Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)
Black Widow (Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanova; Russian: Наталья Альяновна "Наташа" Романова)[1] is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Don Rico, and artist Don Heck, the character debuted in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964).[2][3] The character was introduced as a Russian spy, an antagonist of the superhero Iron Man. She later defected to the United States, becoming an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and a member of the superhero team the Avengers.
For other Marvel Comics characters of the same name, see Black Widow (Marvel Comics). For the 2021 film of the same name, see Black Widow (2021 film).
Natasha Romanova
Black Widow
Tales of Suspense #52
(April 1964)
Natalia Alianovna Romanova
Human mutate
Natalia Shostakova
Natasha Romanoff
Natalie Rushman
Laura Matthers
Mary Farrell
Oktober
The character has appeared in numerous forms of media, such as animated television series, video games, and films. Scarlett Johansson portrayed Natasha Romanoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Widow (2021), with Lake Bell voicing the character in the animated series What If...? (2021).
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair included Black Widow in their "Stan Lee's Most Iconic Characters" list.[93] Jesse Schedeen of IGN included Black Widow in their "Marvel's Femme Fatales" list, writing, "Whatever happens, at least it can be said that Natasha's life still hasn't become boring after all these years,"[94] and ranked her 42nd in their "Top 50 Avengers" list,[95] and 74th in their "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes" list.[96] Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy ranked Black Widow 1st in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.[97] Matthew Perpetua and Daniel Kibblesmith of BuzzFeed ranked Black Widow 3rd in their "84 Avengers Members Ranked From Worst To Best" list.[98] Madeline Catalano of MovieWeb ranked Black Widow 4th in their "Toughest Female Superheroes" list.[99] Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of The Daily Dot ranked Black Widow 9th in their "Top 33 female Superheroes Of All Time" list.[100] The A.V. Club ranked Black Widow 10th in their "100 Best Marvel Characters" list.[101]
Jo-Anne Rowney of Daily Mirror ranked Black Widow 11th in their "Best female superheroes of all time" list.[102] Rob Bricken of Gizmodo ranked Black Widow 13th in their "Every Member Of The Avengers" list, saying, "She's been one of the most venerable Avengers."[103] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly ranked Black Widow 14th in their "Let's Rank Every Avenger Ever" list.[104] Sarah Prado of Game Rant ranked Black Widow 14th in their "Marvel: 14 Best Villains Turned Heroes" list.[105] Comics Buyer's Guide ranked Black Widow 31st in their "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.[106] Lance Cartelli of ComicBook.com ranked Black Widow 41st in their "50 Most Important Superheroes Ever" list.[107] Lance Cartelli of GameSpot ranked Black Widow 46th in their "50 Most Important Superheroes" list.[108] Wizard Magazine ranked Black Widow 176th in their "Top 200 Comic Book Characters" list.[109]
Screen Rant included Black Widow in their "10 Best Villains Who Became Heroes In Marvel Comics" list,[110] and in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Lady Liberators" list.[111] Comic Book Resources ranked Black Widow 6th in their "Avengers' Greatest Leaders" list,[112] 6th in their "10 Most Powerful Russians In Comics" list,[113] and 32nd in their "35 Strongest Avengers" list.[114]