5 Interesting Facts About Black Widow

Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanoff AKA Natalia Romanova, is one of the best female heroes in comic book history. Thanks to a plethora of comic book runs and a kick-ass performance from Scarlett Johansson, the Black Widow has gone from an obscure femme fatale to a household name overnight.

But despite this newfound fame, there is still so much that people don't know about Natasha Romanoff. So whether you've seen all the MCU movies or read all the Black Widow comic books, people are discovering more obscure facts about our favorite Russian spy.

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For all of you looking to dip your toes into the shadowy world of Natasha Romanoff, here are some obscure facts about the Black Widow to get you started.

1. 'Black Widow' 2004

Black Widow might have had to wait a few years for her solo film debut in the MCU, but did you know that we almost had a Black Widow film as early as 2004? In the early 2000s, film production giant Lionsgate Films bought the rights off Marvel Studios and hired David Hayter (writer of X-Men and X-Men 2) to write the film.

The script apparently would have seen Natasha adopted and trained by a shadowy organization and given powers via a 'Widow Suit' and a super serum before she eventually turned on her employers - very Kill Bill, no However, the film was not meant to be as Lionsgate eventually pulled the plug - losing faith in the project's potential following the bombs of other female-led action films like Tomb Raider, Bloodrayne, and Ultraviolet.

2. Scarlett Johansson Nearly Didn't Get The Role

The Internet is full of stories about actors who almost didn't get their roles, especially in the MCU. But for Scarlett Johansson, her casting as Widow is definitely one of the closer ones. When preparations for Iron Man 2 were underway, Emily Blunt had been "officially" signed onto the role and was about to start filming but was forced to bow out due to some scheduling conflicts with another film - Gulliver's Travels.

Thankfully, after another whirlwind round of auditions, Johansson was able to step in. Stories say that she was so excited about the role that Johansson dyed her hair red before she was even cast! Johansson was immediately given roles in upcoming MCU films, and Emily Blunt was...well, we all know how Gullivers Travels went...

3. Widow-Devil?

Black Widow's dating history is as storied as it is tragic, but perhaps none as storied as her 'fling' with Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil - both in-comic and behind-the-scenes - and they were also the first unmarried couple to live together in comic book history. Following a whirlwind series of adventures from Daredevil #81, Daredevil and Black Widow fell for each other in a fiery, unexpected romance, leading to the Man Without Fear parting ways then-former fiancee, Karen Page, and his moving in with Widow in San Francisco.

The only issue was the time of the comics publication, the early 1970s, it was rare for an unmarried couple to live together, so there was some controversy behind the scenes of the comic. To address the issue, the editors went out of their way to state, mid-comic, that Matt and Natasha would be living on separate floors of the house - with Matt even sharing a room with Natasha's butler, Ivan.

Ah, nothing says "whirlwind romance" like a Comics Code conservatism huh?

4. Age Matters Not(?)

While most diehard Marvel Comics fans may know this, many people don't realize that Black Widow is much older than she looks. In Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1, it was revealed that our femme fatale was born in 1928 - orphaned following an attack on her birth city of Stalingrad and taken in by a young soldier, Ivan Petrovich, before being recruited into the Red Room Academy AKA The Black Widow Program.

This means that Natasha is just six years younger than Captain America, AKA Steve Rogers (born in 1922), who managed to skip 70-80 years by being frozen in ice, whereas Widow lived through those years. Widow credits her youth and longevity to the Soviet super-soldier serum given to her at the end of her training in the Black Widow Program.

Funny, I would have guessed it was from the blood of her enemies...

5. Not The First Black Widow

Widow has had a somewhat crazy origin, but so has her namesake. Strangely enough, Natasha Romanoff is simultaneously the first and the second to hold the moniker of Black Widow in Marvel Comics. How is this possible, you ask?

Well, it turns out that there was another character called Black Widow who debuted in Mystic Comics in 1940 - a vengeful medium named Claire Voyant (ha-ha) who was sponsored by the big bad, Satan himself. While not a household name like Black Widow, the character has since made a few appearances over the last fifty years, though not as successful as Natasha Romanoff.

And so that concludes our list of 5 Interesting Facts About Black Widow. For more articles like this or the biggest news from the best fandoms, don't forget to keep up with Culture Slate and follow us on our social media pages.

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Written by Kyle Chapman

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