Black Widow

The time is World War II. Location Stalingrad.
The Germans got a tip that there is a baby name Natasha Romanova, or Romanoff, who is related to the last ruling Czars of Russia.

Late at night the Nazis arrived to the building Natasha was in. There were Russian soldiers there and a battle started.
The Germans set the building on fire in an attempt to kill everyone who is in it.
Natasha's mother ran to the back room and with her final breath she opened a window and threw the little baby out the window to the hands of Ivan Petrovitch, a Russian soldier that was fighting there.

Ivan grabbed the little baby and promised he would take care of her. Her mother didn't survive the fire.

Threw the years many rivals tried to attack Natasha in many ways. Ivan's hands were full in attempts to rescue her, but he stick by her his entire life.
One of these times a villain name Baron von Stucker kidnapped her and to her to Madripoor. Madripoor was a small island in Indonesia, just south of Singapore.
Madripoor did'nt support criminal extradition from within its borders, a fact that made every living fugitive find his way to Madripoor, as long as he keeps the status quo of corruption.

In Madripoor Natasha was taken to the "Hand", a ninja order that was serving a demon AKA as the Beast.
Natasha was a prisoner there, but pretty soon she turned teh reality around. With her wisodm, knowledge and amazing athletic ability she became their No. 1 assassin.
Later Ivan found a way to penetrate Madripoor and together with Captain America and Logan (Wolverine) took her away from the Hand.

A few years later Natasha married a Russian pilot name Alexi Shostakov.
The KGB (Soviet intelligence agency) noticed her unusual skills and they drafted her and her husband. But they separated them. While Natasha trained in the nutorious Red Room Academy, her husband was sent to missions on the other side of the country.

But the KGB needed her to be fully dedicated to the party and country, so they told her Alexi was died in a plane crash.
Her training became more intense, her skills developed, she showed exceptional fighting and intelligence abilities.
Her operation nick name was The Black Widow.

Her first assignment was to back up another Soviet agent that was sent to kill a Russian scientist that defected to the USA.
Unfortunatelly for her, she encountered a guy name Tony Stark, also known as The Iron Man.
The Black Widow had several encouters with the Iron Man, all ended with a defeat.

She decided the best way was to get help, and so she contacted a former circus performer known as Hawkeye. He got his nick name for training with the original Swordsman that tought him how to become a master archer on top of his acrobat skills and amazing accuracy.

Both of them tried to subdue the Iron Man a few times with no luck. Later they even had an encounter with Spider-Man.
During their time together, Natasha started to have feelings for Hawkeye.
As for him, he felt he is not happy with his criminal activities and he thought about getting out.
Meanwhile, in Russia, her KGB operators found out about her involvement with Hawkeye and they started to question her loyalty.
Back in those days it didn't take more than a suspicion, and they send a hitman to take her down.
Natasha fought back but she was seriously wounded. Hawkeye managed to get her to a safe place. He felt it was time to abandon criminal life and he decided to join The Avangers.

Natasha was captured by the KGB, and they decided instead of killing her to brainwash her.
After a short while she had no recollection about Hawkeye. She was out on a mission again.
Not long after that, The Black Widow would face the Avengers, with "the Swordman" by her side, after she forced him to assist her.
After the Avengers defeated them, they helped Natasha shake off the brainwash she went through in KGB headquarters.
Natasha than became an agent in S.H.I.E.L.D., the US spy agency. She also became a member of the Avengers.

The character's first appearance was in 1964 in "Tales of Suspense". She had many aliases like:

• Yelena Belova
• Natasha Romanoff
• Black Pearl
• Oktober
• Laura Matthers
• Nadine Roman

and more.