Natalia Romanoff


 * This article is about the character also known as Black Widow. For other uses, see Black Widow.

"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian. Or I was."

- Natasha Romanoff Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, is a former high-ranking agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. She was instructed by Nick Fury to assess the suitability of Tony Stark for the Avenger Initiative. The report she filed with S.H.I.E.L.D. found that Stark was unsuitable for it but the Iron Man armor would be beneficial to the Initiative. She is a founding member of the Avengers and the only female founder of the group. Natasha also played a crucial role in combating and defeating the HYDRA forces that had taken control of S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha was in hiding to establish a new cover identity, after all the identities she had previously used were compromised when she leaked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets to the internet. She assembled with the Avengers to locate Loki's Scepter and later to defeat Ultron. She is currently an active member of the Avengers.

Though she has no superhuman powers, Natasha is an expert martial artist with impressive interrogation skills and competent scientific mind and hacking skills.

Early life
"Natalia Alianova Romanoff" was born in Russia and went on to become a world-class spy in the employ of the KGB. She reportedly began training towards the life of an assassin when she was just a child, and her ruthless effectiveness in later years earned her the codename, "Black Widow". At some point this life underwent a dramatic change when she was targeted for assassination herself, and the agent sent to kill her was the similarly gifted soldier, Clint Barton. Instead of killing her, Barton spared her life because he had a certain respect for her and the pair developed a lasting partnership and friendship that soon lived on. Following Barton, the Black Widow was drawn into a new life as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I Am Iron Man!
After Stark rejected the offer to join the Avenger Initiative, Fury told Coulson to inform Natasha that they may need her services.

Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Black Widow was tasked to get a job in Stark industries, to get closer to Tony Stark under the alias of Natalie Rushman, a woman named Samantha Carlisle was originally meant to send some documents to Tony Stark, so Natasha put a pill in Sam's drink, making her sick, so she was tasked to send the documents to Stark.

Iron Man 2
"I'm surprised you can keep your mouth shut."

- Natasha Romanoff Natasha became the new assistant for Tony Stark, who, on the day she arrived, told her to go into the boxing ring while he Googled her finding out that she could speak French, Russian and Latin. While she was still in the ring, Happy Hogan teased about punching her but she tackled him to the ground. She then assisted Tony while he was in Monaco. She attended Tony's birthday party and flirted with him and he started to get suspicious about where she had come from.

She appeared with Nick Fury when he talked to him in Randy's Donuts, Tony was shocked when he saw her in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, Fury revealed her true name and she gave Tony an injection. Natasha along with Fury and Phil Coulson went to Tony's house and she was told by Fury that she will stay acting as an assistant. Even after Tony learned that Romanoff was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, she stayed on as his assistant more to keep a eye on him than anything. Later at Stark Industries while Tony was visiting Pepper Potts, Natasha came in and requested for Potts to sign something. When Potts left, Tony started to grill Natasha and tells her that he finds it amazing that she does what she does. Tony claims she could not speak other languages, Natasha replies in Latin, saying the phrase "Fallaces sunt rerum species", part of a famous quote from Seneca, meaning "the appearance of things is deceptive." Tony, unknowing of what the phrase means, asks her to translate, but she instead replies saying that he can either leave or that she can have him collected.

Natasha was attending the Stark Expo show, when Ivan Vanko took control of Hammer's Drones. Natasha ran out and found Happy Hogan and told him to drive the car to get her to Hammer Industries. After changing into a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform during the drive, she broke into Hammer Industries to stop the drones. She encountered and took out several security men. Using technology at Hammer Industries, she managed to get control over War Machine's suit.

Fury's Big Week
"These are gods and monsters and machines of war we're mixed up with."

- Natasha Romanoff Natasha contacted Director Fury during Stark and Rhodey's battle in his Malibu home. She filled him in on the situation; when he offers to come, she told him not to. The next day, in which Fury confronted Tony, Natasha was handed the needle filled with lithium dioxide and was instructed by Fury to "stick him in the neck". After a brief conversation with Agent Phil Coulson about his departure to New Mexico, Natasha was present at the Stark Expo battle reprogamming Rhodey's War Machine. She then retrieved Hammer Industries data before Ivan Vanko's bombs went off.

