Soviet super spy

Black widows are particularly formidable spiders: it is not uncommon for the females to eat their smaller sexual partner after the act of reproduction. And they produce toxins so potent that their bite can be fatal to humans.

In popular culture, “Black Widow” primarily stands for a character who was introduced in the Marvel Comics in 1964: a particularly tough super spy from the former Soviet Union, who owes her code name to the toxic animal.

At that time, Natasha Romanoff – the real name of the red-haired Russian woman – made her debut in the “Tales of Suspense” series by author Stan Lee and illustrator Don Heck, initially as a minor character in a story with Iron Man.

But at least since her new look in a dark leather bodysuit with stun gun-like energy cartridges on her wrists in “The Amazing Spider-Man” in 1970, the secret agent gained a high recognition value.

At the beginning of her comic book career, the Black Widow often fought alongside various men from the Marvel world: for example, she was seen alongside heroes like Captain America or Wolverine, and with some of them she also entered into private ties and love affairs – for example with her Avengers colleague Clint Barton alias Hawkeye, with the Greek son of the gods Hercules or with “Daredevil” Matt Murdock.

A new adversary wants to replace Black Widow

Over the decades, her biography was further embellished in the comics. For example, the information that she belonged to a secret program in which she was biotechnologically and psychologically manipulated in such a way that she has an improved immune system and only ages more slowly, but cannot have children and cannot attack certain people mediated by pheromones.

Or that the real identity of the dying Russian super soldier named Red Guardian was Natasha’s husband, Alexi Shostakov, who had previously been believed dead.

A treasure trove of information from Natasha’s résumé is the exciting three-part series “Tödlicher Wahnsinn” by author Devin Grayson and illustrator JG Jones from 1999 (contained in the anthology “Black Widow: Tödliche Schwestern”, Panini, 228 pages, 23 euros).

In addition, with the cold-blooded Yelena Belova, a new adversary is introduced, who wants to replace Natasha as Black Widow – it goes without saying that with such ambitions the woman’s fists fly more than once and one or the other truck or helicopter explodes.

Yelena has now made the leap to the screen with the latest film in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe”: In “Black Widow” she is played by Florence Pugh, the heroine mimicking Scarlett Johansson once more.

After her eight appearances in the films about Iron Man, Captain America and Co., an independent film is now devoted to a deeper insight into the life of Marvel’s femme fatale number one – also beyond her ties to the Avengers.

After the premiere had to be postponed several times due to Corona restrictions, the film is now set to start in cinemas in Germany this Thursday and be available one day later via the Disney + streaming portal.