Title:

Amazing Adventures 4

Synopsis:
Synopsis for ”With These Rings, I Thee Kill!”
Black Bolt removes the eye from the statute of Yin, but it speeds off as the Mandarin uses one of his rings to draw it to him. The Inhumans split up to set off searching for it and discover the Mandarin just after he has dissolved the sphere and absorbed its power. The Inhumans battle the Mandarin, defeat him, remove his rings and discard them underground while sealing in the cavern

Synopsis for ”Deadlock”
The Black Widow tries to persuade the Young Warriors to leave Scarola’s house. She buys them a separate building and they leave Scarola’s building.

Appearing in ”Deadlock”
Featured Characters:
* ⏴ Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) ⏵
Supporting Characters:
* Paul Hamilton
* ”Young Warriors”
* Carlos
* Other Members (Unnamed)
* ⏴ Ivan Petrovitch ⏵
Antagonists:
* The Don’s Henchmen
* Mario
* Other Henchmen (Unnamed)
* The Don (Anthony Scarola)
Other Characters:
* NYPD
* Mayor (John Lindsay) (Appears on screen) (Topical Reference)
Races and Species:
* Humans
Locations:
* Earth
* United States of America
* New York
* New York City
* Manhattan
* New York Press
* Spanish Harlem

Cover Date:
Jan 1971
Publisher:
Marvel Comics
Issue Number:
4
Volume:
2
Year:
1971
Purchase Type:
Newsstand
Country:
United States
Cover Price:
$.15
Cover Exclusive:
(Bronze Age, from 1971 to 1985) & (Copper Age, from 1986 to 1992)
Era:
Bronze Age
Genre:
Superhero
Science Fiction
Show More
Language:
English
Characters:
Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon)
Show More
Date Added:
2018-07-02 23:13:37
Series:
Vol. 2
Story Arc:
Infant Natasha being raised by Ivan Petrovich after her mother died
Early Years

The exact year and location for the birth of Natasha Romanova is unknown, as is who her parents were. It has been rumored that Natasha (whose name in Russian is: Наталья Романова, Наташа Романова, Наталья Романова-Шостакова) was somehow related to the last ruling czars of Russia, but this rumor was never proven.[31]

Raised by a Foster Father

There are varying accounts of Romanova’s early life. One account states that in 1928, there was a fire in Stalingrad which burned down the building that infant Natasha and her mother were living in.[31] According to the account, just before dying in the fire, Natasha’s mother threw her out the window to a Russian soldier below. The soldier’s name was Ivan Petrovitch, and that he watched over Natasha for her entire life, remaining by her side as her ”foster father”.[31] Another account dates the fire to autumn 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad.[32]

While Natasha was under Ivan’s protection, Baron von Strucker abducted Natasha and presented her to the organization of assassins called the Hand in Madripoor.[33] Natasha had in fact been working under orders from an mysterious source and her ’abduction’ was to lead her into pretending to become a Master Assassin for the Hand when in reality she was to assassinate their Jonin. Logan learned of this and killed the Jonin instead while also freeing Captain America under the guise of rescuing Natasha.[34] According to this account, Natasha then grew and matured, proving herself to be an amazing athlete and scholar, while gaining distinction in the USSR as a ballerina.[33]

Black Widow Ops Program (Earth-616) from Winter Soldier Vol 1 7 001
Red Room training
Red Room

Another account establishes Natasha as being raised from very early childhood by the U.S.S.R.’s ”Black Widow Ops” Program in addition to Ivan Petrovitch’s care. Petrovitch was said to have taken her to Department X, with 28 other young female orphans, where she was trained in combat and espionage at the covert ”Red Room” facility. There, she was bio-technologically and psycho-technologically enhanced; an account that provides a rationale for her unusually long and youthful lifespan. In this account she never really trained in ballet in the Bolshoi Theatre, having instead been implanted with artificial memories of doing so.[35]

Regardless of which account is accurate, eventually, it was arranged for Natasha to marry Alexi Shostakov, a distinguished Soviet test pilot.[28] She was later blackmailed into agreeing to act as a spy when her husband’s life was threatened.[36]

KGB

The Soviet government intelligence (KGB) decided that Natasha and Alexi’s skill sets would make them superb special operatives and split them up while Alexi was away on a mission. Trained as the Red Guardian, Alexi became the Soviet Union’s answer to the United States’ Captain America. Natasha was told that her husband died in an experimental rocket crash.[37][28] She was drafted into the KGB and became their best operative, becoming excellent at fighting and information gathering. During this time, she had some training under the Winter Soldier and they started a secret relationship. After an incident during an assassination operation, Barnes was deemed unstable and put in cryostasis whenever he wasn’t needed for a mission, leaving Natasha devastated when she found out.[38][39]

Natasha later saved Logan from Hydra assassins when he surfaced in America without any memories of his past.[40] She encountered the man again sometime later when she was on a KGB mission to stop three unknown American spies (Logan, Carol Danvers, and Ben Grimm) from stealing Russia’s Red Storm Project.[41]