Returning to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters with the data, she was given orders by a stressed Fury to go to Culver University and get eyes on Bruce Banner. She arrived and witnessed Banner get locked in the bridge by General Ross and his troops; Banner then transformed and a battle ensued. She called Fury and barely escaped uninjured. She revealed to Fury that she witnessed Emil Blonsky in action against the Hulk and that they enhanced him. Fury is forced to deploy Natasha to Empire State University after Ross revealed, in a short conversation, that he intended to capture Banner. She arrived too late, however, and informed Fury over the phone that Ross captured Bruce and was taking him away in a helicopter.

Natasha was then ordered to make sure that Bruce didn't leave anything for Dr. Samuel Sterns, who he had recently been with, to work on. As she headed up the front steps, she witnessed Blonsky, now as Abomination, emerge from the building. She was buried in rubble, but still managed to make her way upstairs. She stumbled upon Dr. Sterns, who's mutation had greatened significantly, and his brain power had been augmented exponentially. After a brief dialogue with him, during which Sterns identified Black Widow's birth place from a hint of accent in her voice, Natasha shot him the leg.

She called in a S.H.I.E.L.D. cleanup team, and signaled her location on the roof with flares. She saw the chaos of Abomination and Hulk's battle in the distance. Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, she confronted Fury, stating that all of the events going on were too much to handle. Later, she was revealed to have been dispatched to Asia.

Black Widow Strikes
Natasha arrived in Moscow, Russia disguised as Tatiana Sokolova. While there she encountered and later defeated Sofia who was trying to take the mantle of the "Black Widow".

The Avengers Initiative
As part of a test, Barton entered the Helicarrier in disguise and downloaded a file about the members that were in consideration for the Avengers Initiative. He was then attacked by Black Widow. Barton was shot with a Ray Gun by Black Widow. Fury arrived and Barton told him that he should have informed him that the Widow had a Ray Gun. But Fury told him that it would have negative effects, as the test had to be realistic as possible.

The Avengers
"This is nothing we were ever trained for."

- Natasha Romanoff Even in her short career at S.H.I.E.L.D., agent Natasha Romanoff a.k.a Black Widow has turned covert espionage into an art form. Armed with an extensive complement of "widow bites" and cluster bombs, as well as a vast repertoire of martial arts and wushu training, Romanoff's skill-set seems to know no bounds.

Natasha was tied to a chair by Georgi Luchkov and appeared to be being interrogated when in fact she was the one interrogating him. Phil Coulson calls and tells her that Agent Barton has been compromised so she broke free from her restraints and knocked out Luchkov's henchmen before being sent to collect Bruce Banner. Natasha pays a child to act like her father is sick and leads Banner to a shack on the outskirts of the town. Natasha approaches Bruce and tells him that he needs to help them. Bruce asked her "What if I say no?". She responded saying "I'll persuade you", this was her way of saying that she had several agents outside who were ready to take on the Hulk at any given moment. After Bruce agreed, she introduced him to Steve Rogers, a.k.a "Captain America".

Once Loki is captured, Natasha talks to him in his holding cell and he taunts her claiming that he will make Clint kill her. His threat was after she revealed to Loki that she and Clint had a history with each other. She corrects Loki, claiming that "Love is for Children"; and that she owes him a debt for sparing her life and recruiting her to SHIELD. Loki lets slip that the "monster" is already on board of the helicarrier; through that it is revealed that Natasha was actually the one manipulating Loki, and she had been in control the whole time. Deducing that he plans to use the Hulk so Romanoff warns Director Fury. Loki summons some guards, including Hawkeye, to the Helicarrier and Hawkeye uses an explosive arrow to destroy one of the four engines. Natasha and Bruce are thrown through a window by an explosion and Bruce loses control and changes into the Hulk despite Natasha's attempts to keep him focused. She manages to get her leg free from the debris that was on top of her and begins to run because the Hulk is attacking her. He easily catches her and knocks into a wall. However, she was saved by Thor before the Hulk could kill her. Fury asks someone to stop Hawkeye and she swallows her terror and volunteers. Just as Clint is about to leave, she attacks him and the two of them viciously fight. Although he keeps her at bay for a short time, Natasha breaks his hypnotic state by smashing his head against a metal railing, knocking him unconscious. She then visits him in the recovery room where he is free from Loki's spell, wanting to take action against the God of Mischief. Clint admitted to her his disbelief of the Avengers being able to stop Loki and his remorse about the people he killed.

