Natasha Romanov: Black Widow Appreciation 2020

[OOTCS]

I'm trying to figure out the spoilers:

motives of the cabal. What common interest do they have? Red Guardian was formerly aligned with the Russian government but now works on his own for power, Snapdragon seems to be motivated by money, Weeping Lion by revenge, Arcade is just a psychopath, and Viper is Hydra. Weeping Lion and Alexei have personal issues with Natasha, Snapdragon fought her own in her first outing as a hired gun--, but it was just a job, didn't seem personal, Viper has tangled with her no less or more than any other superhero, and Arcade...maybe the rest of them hired him to design the game? It's hard for me to imagine what project this group could all be working on that's close enough to Natasha that they specifically needed her (but none of the other superheroes) out of the way, but at the same time far enough removed from her that they originally had no intention of hurting her. And is James just some guy they picked up off the street, took a DNA sample from over a year ago in order to grow a test tube baby, and brainwashed just so that he could play the role of loving boyfriend? Who took care of little Stevie for the first nine months of his life? Why would they go through all the trouble? "Nobody's been able to kill the Black Widow" -- except that someone did kill the Black Widow very recently, it was shown on live television and everything. And the last time we saw her, she was falling out of a window. I don't believe that in all this time, they couldn't have taken her out. It would make a lot more sense if Alexei had insisted that she not be killed as a condition for joining the group. Anyway, yeah, lots of questions. I'm hoping this all pays off in a really satisfying way.

end of spoilers

[Matternativ]

Thank you! That's exactly what I did, used 'spoiler' instead of 'spoil'. So let's try this again!

spoilers:

I'm really curious about James. Is he in on the whole deal? Or is he brainwashed too? Or what is he? The baby is his, the impossible baby, so there's clearly something going on with that dude as well as it's only been a few months, not a few years. Also Stevie is real as Yelena tested him, but there's all the stuff with him disappearing and reappearing and such. What is going on? And I agree that Viper was fantastic. Very interesting that this plot was not supposed to be about killing Natasha as they always fail at that, but trapping her in a world she wouldn't want to leave

end of spoilers

When in doubt, find a comment with spoiler tags, press quote and copy/paste the commands from their post. No way I would have ever found out without that little trick

spoilers:

I really do like that plot twist. It reminds me a lot of Pleasent Hill from Avengers Stand-off a couple years back only more streamlined and focussed on a single character. And I dig that everyone just takes Heroes coming back for some reason as a given, lol. Agreed about James. While I'm not yet convinced he's in on the whole thing I doubt that whatever is going on with Stevie is going on with James too, otherwise there would have been an instance of him randomly appearing by now.

end of spoilers


@all: Btw Natasha showed up in some form in Captain Marvel #23 too today.

[Godlike13]

The new series is frustrating. I like it, quite a bit, but it’s such a slow burn. And so the monthly schedule is especially painful.

[Godlike13]

I'm trying to figure out the spoilers:

motives of the cabal. What common interest do they have? Red Guardian was formerly aligned with the Russian government but now works on his own for power, Snapdragon seems to be motivated by money, Weeping Lion by revenge, Arcade is just a psychopath, and Viper is Hydra. Weeping Lion and Alexei have personal issues with Natasha, Snapdragon fought her own in her first outing as a hired gun--, but it was just a job, didn't seem personal, Viper has tangled with her no less or more than any other superhero, and Arcade...maybe the rest of them hired him to design the game? It's hard for me to imagine what project this group could all be working on that's close enough to Natasha that they specifically needed her (but none of the other superheroes) out of the way, but at the same time far enough removed from her that they originally had no intention of hurting her. And is James just some guy they picked up off the street, took a DNA sample from over a year ago in order to grow a test tube baby, and brainwashed just so that he could play the role of loving boyfriend? Who took care of little Stevie for the first nine months of his life? Why would they go through all the trouble? "Nobody's been able to kill the Black Widow" -- except that someone did kill the Black Widow very recently, it was shown on live television and everything. And the last time we saw her, she was falling out of a window. I don't believe that in all this time, they couldn't have taken her out. It would make a lot more sense if Alexei had insisted that she not be killed as a condition for joining the group. Anyway, yeah, lots of questions. I'm hoping this all pays off in a really satisfying way.

end of spoilers

Are we sure who they got their info from is on the the up and up. The enemy is aware of the boys, even if that person is not working with the bad guys, which seems they aren’t, they still aren’t particularly trustworthy.

[chicago_bastard]

I'm trying to figure out the spoilers:

