BLACK WIDOW 65
Widow, Madame Claire Voyant, appeared as early as August 1940 in Mystic Comics #4.
Writer George Kapitan and artist Harry Sahle gave their character, one of the original
female costumed heroes, the ability to communicate with the dead, shoot fi re from her
eyes, fl y, and to apply a fatal “death touch” to her opponents. Th is Golden Age Timely
Comics creation remained largely unused and unknown until her contemporary appear-
ance in J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston’s Th e Twelve where she and 11 other
second-tier masked heroes awaken from accidental hibernation in modern day America.
Debuting in April 1964’s, Tales of Suspense #52, Romanova’s Black Widow began
as a Russian agent and adversary for Iron Man as well as a femme fatale for Hawkeye.
As written by Stan Lee and Don Rico (writing as N. Korok) and illustrated by Don
Heck, Romanova was not originally envisioned in the skintight black leather jumpsuit
and wrist-mounted “Widow’s Bite” weapons that would become her trademark cos-
tume. Eventually, she defected from Russia and became an offi cial member of the heroic
Avengers and of the world intelligence organization S.H.I.E.L.D.
Romanova’s origin has been revised several times. In some accounts, Romanova
has had her life artifi cially extended since the early 1940s when she was sought as a
surviving member of Tsar Nicholas II’s royal line. In others, she was recruited as a child
by a secretive KGB organization and raised in “Th e Red Room” program for enhanc-
ing abilities. Th ese origins would lead her to marry Alexei Shostakov, the doomed Red
Guardian. Romanova would eventually fi nd romance with Hawkeye and Daredevil ,
among others.
More recently, Romanova’s former handlers trained a new, younger Black Widow,
Yelena Belova. Th ough the upstart Belova sought sole status as the Black Widow, she was
coaxed into swapping identities with Romanova for a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission. She briefl y
regained her own appearance but was soon horribly burned on a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D.
assignment to the tropical Savage Land. Th e villainous HYDRA organization off ered to
restore her beauty and grant her the mimetic powers of the Super-Adaptoid. Th ough her
defeat as the Adaptoid seemed to kill her, Belova, was apparently revived and returned
to normalcy, then enlisted by the repentant-criminal Th underbolts program—though
she was later revealed to be Romanova.
In addition to Romanova’s adventures as an active Avenger and freelance superhero,
ersatz versions of her have appeared in alternate dimensions. Neil Gaiman and Andy
Kubert’s 1602 have Romanova operating as a 17th-century plainclothes intelligence
agent secretly working on behalf of Otto von Doom. In Marvel’s re-imagined “Ultimate
Universe,” Romanova aided in repelling the attacking Chitauri aliens from conquering
Earth. Invited to join the Ultimates superteam and wooing billionaire inventor Tony
Stark (a.k.a Iron Man), this Black Widow comes to betray her teammates, murder-
ing “Ultimate” Hawkeye’s family and Stark’s butler, Jarvis. Wounded later in battle,
Romanova herself was killed by a vengeful Hawkeye while she attempted to escape her
hospital.
In the primary Marvel continuity, however, the Romanova Black Widow remains
a trusted ally of vigilantes and government organizations alike. Science fi ction and