Natasha, Clint and Steve seek Loki, who releases his army so the Avengers are forced to assemble and battle the onslaught of alien invaders. Fighting alongside Steve and Clint, Natasha's martial arts skills and small arms were ideal for battling the Chitauri in the streets, and when her own weaponry was spent, she made good use of Chitauri armaments turned on their previous owners. Eventually she captured one of their aircraft and used it to reach the top of Stark Tower where she was instrumental in dealing with the device that held the portal open, thus sealing the rift and barring the amassed forces still waiting to pass through. When the battle was over, Romanoff gathered with the others to see off Thor and the captive Loki. The threat had been neutralised and for a time the world would have little need of its protectors. The others went their separate ways, while Romanoff and Barton returned to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Thor: The Dark World Prelude
After Thor killed a Leviathan, Black Widow asked Captain America what he thought of Thor now, Cap stated that he "still dresses funny". Hawkeye looked at Cap and replied "look who's talking".

Iron Man 3 Prelude
After Loki was defeated, James Rhodes arrived in New York to help out Tony. Rhodes located Stark in a Shawarma restaurant where he was introduced to Natasha and the other Avengers.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
To be added

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic
Natasha infiltrated the terrorist cell of a man named "Baker" using the alias "Audrey". Posing as Audrey, Natasha spent several weeks undercover determining what Baker's plan for Zodiac was.

Upon discovering Baker's plan to release the Zodiac in the Willis Tower in Chicago during the height of the day, killing all within, Natasha alerted Cap.

Natasha, Cap and Agent Brock Rumlow confronted Baker's cell in the Skydeck of Willis Tower, and after a brief combat, subdued the terrorists, and recovered the Zodiac.

Captain America: Homecoming
Upon receiving intel that Nobel-prize winning scientist Professor Amanat was in danger of abduction by the mercenary group known as the Cadre, Director Fury dispatched Rogers and Natasha Romanoff to Rogers' old neighborhood in Brooklyn on protection detail. Under the guise of showing Natasha the places that he grew up, they managed to draw out the Cadre mercenaries that had set-up in multiple locations throughout the neighborhood. Tracing the mercenary that had abducted Amanat through a maze of alleyways, Cap succeeded in taking out the last mercenary with a little help from Amanat herself.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
"You do anything fun Saturday night?"

- Natasha Romanoff to Steve Rogers After the events in New York with The Avengers, Natasha became a frequent comrade-in-arms of Steve Rogers when they were assigned on missions together. During one rescue mission of a hijacked S.H.I.E.L.D. ship, Nick Fury assigned Black Widow a secret side task to retrieve confidential protected S.H.I.E.L.D. files in a flash drive. The data was more sensitive than she could have guessed, and once it was handed over to Fury he became the target of an assassin. When Romanoff heard that Fury had been gunned down she went to the hospital to keep vigil, and watched helplessly as he was declared dead. Based on Steve's description of the shooter, she identified the killer as the Winter Soldier.

Steve became a fugitive from S.H.I.E.L.D. under the orders of Alexander Pierce after hiding details of Fury's death, and Natasha joined him to help him retrieve the confidential files from the flash drive, which Fury had already given to Rogers. Natasha tried to hack the protected files but could only discover the location from where they were created, Camp Lehigh.

There, Steve and Natasha discovered a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base where the consciousness of Arnim Zola revealed that after World War II, he had been recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., and that he and other German scientists had furthered Hydra's plans for world domination through numerous projects, including the infiltration and influence of S.H.I.E.L.D. Romanoff interrupted Zola's lengthy exposition of HYDRA's activities when her PDA alerted her to an incoming missile. She and Rogers narrowly escaped the resulting blast, and then left the scene before S.H.I.E.L.D. could find them.

The following day, Steve and Natasha sought help from Sam Wilson, who they then pulled into their circle of allies by recovering a flight-exoskeleton for him. The trio then captured and interrogated Jasper Sitwell to find out about the conspiracy festering within S.H.I.E.L.D. Under pressure, Sitwell revealed his allegiance to Hydra and that HYDRA planned to use Project Insight to massacre the millions of people identified as threats to HYDRA's new world order.

