Black Widow or Mockingbird?

[SplinteringHeart]

I'm not knocking either character, but with both having their own titles coming out at the same time it poses several questions to me: aren't they pretty similar? Both have SHIELD connections, both books are orientated in the action espionage genre...what‘s going to be the difference in these two titles? What is the difference between Black Widow and Mockingbird, they seem to have the same skill set? And, who would win in a fight between Black Widow and Mockingbird?

Discuss...

J

[Seren]

They may both be spies and work (or have worked) for SHIELD and have been on the Avengers.

But they are so different it's not even funny. I love them both, but anything I say won't don't either justice. I'll leave it to the more eloquent people here (Hrist? Calling Hrist to the stand!).

[lilyinblue]

Why not both?

Granted, I love the action espionage... so just give me as many titles as you can there.

I think the biggest difference between them is in background. They both ended up as spies, but they came from wildly different places. Natasha has her whole Soviet child-spy thing. Bobbi was a scientist. (That's Dr. Morse, to you!) I think that definitely influences how they go about their spy lives.

And, I find that they have pretty different personalities which will definitely inform the tone of their books too.

And and and... most importantly. It has been made clear that Natasha is a cat person and Bobbi is a dog person.

[Seren]

Why not both?

And and and... most importantly. It has been made clear that Natasha is a cat person and Bobbi is a dog person.

These are the two most important things to keep in mind

[lilyinblue]

These are the two most important things to keep in mind

I got my priorities.

[Galerion]

There is also the fact that with ANAD Natasha is longer working with SHIELD. As a matter of fact that was true even before Secret Wars already. In the preview we can see that she is actively defying the authority of SHIELD.
Bobbi is still a loyal and active SHIELD agent on the other hand. She is working with Silk when comes to the dealing of Black Cat, she is working alongside Spider-Man and his business and is part of the Agents of SHIELD comic.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

In MCU though, they are very interchangeable. In fact they are interchanged. Black Widow stole Mockingbird's weapon in Age of Ultron. And her association with Hawkeye. Then Mockingbird stole the weapon back in Season 3. I think they tried to distinguish the name of Mockingbird by making her speak very poor Mandarin.

[lilyinblue]

Ok... on a more serious note that isn't related to kittens and puppies.

I can probably speak a bit more intelligently about Bobbi than I can about Natasha. So, my explanation is going to skew a bit more Bobbi-wards. (I'll leave Hrist to give us the run-down on Natasha!)

I think Bobbi tends to run a little more hot while Natasha tends to run a bit more cold. They can both tend towards snark, but Bobbi's definitely got the bigger mouth. I think Bobbi's personality tends to make it a bit easier to pull in a bit more humor when writing her.

But saying Bobbi is a hot-head doesn't mean she's all impulse or anything. She comes from a very cerebral place. If she weren't a spy, she'd be in academia. I'm definitely not calling Natasha dumb by any means, but being one of the big brains is sort of one of Bobbi's things. She's packing a PhD in Biochemistry. I think the blend of science and spy is one thing that's very unique about Bobbi. And, Chelsea Cain has made it sound like we'll be seeing some of that.

Not long ago, Bobbi was injected with a blend of the infinity formula and the super soldier serum. That hasn't been explored much. Ironically, in some ways that brings in another similarity with Natasha in that they're both basically ageless now (though Bobbi isn't "old" yet). One thing her new book is supposed to be doing is exploding what that actually means for Bobbi... including the science half of it, medical tests, etc. So, her book won't be just about spy stuff... but also examining how a fundamental change to her very self impacts her, and we'll be learning about it right along with her.

[Captain Wessex]

Seems to me like one's James Bond or Ethan Hunt and the other's Jason Bourne.

[Wiccan]

Natasha is a cat person and Bobbi is a dog person.

So obviously Bobbi>>>>Natasha. Nothing against cats(AND CHEWIE), but dogs are just so...better

[lilyinblue]

So obviously Bobbi>>>>Natasha. Nothing against cats(AND CHEWIE), but dogs are just so...better

I actually agree with your logic 100%.

Chewie is just an odd exception to the Dogs > Cats rule.

[Wiccan]

I actually agree with your logic 100%.

Chewie is just an odd exception to the Dogs > Cats rule.

Chewie is a flerken, so she's a cat but better.

[Winterboy]

I actually agree with your logic 100%.

Chewie is just an odd exception to the Dogs > Cats rule.

[JimRaynor55]

In MCU though, they are very interchangeable. In fact they are interchanged. Black Widow stole Mockingbird's weapon in Age of Ultron. And her association with Hawkeye. Then Mockingbird stole the weapon back in Season 3. I think they tried to distinguish the name of Mockingbird by making her speak very poor Mandarin.

Can't say that I know that much about Bobbi Morse, but similarities between her and Natasha, even in the MCU, are very surface level. Female spies who sometimes fight with batons.

Natasha is Russian and raised since early childhood in an abusive training center. She's got red in her ledger and an enormous amount of guilt. She puts up appearances because that's what she's been trained to do, and it's what she uses to gain an edge over people, but it masks her trauma and vulnerability. She's a highly trained but normal human among super soldiers, aliens, and gods. She's a turncoat assassin among more traditional superheroes. Because of that she's underestimated and distrusted by others.

Bobbi has had a lot more screentime but less focus because of the nature of her TV show. She's American and lacks the traumatic past as far as we know. She's a scientist as well as a spy. Someone who has been married before and who quickly resumed her relationship with her ex-husband (as opposed to Natasha who flirts but holds most men at a distance because she thinks she's too broken for a relationship).

[ed2962]

They're similar in a very superficial ways, but I think they have very different personalities. While Nat has a sense of humor, Bobbi's a lot more snarky and wise cracking. While there's been dark moments in Bobbi's career, her back story is less tragic than Nat's. These days Marvel is playing up the ruthless assassin aspect of Nat's character. Bobbi is an ex-scientist.

A good writer could get a really buddy flick style team up with the two of them.