Early Clashes with Iron Man

Natalia Romanova (Earth-616) from Tales of Suspense Vol 1 52 001
Black Widow was assigned to assist Boris Turgenov in the assassination of Professor Anton Vanko for defecting from their country by infiltrating Stark Industries in America.[42] Tony Stark, the original Iron Man, continually foiled her schemes against Stark Industries.[43] Romanova later met the novice archer Hawkeye and set him against Iron Man,[44] and later helped Hawkeye battle Iron Man.[45] Unfortunately, Hawkeye’s association with Russian spies would label him a criminal in his early career.[44] Black Widow and Hawkeye next clashed against the novice super-hero Spider-Man.[46] They resumed their focus on Tony Stark, clashing with Iron Man twice more - the first being an attempt to raid Tony Stark’s munitions plant.[45]

When that mission ended in failure, she was taken back to Russia by her masters and given a new costume that allowed her to scale walls as well as a device that allowed her to fire lines to swing from. She once more attempted to get Hawkeye to help her destroy Iron Man. The pair almost succeeded, but when Black Widow was injured, Hawkeye retreated to get her to safety.[47] During this period, Romanova was attempting to defect from the Soviet Union and began to feel love toward Hawkeye, weakening her loyalty to her country. When her employers learned the truth, they had her gunned down, sending her to a hospital, convincing Hawkeye to go straight and seek membership in the Avengers.[48]

Association with the Avengers

Captured by her masters again and brainwashed, Black Widow was forced to hire the Swordsman and Power Man to destroy the Avengers.[49] This plot eventually failed when the Avengers defeated both of the villains and Natasha shook off the effects of the brainwashing.[50] Attempting to make amends with the group, she assisted them against the racist group known as the Sons of the Serpent.[51]

Having been granted amnesty, Natasha made a bid for membership in the Avengers, aiding them in their battle against the Ultroids.[52] She threatened to kill their leader Ixar if he did not leave the Earth, winning the victory, however Hawkeye covered up this fact so that she could get membership in the group even though she violated their code of ethics regarding killing.[53] However when Nick Fury hired her to spy on her former master on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was be forced to decline membership with the Avengers and publicly broke off her relationship with Hawkeye.[54] As part of her mission, the press branded her as a traitor, breaking Hawkeye’s heart.[55]

Arriving in China, the Black Widow was not easily trusted and subjected to the Psychotron device, a machine that could brainwash anyone.[56] She proved to be too strong willed and had to be gassed and kept locked up.[57] Learning that Natasha was now a prisoner of her former Communist masters, the Avengers traveled to China to rescue her, clashing with the Red Guardian, Natasha’s ex-husband who was thought to be dead.[58] The Avengers with the help of Natasha defeated the Communists plot to use the Psychotron against the western world. During the course of the battle Natasha was injured and the Red Guardian seemingly perished in the battle.[37]

After time recovering in the hospital, Natasha returned to Avengers Mansion and came to the decision to give up her career of costumed adventuring.[59] However this proved to be short lived as she returned to super-heroics shortly thereafter,[60] however her romance with Hawkeye became strained as he was usually too busy with Avengers business to pay attention to her.[citation needed]

Fed up with staying out of action, Black Widow accepted another assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D. to prevent Egghead from using an orbital platform to hold the world ransom. She was captured, prompting Hawkeye (who still loved her) to use Henry Pym’s growth formula to become the new Goliath and rescue her.[61] She aided the Avengers in stopping Egghead, although it ended in the seeming death of Egghead and Goliath’s brother Barney.[62] After a prolonged absence, the Black Widow eventually ended her relationship with Goliath.[63]

Going Solo

Black Widow Vol 8 2 Black Widow Timeless Variant
New costume
Natasha was not able to avoid super-heroics for long and, after designing a new sleek black costume and adapting her bracelets with electric ”Widows Bites”, she sought to prove herself a capable adventurer by besting Spider-Man in battle. Although Spider-Man was ill and not at his full capacity at the time, he was still able to beat the Widow, however she resolved to continue her career as a costumed adventurer.[36]

She mostly clashed with underworld figures and costumed villains during this period, notably the Astrologer and Watchlord.[64]

Partners with Daredevil

The Black Widow soon became a pawn manipulated by the computer known as Baal from the distant future Earth-71778. In that reality, mankind was wiped out and the past history of Daredevil and Black Widow played a crucial role. This ultimately led to a long relationship and partnership between the two heroes, but it eventually came to an end.[65]

Nancy Rushman

While working with S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow was briefly captured as part of a Hydra plot to infiltrate and brainwash the organization, causing her to regress to an old cover identity of teacher Nancy Rushman. Fortunately, she was discovered and rescued by Spider-Man, subsequently working with him, Nick Fury, and Shang-Chi to defeat their plan; she even admitted that the Nancy identity was attracted to Spider-Man after the crisis was over, even if she preferred to retain her independence.[66]

Champions of Los Angeles

She co-founded the Champions of Los Angeles after they had successfully foiled a plot by Pluto to invade Olympus.[67] The team soon disbanded due to bankruptcy, and Natasha attempted a partnership with Hercules without success.[68][69]

Solo Again

After these two failures, Natasha decided to stay on her own and freelance as an agent for a while.[citation needed]

It was during this time that an enemy from her time alongside Daredevil kidnapped Ivan to lure her to her death. Damon Dran planned to bring Natasha
Date Added:
2018-07-02 23:13:37
Created By:
Black Widow Natalia Romanova (Earth-616) Creators Stan Lee, Don Rico & Don Heck 1st App. Tales of Suspense #52 (January, 1964) https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Natalia_Romanova_(Earth-616)
Show More

Check out these other items in our database:

iCollect Everything

Start Your Own Collection

Catalog, organize, and share your collections with iCollect Everything. Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, and the web.