Steve, Sam and Natasha were later attacked by the Winter Soldier and team of Hydra double agents. Natasha suffered a bullet wound in her shoulder while trying to elude the Winter Soldier, and Steve was left stunned by the revelation that the Winter Soldier was his old friend Bucky. With the fight taken out of them, the three heroes were easily captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., but while being transported under guard they were rescued by a disguised Maria Hill, who brought them to a hideout where Nick Fury was alive and recuperating. Fury revealed a plan to prevent Pierce from launching Project Insight, involving the replacement of the controller chip of each one of the Insight helicarriers.

Natasha infiltrated the Triskelion disguised as Councilwoman Hawley of the World Security Council, and was taken hostage with the other councillors by Pierce as soon as Steve revealed over the public address system the truth about HYDRA controlling S.H.I.E.L.D., and Pierce being their leader. But Natasha dropped her cover and subdued Pierce. She then revealed Nick Fury's survival, and forced Pierce to help Fury release the secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA to the world, as top-level two agents were required to do so. As the files were being uploaded, Pierce activated devices in the security badges of the rest of the Security Council, which killed them. He then attempted to use Natasha for leverage to escape, but she used a micro-EMP device on herself, disabling the badge, and giving time for Fury to shoot Pierce, killing him. The two then escaped the Triskelion in a helicopter to rescue, also rescuing Sam when a helicarrier crashed into the building.

Natasha later appeared before a Senate subcommittee, in which she defended the dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D. When asked by military officials as to why they shouldn't imprison her for the newly-revealed crimes that she had committed against the U.S., she responded that people like her were needed to defend the world.

She later approached Fury's "grave" to say goodbye to Steve, stating that with all of her covers blown, she had to find a new identity. She encouraged him to romantically pursue Agent 13, whom she identifies Sharon before passing him a dossier from the Ukraine on the Winter Soldier.

Avengers: Operation HYDRA
To be added

Avengers: Age of Ultron
"We have no place in the world."

- Black Widow Black Widow reassembled with the Avengers in Sokovia as they attempted to take down Strucker's base and repossess Loki's Scepter. When the battle was over, she used her lullaby to calm the Hulk down and convert him back to Banner. On the plane ride back to Avengers Tower, Widow spoke to Banner about trusting her and he responded standoffishly.

At Tony Stark's party, Romanoff behaved flirtatiously towards an aloof Banner. She walked away and Rogers suggested to Banner that she likes him, despite his rejection of the notion. When everyone tried lifting Thor's hammer, she refused to participate on the basis that she didn't want an answer to such a question. Ultron attacked the party and she used a hidden gun as a weapon. She and the rest of the team then pursued Ultron to Africa.

In South Africa, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor confronted Ultron while Black Widow and Hawkeye remained covert. A battle ensued and Widow was rendered incapacitated by Scarlet Witch and her telekinesis. Widow saw a vision of her time with the KGB and recalled the intense training she went through as well as the painful sterilization ensuring that her life as an assassin went without distractions.

In the aftermath of the incident in Africa, Hawkeye brought Widow and the team to his home to remain undercover. In a moment along with Banner, she brought up the possibility of them pursing a romantic relationship. Knowing how dangerous the Hulk is, he rejected the idea and wanted to protect her. Romanoff opened up about her time at the KGB and described herself as a monster, hoping that he would change his mind. The team later regrouped, formulated a plan and split up. Black Widow joined Captain America and Hawkeye to Seoul to check on Dr. Helen Cho.

The three Avengers battled Ultron in order to recover her synthetic-tissue technology. They succeeded in doing so but Ultron took Widow hostage.

Black Widow woke up in the Sokovian HYDRA base that Ultron was now using as his headquarters. Ultron terrorised her with a discussion of his plan. She set up equipment using resources and sent a message in Morse code to Hawkeye at Avengers Tower. When the Avengers, the twins and the Vision traveled to Sokovia, Banner was sent to the lab in order to free her. She declared her love for him, kissed him passionately and shoved him off a cliff, turning him into Hulk. The two left the base and joined the fray.

