwashed her into serving them. They directed her to attack the Avengers, but she freed herself from the brainwashing, was reunited with Hawkeye, and revealed her true identity and offered her services to SHIELD, which has made use of her talents on numerous occasions.

Her romance with Hawkeye eventually ended, as did a subsequent love affair and partnership with Daredevil, although she remains friends with both men. She was a member of the Champions of Las Angeles, and serves from time to time as a member of the Avengers. She remains active as a freelance adventurer.

After working through a crisis of faith, Natasha accepted an assignment that brought her into conflict with Yelena Belova, another Russian operative claiming the mantle of Black Widow.

Weapons: The Black Widow's wrist cartridges contain various tools of the spy trade: tear-gas pellets, a radio transmitter and spring-loaded cable, as well as a small device capable of emitting a high-frequency electrostatic charge. Also, microscopic suction cups built into her uniform enable the Widow to walk on walls and ceilings.