Black Widow

"Nothing lasts forever."

- Black Widow

Natalia Alianovna "Natasha" Romanoff, better known as Black Widow, is one of the best spies and assassins in the world. Originally an agent of the Soviet spy agency, the KGB; she later became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., the international counter-intelligence agency. Having extensive mastery in the martial arts and armed with her Widow's Bite, Black Widow was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most talented agents. When Loki declared war on Earth, Black Widow joined the Avengers and helped to defend New York City.

After the Avengers defeated Loki, she continued her work with S.H.I.E.L.D., this time working with fellow agent Captain America. After the HYDRA Uprising, which resulted in all of her morally dubious history being revealed to the world, she dropped off the grid to begin rebuilding her cover. She later rejoined with the Avengers, working to bring down various HYDRA cells across the world and the rogue artificial intelligence Ultron. Unlike most members of the original Avengers, Black Widow remained as a member of the second incarnation of the team after the War against Ultron.

Early Life
"I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."

- Black Widow

Natalia Alianovna Romanoff was born on November 22, 1984 in Stalingrad, as Samuel Sterns managed to identify her exact birthplace from a hint of accent in her voice.

Red Room Academy
"We have no place in the world."

- Natalia Alianovna Romanoff

At a young age, Romanoff was recruited to the KGB. At the Red Room Academy, she endured both an education and indoctrination into the world of spy-craft. Romanoff excelled in this strict training environment and soon became regarded as a master spy and one of the world's greatest assassins. Her ruthless effectiveness in later years earned her the code name, Black Widow. As a final ceremony to complete her training, Romanoff was sterilized, as to avoid any distractions and focus solely on her missions, something she deeply regretted later in her life.

Due to both her expertise and her growing threat to global security, Romanoff quickly appeared on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar, prompting Director Nick Fury to send Agent Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye, to eliminate her. Hawkeye disobeyed this order, recognizing her skill, and recommended her for recruitment for S.H.I.E.L.D.. At the behest of Director Fury, Romanoff later defected from Russia and joined the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D.. From that moment on, she developed a lasting partnership with Barton. Together they had missions in Budapest, Abidjan and many other locations. Natalia eventually started going by the name "Natasha".

The Winter Soldier
"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot at my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me."

- Natasha Romanoff to Steve Rogers

In 2009, when she was assigned to protect a nuclear scientist, she was attacked by the mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier, who was sent to kill the scientist. Though she and the scientist were pushed over a cliff, Romanoff managed to save both herself and the man she was protecting. Seeing this, the Winter Soldier fired a single round through Romanoff's stomach and into the scientist, effectively killing him.

Natalie Rushman
"I'm surprised you can keep your mouth shut." "God you're good. You are mind blowingly duplicitous. How do you do it? You're a triple impostor, I've never seen anything like it. Is there anything real about you? Do you even speak Latin?" "Fallaces sunt rerum species et hominum spes fallunt." "Which means? Wait, what did you just say?" "It means you can either drive yourself home or I can have you collected."

- Black Widow and Tony Stark

In 2011, Romanoff was on one of her usual missions, sent to ruin an operation of the Ten Rings. She boarded the Ten Rings plane and caused its explosion. Later, she was sent by Nick Fury to infiltrate Stark Industries under the guise of Natalie Rushman. She was hired as a notary public by Secretary Bambi Arbogast. Romanoff worked her way at getting to Tony Stark in many ways, including secretly making her co-worker, Samantha Carlisle, sick in order to deliver documents to Stark. The ulterior motive for her employment was for her to keep an eye on Tony Stark after he signed his company over to Pepper Potts. In reality, Romanoff had been assigned to assess whether he was suitable for a plan to bring together a group of people with unparalleled talents. Stark ran a search on her and discovered that she was fluent in French, Russian, and Latin and had done some modeling in Japan. Romanoff became Stark's new assistant while he was in Monaco; then when she flirted with him at his birthday party, he started to get suspicious about her origin. At Stark's party, she was convinced to try on an Iron Man glove and shoot it. Eventually, Stark put on the full Iron Man suit which angered James Rhodes, who stole another suit and challenged Stark to a fight. During Stark's and Rhodes' Duel at Tony Stark's Mansion, Romanoff contacted Director Nick Fury and debriefed him on the situation. When he offered to come, she told him not to. Dressed in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, she arrived at a meeting Nick Fury was having with Tony Stark in Randy's Donuts, where Fury revealed her true name. Romanoff gave Stark a serum which postponed the effects of the Arc Reactor's radiation, which was poisoning his body.