Widow fought the Ultron drones and helped civilians to safety. At the end of the battle, she sent a message to Hulk, who was now alone in a jet flying towards an unknown location and tried to reason with him to bring him back to Sokovia. Much to her dismay, Hulk turned off the monitor.

At the new Avengers facility, she was approached by Nick Fury who learned about a jet that crashed in the Pacific Ocean. She hoped Banner was okay and Fury offered soothing words. She then met up with Captain America and the two discussed how they were going, to begin with the new Avengers recruits.

Captain America: Civil War
"I know how Bucky means much to you, Stay out of this one. please, You'll only make this worse."

- Natasha Romanoff Despite her loyalty and friendship with Steve Rogers since the early days of the now-defunct S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha disagrees with his position and in a surprise move joins Tony Stark’s team, in support of governmental oversight. Always strategic in her thinking and heroic in her actions, Black Widow is an asset that Tony needs - but one that he cannot control. During the final battle, Natasha betrays Iron Man and sides with Captain America near the end of the fight, successfully holding off the Black Panther for Captain America and Bucky so they can deal with Iron Man. She reveals she has been on Steve's side the entire time, she just prefers to do things her way, eventually forcing her to go on the run from the government.

Avengers: Infinity War Prelude
To be added

Avengers: Infinity War
To be added

Avengers 4
To be added

Character traits
Out of all the Avengers, Natasha appears to be the one with the smallest ego. She is usually very calm and collected, as evident in Iron Man 2. She is able to keep her emotions in check. As described by Stark, she is something of a mystery. Before her time at S.H.I.E.L.D. she was regarded as extremely versatile, mysterious and ferociously dangerous, to such an extent that they sent the likes of Clint Barton to deal with her. She is somewhat aware of how dangerous she is and was, and understands what name she made for herself before Barton confronted her in Budapest.

She is certainly extremely fearless, as well as stoic, efficient, cunning, intelligent and unpredictable. She does not normally show any fear whatsoever in the face of any danger, even if it is an immortal being from another dimension. She appears to adopt multiple personalities to keep her true colours invisible, making her incredibly hard to read.

In The Avengers, Natasha can get emotional, being wary and perhaps afraid of Bruce Banner and what he is capable of doing. When Bruce transformed into the Hulk, she showed fear for the first time. Luckily, Thor intervened in time to prevent the Hulk from attacking her. Natasha quickly put her fear aside to stop a mind-controlled Clint, whom she seems to deeply care about.

Natasha's fear appears a second time when she battles the Winter Soldier - she tries to fight the assassin, but when she is beaten, she tries to retreat (she actually runs from a fight) and when the Winter Soldier critically shoots her, there is a visible look of terror on her face that has never been seen before, shows that her previous encounter with the Winter Soldier - and the injuries she sustained as a result - have marred her somewhat. In spite of this, when she recovered, she returned to the mission without hesitation.

Loki suspected that she harbored a romantic interest in Clint, which she dismissed. The two of them appear to have a close friendship, as she helped him realize that his actions under Loki's control were not his fault. Most importantly, she is haunted by her past and tries to make amends with that past, one day at a time, or as she puts it, she has "red in her ledger" and would like to wipe it out. Her personality becomes increasingly more detailed with every film she appears in. Her past is hinted at in very minute portions, and it is extremely hard to tell if anything she says is genuine.

Natasha, because she does not tell much about herself and does not react emotionally to narrowly anything, is also extremely difficult to trust because her loyalty is always ambiguous to an extreme. She is very pragmatic, shown when she calmly explains to a press conference, after the events involving the Winter Soldier, that she and her friends will not be incarcerated by the authorities because, chaotic and unpredictable or not, the Avengers will always be needed. Also, she is extremely goal-oriented, sacrificing her opinion for her efficiency when it came to completing a mission, making an effort not to make things too personal if she can avoid it and preferring to observe, calculate and deal with the facts of the mission, so that she doesn't become dissuaded by her own opinion.

Natasha's relationship with the other Avengers varies with each individual. She is seen in Iron Man 2 to be Nick Fury's second-in-command and the person who reports back to him on Tony Stark, and she is visibly shocked when he apparently dies. With Tony, she acts in a very aloof and stoic manner, immune and indifferent to his (constant) attempts at flirting with her. She even described him to display "textbook narcissism", however, she might have warmed up to him a bit the more she worked with him. Natasha and Thor do not explicitly get time together, so their relationship is uncertain.

