Black Widow (comics)

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"Don't think I'm helpless, just because I'm soft and cuddly!"

—Widow herself, from Amazing Spider-Man #86

Black Widow (Natalia Romanova, aka Natasha Romanoff) is a Marvel Comics superheroine. Introduced in the Silver Age of Comics in the pages of Tales Of Suspense #52 (April 1964), she has been a regular supporting character (and occasional lead) ever since, including stints on The Avengers (as the chairperson, for a time), The Champions (again as the leader), and as a partner to Daredevil.

Natasha began her career as a Femme Fatale spy in the service of the Soviet Union, sent to seduce famed American industrialist Tony Stark, to which end she also manipulated the young Hawkeye. Hawkeye eventually joined the side of good, and eventually Natasha followed as well, beginning a long career as a superhero in the United States of America. She has no particularly enhanced physical abilities beyond suppressed aging, relying instead on being an all-around awesome spy and martial artist.

Bring her up in comics fandom and inevitably one of the first things to be mentioned is her numerous Love Interests (or, in most cases, the characters that she was a love interest to). Apart from the aforementioned Iron Man and Hawkeye, she has also, over the years, been romantically linked to Daredevil (even getting billed alongside him on the title for a while), Hercules (while they were on the Champions), and her most recent boyfriend, James "Bucky" Barnes.

Natasha has had various miniseries in the past, and recently had an ongoing series.

Scarlett Johansson portrays Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Black Widow (comics) franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.