Another reason to be thankful for from Iron Man 2.
Natasha Romanova, Black Widow, came to the forefront of the Marvel Universe when she was introduced on the big screen, though most were well versed in her comic lore.
For the purpose of this discussion, we are going to focus on the comic version of the character. So sorry, no discussion about what happened in Budapest with Hawkeye.
Brief History
The Black Widow’s first appearances were as a recurring, non-costumed, Russian-spy antagonist in the feature “Iron Man”, beginning in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964). She was created by Stan Lee, Don Rico, and Don Heck.
For the majority of her comic career, she was regulated to guest starring in various issues. She was commonly paired with various Avengers, Thunderbolts, or Champions. She had a few limited series and graphic novels where she had the chance to really shine
Her most intriguing story arc was Black Widow:Homecoming. Here we had a chance to see more of her past come back into her life. She survives an assassination attempt that leads her back to Russia to investigate a series of related killings.
Pros
What we about the character is the mysterious past that has been developed for her. Over the years, more of it has come out and has helped show just how deep of a character she is. She has grown over the years into a complex character where her action are not always the one we would choose.
Cons
The one glaring thing we saw was the inclusion of being enhanced with biotechnology. This addition made her resistant to aging and diseases. Though this is not a huge negative, it is something we did not think was needed for the development of the character.
Best Villain
This was a tough one for us, but after debating several options we decided on Yelena Belova. She was another product of the Red Room and wanted Natasha out of the way to surpass the legend. It wasn’t until Natasha placed Yelena into her life when she gained a better idea of the vendetta. Their relationship is never going to be normal and we are sure Natasha will keep on eye on her.
Overall
In the end, we have to see the Black Widow character is an interesting one. We would love to see more of a focus on her, away from the movie version but we know there is little hope for that.