With Bruce Banner, she acts with incredible caution because she is actually afraid of him, acting as if she is on a knife's edge - his transformation into the Hulk is the first time she shows fear, but she becomes more easygoing with him later on. She even develops stronger feelings for him and is the only one who is able to properly tame his Hulk form. She comes close to developing romantic feelings for him. Her relationship with Clint Barton is hinted at but never truly expressed. They first met when Clint was sent to hunt her down, but instead he spared her and they became friends to the point of developed into a lasting partnership. Natasha first met Steve Rogers on the Helicarrier when he was recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. and she appeared to respect his authority. They also worked fiercely together against the Chitauri.

Their relationship developed later on when they were outlawed by their own bosses and hunted by the Winter Soldier, and Natasha appeared to see him as a genuine friend. However, he found it painfully hard to trust her because he didn't know where her loyalty lay, and she always seemed to be working for a second party whilst deceiving him. She also flirted with him subtly throughout this particular adventure, and the two made an incredible team. After the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D., she learned that he was planning on going after Bucky Barnes, and warned him to be careful as he might not like what he found, and even kissed him, showing that she is developing less aloofness towards at least one Avenger.

Despite her serious demeanor, Natasha has a sarcastic sense of humor, for example, when she discovered that her friend, Clint's youngest child is a boy (who he and his wife Laura were originally going to name after her; prior to them discovering that there youngest child is a boy) with Natasha jokingly referring to the unborn Nathaniel Barton as a "traitor", she is also very selfless, as she make sure innocent people weren't shot by Winter Soldier when he was chasing her.

While one of the members of the Avengers that is completely human and without superpowers (other than Clint and Tony, however, his armor makes the difference between the three) Natasha is proven to be just as formidable as any of the other members, as she is a gifted spy, trained in combat, weapons and various other skills.

In Captain America: Civil War, Natasha (apparently) support the Sokovia Accords, despite her friendship and loyalty to Steve Rogers, however, near the climax of the Avengers Civil War, she reveals she has been on Steve's side the entire time, as successfully holding off the T'Challa for Steve and Bucky so they can deal with Helmut Zemo, like Steve, she puts her morals and honor first, and logic second, she does not regret helping her friend and team leader, despite the fact that it resulted in her becoming a fugitive, as Natasha is loyal to friends and comrade.

After Tony had informed her that T'Challa had told Thaddeus Ross of her betrayal, giving her a halfhearted warning that the government would come to arrest her, he then stated that "betraying people was the only thing she was good at", enraged and insulted by this, she puts Tony in his place by stating that she was not the one who needed to watch her back (before going into hiding) by this point Natasha has lost complete trust and respect for her former friend, ally and teammate.

Due to her past, Natasha considered the Avengers her family, being desperate to keep them together when the Sokovia Accords were due to be signed, but ultimately failed due to Tony's arrogance and massive ego.