Later, Romanoff, along with Fury and Phil Coulson, went to Tony Stark's Mansion and she was told by Fury that she was to remain in position as an assistant. Later at Stark Industries, while Stark was visiting Pepper Potts, Romanoff walked in and requested for Potts to sign something. When Potts left, Stark started to grill Romanoff and told her that he found it amazing that she does what she does. When he claimed that she could not speak other languages, she replied in Latin, then repeated herself in English, telling him that he could, "Either get, or be collected". At the Stark Expo, Romanoff was in attendance when Ivan Vanko started to control the Hammer Drones; she went with Happy Hogan to go to Hammer Industries Headquarters. She changed into a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform during the car ride with Hogan trying to watch while driving. Romanoff broke into Hammer Industries, with Hogan taking out one man only to find that she had taken out several others. She managed to get control over Rhodes' battle suit. She then retrieved Hammer Industries data before Ivan Vanko's bombs went off.

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

- Natasha Romanoff

Returning to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters with the data, she was given orders by a stressed Nick Fury to go to Culver University and watch over Bruce Banner. She arrived and witnessed Banner get locked in the bridge by General Thaddeus 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 was forced to deploy Natasha to Grayburn College 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 Banner and was taking him away in a helicopter. Romanoff was then ordered to make sure that Banner did not leave anything for Samuel Sterns, with whom he had recently been, 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 Sterns, whose 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, Romanoff shot him in 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 dispatched to Asia.

Back in Russia
"And...what do you get out of this if you "win"?" "Oh, I'm sorry--didn't I mention? If I win, I take over the mantle of "Black Widow"."

- Natasha Romanoff and Sofia

Once again on a mission, Black Widow arrived in Moscow, Russia, where she searched for missing Stark Industries technology. Disguised as Tatiana Sokolova, she worked at a night club. While trying to interrogate Mikhail Fjodorov, one of the world's most successful illegal arms dealers, Fjodorov was killed by an unknown woman and Romanoff was forced to leave the club via the roof, fighting several security men. After she returned to a hotel, she was attacked by a team of masked mercenaries, but she defeated them and received a SIM card to reach the mysterious woman she has seen in the night club. Later, Black Widow talked to the woman named Sofia, and learned that she is a "fan" and wants to take over the name "Black Widow". Romanoff agreed to meet with Sofia and broke all her contacts with S.H.I.E.L.D.

A few days later, Romanoff confronted Sofia in a sport hall in Sochi, where she almost drowned in cold water, but she was saved at the last moment by Phil Coulson, who was following a pair of goons working for the arms dealer General Starodoub. Coulson gave Romanoff the necessary equipment to infiltrate the yacht belonging to Yuri Klementiev, one of General Starodoub's business partners, where she met Sofia again, an encounter which cost them the life of agent Gennady Markov.

When Coulson discovered that Sofia's employer was the billionaire Richard Frampton, Natasha infiltrated his headquarters in Vladivostok. She discovered that Frampton works for the Ten Rings terrorist organization and that he had made a Jericho missile that would explode near the border between Russia and North Korea, greatly destabilizing the world peace. Romanoff infiltrated the launching area and destroyed the missile. Both Frampton and Sofia were killed in the explosion.

Security
Ignorant that Nick Fury had ordered Hawkeye to check the security of the Avengers Initiative database, Black Widow attacked Barton when he infiltrated the Helicarrier while wearing a mask. Fury arrived and stopped the scuffle; the three then discussed Fury's choices for the Avengers.

Interrogation
"I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy." "Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me." "Oh, I've got Stark. You get the big guy." "Bohze moi!"

