Who Is Black Widow? Origin, Powers and Key Facts

Black Widow is a Marvel comic book character, the alter ego of Natalia Alianovna Romanova, with over 3,880 comic issue appearances. Former KGB agent Natalia Alianovna Romanova, known as the Black Widow Natasha Romanoff, was trained by the top-secret Soviet brainwashing and training program the Red Room to become the ultimate "Super-Spy". She defected from the Soviet Union to the US, joining S.H.I.E.L.D., and later Black Widow became a long-standing member of The Avengers. She is a woman with an enigmatic past and red in her ledger.

Who is Black Widow?

Note : For others that have used the name Black Widow, see: Black Widow for the Golden Age Black Widow, and Yelena Belova for the third Black Widow. Origin Black Widow First Costume Natalia "Natasha" Alianovna Romanova born circa 1928 and was raised from her youth by a Russian soldier Ivan Petrovich Bezukhov after she was orphaned when enemy soldiers attacked Stalingrad. To save Ivan's life, she accepted a place in the Soviet government's covert "Red Room" facility. While there, she was bio- and psycho-technologically enhanced - granting her an unusually long lifespan and prolonged youthful appearance. She became one of the special agents known as the Black Widow. While in the program she was trained by the Winter Soldier, and the two became lovers. Each Black Widow was deployed with false memories to help ensure their loyalty. Natasha was given memories of becoming a ballerina but eventually discovered this fact, along with the knowledge that the Red Room is still active as "2R".

Key facts

Black Widow is of human origin and first appeared in "The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!". The character is published by Marvel. With 3,880 recorded issue appearances, Black Widow ranks among the most featured characters in comics.