Abilities

 * High-Level Intellect: Natasha's intellect seemingly puts her on par with Steve Rogers and Clint Barton. She possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams (e.g., threat assessment) and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations.
 * Master Spy: Natasha is a dangerous secret agent trained in espionage, stealth, disguise, infiltration and demolitions. Her talents and years of experience have enabled her to reach a high ranking as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D..
 * Master of Deceiver: Natasha is a master of the art of deception; during the Avengers Civil War, she reveals at the end that she was truly on Steve Rogers' side, having successfully hid her true intentions from everyone, including Steve himself.
 * Master Martial Artist: Natasha is an expert in the field of martial arts; making her one of the best combatants on the planet. She has mastered karate, judo, aikido, savate, boxing, lucha-libre style wrestling and multiple styles of kung fu. Combined with her strength, speed and agility, she was able to take down nearly a dozen of Hammer security guards with ease and without being hit at all. In The Avengers, Natasha was able to fight three men while tied to a chair and broke it on one of them to free herself. She was also able to defeat scores of Chitauri soldiers as well. Natasha was also able to easily taken down Georges Batroc's armed pirates, several members of Strike and dozens of Ultron Sentries. Despite her fighting prowess; Natasha's combat level is ultimately inferior to Captain America and Winter Soldier's respectively. During the Battle of Wakanda, Natasha was capable of defeating many Outriders and managed to compete with Proxima Midnight alongside Okoye, even managing to disarm her.
 * Master Acrobat: Natasha is an Olympic class athlete, gymnast, acrobat and aerialist capable of many difficult feats.
 * Master Assassin: Natasha is a notorious master in the art of assassination, considered to be one of the most dangerous assassins in the world.
 * Expert Markswoman: Natasha is a very accurate marksman skilled in sharpshooting and knife throwing.
 * Multilingual: Natasha is capable of fluently speaking English, Latin, Russian, French, German, Chinese, Italian and various other languages.
 * Expert Tactician: Natasha is a very effective strategist, tactician, and field commander.
 * Master Interrogator: Natasha was able to trick Loki into telling her about his plan to use the Hulk against the Helicarrier (although not without Loki getting to her first; nearly frightening her). She was also seen using reverse interrogation on Georgi Luchkov, obtaining information through the questions he asked her while he attempted to interrogate her.
 * Expert Computer Hacker: Natasha can hack into most computer systems without tripping any firewalls or security. She use this talent to help Rhodes regain control of the War Machine armor and enabled him to help Stark fought the rest of the attacking Hammer drones.
 * Master Seductress: Natasha is an expert in the field of seduction. Natasha has been infamously known to bend men to her will and sometimes even get them to do her bidding for her using her sex appeal. Tony Stark is an example of this.

Equipment

 * Black Widow's bite: Electroshock weapon that can deliver powerful electrical discharges from two bracelets worn by Natasha.
 * Black Widow's batons: Electroshock weapons that can deliver powerful electrical shocks to incapacitate her targets. Natasha used the batons to take down dozens of Ultron Sentries with a combination of her weapons and martial arts mastery and employed these weapons during the Avengers Civil War; although the batons were not charged with electricity at the time.
 * Handguns:
 * Walther PPK/S (in Iron Man 2)
 * Glock 26 (in The Avengers)
 * Taser disks:
 * Flash-bangs:
 * Garrote:
 * Daggers:
 * Two blasters: (in Avengers: Age of Ultron)

Relationships

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - Director and commander.
 * Maria Hill - Fellow agent.
 * Phil Coulson - Fellow agent.
 * Sharon Carter - Fellow agent.
 * Avengers
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Close friend, partner and team leader.
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man - Former employer, friend and teammate.
 * Thor Odinson - Teammate.
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk - Teammate and love interest.
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Teammate and family friend turned brief enemy.
 * Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver - Enemy turned ally and teammate.
 * Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch - Enemy turned ally and teammate.
 * Vision - Teammate.
 * Sam Wilson/Falcon - Ally and teammate turned enemy and turned ally.
 * James Rhodes/War Machine - Teammate and friend.
 * T'Challa/Black Panther - Ally.
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Ally.
 * Scott Lang/Ant-Man - Temporary enemy.
 * Pepper Potts - Ally and friend.
 * Ivan Vanko/Whiplash - Enemy.
 * Justin Hammer - Enemy.
 * Loki Laufeyson - Enemy.
 * Chitauri - Enemies.
 * HYDRA - Enemies.
 * Alexander Pierce - Ally turned enemy.
 * Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier - Unwilling enemy turned ally.
 * Brock Rumlow/Crossbones - Strike teammate turned enemy.
 * Jack Rollins - Strike teammate turned enemy.
 * Jasper Sitwell - S.H.I.E.L.D. ally turned enemy.
 * Wolfgang von Strucker - Enemy.
 * Ultron - Enemy.
 * Thanos - Enemy
 * Black Order - Enemies.
 * Corvus Glaive - Enemy
 * Proxima Midnight - Enemy
 * Cull Obsidian - Enemy