motives of the cabal. What common interest do they have? Red Guardian was formerly aligned with the Russian government but now works on his own for power, Snapdragon seems to be motivated by money, Weeping Lion by revenge, Arcade is just a psychopath, and Viper is Hydra. Weeping Lion and Alexei have personal issues with Natasha, Snapdragon fought her own in her first outing as a hired gun--, but it was just a job, didn't seem personal, Viper has tangled with her no less or more than any other superhero, and Arcade...maybe the rest of them hired him to design the game? It's hard for me to imagine what project this group could all be working on that's close enough to Natasha that they specifically needed her (but none of the other superheroes) out of the way, but at the same time far enough removed from her that they originally had no intention of hurting her. And is James just some guy they picked up off the street, took a DNA sample from over a year ago in order to grow a test tube baby, and brainwashed just so that he could play the role of loving boyfriend? Who took care of little Stevie for the first nine months of his life? Why would they go through all the trouble? "Nobody's been able to kill the Black Widow" -- except that someone did kill the Black Widow very recently, it was shown on live television and everything. And the last time we saw her, she was falling out of a window. I don't believe that in all this time, they couldn't have taken her out. It would make a lot more sense if Alexei had insisted that she not be killed as a condition for joining the group. Anyway, yeah, lots of questions. I'm hoping this all pays off in a really satisfying way.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I think their only common interest is to get Nat out of the way but each one of them wants to achieve it for different purposes. Viper mentions that she has some important things planned and needs Nat out of the way for it. Natasha is the best spy in the world so it's understandable that Viper sees her as the biggest threat for her plans getting uncovered before she can set them in motion. The rest of the superhero community is more about punching after plans were already set in motion. Weeping Lion wants revenge. Alexei's motivation is hard to tell at this point, but I can picture it being revealed in the next issues. As you said Arcade was likely just hired by them to design this fantasy world. In the first issue he was asking when they can finally kill the Black Widow, so it's clear that he isn't part of the initial plan that never was about killing her. That leaves Snapdragon as the odd choice. She only encountered Nat professionally and while she is very proud and could still hold a grudge against her it doesn't make much sense for her to go with this plan, it would be a better fit if she were on Weeping Lion's side wishing to punish Nat. But I guess Snapdragon was only thrown in for the fun of it, most comic readers hardly know her and won't ask your questions in the first place. And hell if she's only there for a cool fight scene I dig it. And regarding the killing topic: The MU is pretty much aware of the trope that heroes always come back after getting killed. I mean it was even Nat who had a pretty meta in-universe conversation with some journalists or bloggers about that issue after Bucky's "death". So yeah, Nat was killed but she's still here and so Viper is aware that them killing her wouldn't lead to her being ultimately gone so they have a better plan. It's villains accepting comic book logic in a meta kinda way.

end of spoilers

[Digifiend]

When in doubt, find a comment with spoiler tags, press quote and copy/paste the commands from their post. No way I would have ever found out without that little trick

spoilers:

I really do like that plot twist. It reminds me a lot of Pleasent Hill from Avengers Stand-off a couple years back only more streamlined and focussed on a single character. And I dig that everyone just takes Heroes coming back for some reason as a given, lol. Agreed about James. While I'm not yet convinced he's in on the whole thing I doubt that whatever is going on with Stevie is going on with James too, otherwise there would have been an instance of him randomly appearing by now.

end of spoilers


@all: Btw Natasha showed up in some form in Captain Marvel #23 too today.

And they implied some real badassery too. spoilers:

She was one of the last surviving heroes after most of the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Guardians, and Champions, were killed.

end of spoilers

[Red Falcon]

Hey, sorry I'm late with this one, but I just reviewed Black Widow: Widow's Sting #1 on my blog: https://thiswritersmind.wordpress.co...ting-1-review/

I will be reviewing Black Widow #3 soon.

[kcekada]

The new series is frustrating. I like it, quite a bit, but it’s such a slow burn. And so the monthly schedule is especially painful.

It's only two issues in. I art style is a bit too indy for my tastes (give me old school Marvel any day of the week), but from a storytelling perspective, I cant' complain. The story -- as I've said is a modern day Nancy Rushman story (from Marvel Team-Up where Natasha though she was a school teacher who just happened to have the Widow's gear in her purse), but I appreciate the callback (hopefully it's intentional -- because that is a story an BW writer should have read before taking on this series).

As much as i loved Acuna's art on her first ongoing many years back -- i wasn't fond of the plot starting with her being taken out. So when this series appeared to start in the same manner, i had reservations. But so far, I like how it's progressing -- enough to keep reading. I really haven't been a fan of any of the recent BW series.

[Nyssane]

When did Snapdragon come back? I would've preferred Iron Maiden or Black Lotus, personally.

[Dermie]

When did Snapdragon come back? I would've preferred Iron Maiden or Black Lotus, personally.

She reappeared in Bendis' MOON KNIGHT series, and was one of the main villains of that run. Her return from the dead was never explained.

[Winterboy]

dave johnson BW.jpg

BW by Dave Johnson.

[Frontier]

dave johnson BW.jpg

BW by Dave Johnson.

With a surprise Nick Fury appearance .

[chicago_bastard]

Regarding the splash page with Nat's memories in #3: Does anyone know where the panel on the bottom right with the gravestone is from? I think I can assign all the others but that one doesn't ring a bell.

[Red Falcon]

I should have done this earlier, but here is my review of Black Widow #3: https://thiswritersmind.wordpress.co...idow-3-review/

Warning: Spoilers.

[Agent Z]

Black Widow Star Reveals New Details About Red Guardian's Connection to Natasha

"Now, the connection to him and Black Widow is that they were set up as a spy family in America in the ’90s," Harbour says of his character. "So, Rachel Weisz’s character, Melina, was sort of the mom, Alexei was the dad, and Natasha and Yelena were their little kids. We see that in the beginning of the movie, and they sort of function as a family..

The Stranger Things super star adds, "They knew each other from long ago and then they lost touch for almost twenty years. And when we pick up, Alexei’s had this deep knowledge of Natasha in a certain way that no one else had when she was a kid. He took her from the Red Room and also put her back into the Red Room because he believed in this cause."

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/bl...n-connections/