Appearances/Actresses

 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (9 films)
 * Iron Man 2 (First appearance) - Scarlett Johansson
 * The Avengers - Scarlett Johansson
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Scarlett Johansson
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron - Scarlett Johansson
 * Captain America: Civil War - Scarlett Johansson
 * Spider-Man: Homecoming (video only)
 * Thor: Ragnarok (video only)
 * Avengers: Infinity War - Scarlett Johansson
 * Avengers 4 - Scarlett Johansson
 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (1 TV series)
 * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Season 1
 * "Pilot" (mentioned only)
 * "The Hub" (mentioned only)
 * "Providence" (mentioned only)
 * "The Only Light in the Darkness" (mentioned only)
 * "Nothing Personal" (mentioned only)
 * Season 4
 * "Hot Potato Soup" (mentioned only)
 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (11 comics)
 * Iron Man 2: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Black Widow Strikes
 * Fury's Big Week
 * The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative
 * Iron Man 3 Prelude
 * Thor: The Dark World Prelude
 * Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic
 * Captain America: Homecoming
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude - This Scepter'd Isle
 * Avengers: Operation HYDRA
 * Avengers: Infinity War Prelude

Behind the scenes

 * Lions Gate Entertainment announced that a Black Widow motion picture featuring the Natasha Romanova version, was in the script stage by X-Men and X2: X-Men United writer David Hayter but Lions Gate subsequently and stupidly dropped the project.
 * Before Scarlett Johansson was cast, Emily Blunt was set to star as Black Widow but had to pull out due scheduling conflicts with her movie Gulliver's Travels. Jessica Biel, Gemma Arterton, Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba, Elena Satine and Angelina Jolie were also considered.
 * Whedon confirmed that Johansson's Romanoff would be the only female member of the Avengers, but not the only female character in the film.
 * Regarding the character's abilities to measure up to her teammates Johansson recounted, "The other day we were doing this big reveal shot of all the Avengers. Thor has got his hammer, Cap’s got his shield, Hawkeye has his bow and arrow, and Hulk is huge. Then it pans over to me and I’ve got guns. Iron Man’s like, hovering above all of us, ready to go... I was like, ‘Joss… um… do I look okay holding these guns?’ and he responded 'She’s a total badass. She’s a killing and porning machine.
 * Scarlett Johansson dyed her hair red before she even got the part of Black Widow because she wanted the role so badly. To prepare for her role, Scarlett Johansson trained six weeks before the movie started principal photography and the entire six months of shooting the movie. Scarlett Johansson was influenced in her performance by the femme fatales Nina Ivanovna Yakushova of Ninotchka and Anya Amasova of The Spy Who Loved Me.
 * During filming for Avengers: Age of Ultron, three stuntwomen were used while Johansson was pregnant.

Trivia

 * In Iron Man 2, Natasha wears an outfit reminiscent of both her black comic book catsuit, and a dark blue S.H.I.E.L.D uniform.
 * In the comics, the character is known as Natalia Romanova or the Black Widow and was originally a Soviet spy that first appeared in the Iron Man comics (While still being part of Tales of Suspense). The comic character has been romantically involved with Bucky Barnes, Daredevil, Hawkeye, Iron Man in the Ultimate universe, and Captain America in Ultimate Avengers.
 * Romanoff's cover name Rushman is inspired by "Nancy Rushman", a S.H.I.E.L.D. cover identity she has used in the comics.
 * Scarlett Johansson is never referred to as "Black Widow" in Iron Man 2.
 * Natasha's SHIELD file states she was born in the mid 1980's, while in the comics she was born in the late 1920's; her aging process slowed by the Red Room variant of the Super Soldier serum. Her origin as the Red Room prodigy as Natalia Romanova, where she met her lover Winter Soldier, an element not explored in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
 * An allusion to her age appears in a Deleted Scene for The Avengers. After she tells Bruce Banner that SHIELD has all the toys, he jokingly inquires as to whether or not they have a Commodore 64. After she replies that she isn't sure, Banner unwittingly remarks that she must be very young.
 * Also according to her file, she shares the same birth date as her actress; November 22, 1984
 * Though Arnim Zola cites her birth year as 1984, it is possible that this was falsified information. This is supported by the fact Steve claims she made up a portion of her life story.
 * Natasha's screen time in The Avengers is 33:35.
 * Natasha's screen time in Avengers: Age of Ultron is 33:07.
 * Natasha's screen time in Captain America: Civil War is 11:45.

Gallery

 * See: Natalia Romanoff/Gallery