- Phil Coulson and Black Widow

Romanoff's next target was Georgi Luchkov, the corrupt Russian general who illegally sold weapons to the highest bidder. She allowed herself to be captured by Luchkov's thugs, and while Luchkov interrogated her, he unknowingly spilled all of his secrets. Phil Coulson then called to inform her that she was to collect Bruce Banner, letting her know that Clint Barton was compromised as incentive. Romanoff immediately freed herself and captured Luchkov and his men. She traveled to Banner's hidden location in Kolkata, India. She had a child to act as if her father was sick to lead him into an abandoned house. Romanoff calmly introduced herself and explained the situation to Banner. When Romanoff tried to assure Banner that he would not be imprisoned, Banner mocked rage to test her reaction; she pulled a gun on him and aimed it at his head, but Banner calmly explained he was testing her. Romanoff was able to convince Banner to come into S.H.I.E.L.D. and ordered the agents outside to stand down. Romanoff brought Banner onto the Helicarrier, where she met Steve Rogers for the first time. She introduced Banner to Rogers and recommended that they move inside just as the Helicarrier took off into the sky. Inside the Helicarrier Romanoff showed Banner to his lab and continued to search for Clint Barton.

Capturing Loki
"Loki drop the weapon and stand down."

- Black Widow to Loki

S.H.I.E.L.D. located Loki in Stuttgart, Germany and Romanoff flew on Quinjet to this location with Steve Rogers. They eventually arrived and Rogers fought against Loki, but then Tony Stark came and they succeed to capture him. In their way back to the Helicarrier, Thor suddenly entered into the plane and took with him Loki. Rogers and Stark retrieved him after the two and Thor realized that they were on the same side.

Attack on the Helicarrier
"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian, or I was." "And what are you now?" "It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out." "Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything."

- Black Widow and Loki

Romanoff approached the enemy, demigod Loki, in his cell, putting on an act by breaking down her barriers and revealing her emotions for Clint Barton, for whom she owes a life debt. Using this tactic, Romanoff was able to trick Loki into revealing that he planned on unleashing Banner's monstrous alter-ego, the Hulk. Afterwards, after an argument between the group, Barton, under the control of Loki, detonated a bomb on the S.H.I.E.L.D. ship which trapped Romanoff and caused Banner to transform into the Hulk. She attempted to fend herself off from the Hulk and barely did, but was subsequently knocked out. After waking up, she was forced to take on Barton in hand to hand combat and was able to knock him out, breaking Loki's hold of him.

Battle of New York
"Just like Budapest, all over again." "You and I remember Budapest very differently."

- Black Widow and Hawkeye

Black Widow was prepared to fight Loki beside the other Avengers and his Chitauri army, though being a spy and not a soldier. Hawkeye flew her and Captain America into New York in a Quinjet where a portal had already opened over the city, allowing thousands of aliens to enter and attack. Loki managed to shoot the Quinjet out of the sky and the team fought the extraterrestrials on the ground. While Captain America ran to order the New York City Police Department to protect the civilians, she and Hawkeye held off the advancing ground troops. Romanoff remarked that the battle was similar to one they had in Budapest many years ago. When the others arrived, Captain America ordered that Black Widow and he would stay on the street to protect the people and keep the fight where they could control it. She and Captain America fought hard; Widow used her Black Widow's Bite and guns to kill dozens of Chitauri soldiers. However, the fight was almost too exhausting for her. After a while the plan of keeping the fight contained proved meaningless; she decided to obtain one of the Chitauri Chariots and fly it to Stark Tower. On the way she was chased by Loki and called on Hawkeye to shoot him out of the sky. She eventually made it to Stark Tower where the portal to their dark world was open and met Erik Selvig, who had come out of the mind control. Together, using Loki's scepter, they closed the portal for good, ending the invasion.

After all of the trouble was dissipated, the Avengers went to the Shawarma Palace. They were interrupted by War Machine, who arrived too late to help in the battle. After the Avengers went their separate ways, she and Barton left together.

Zodiac
"A lie, yes... but well intentioned."

- Natasha Romanoff

After participating in the Battle of New York, Romanoff became partners with Captain America and they ran many operations together. One such operation occurred upon the theft of the Zodiac weapon from S.H.I.E.L.D.

Romanoff infiltrated the terrorist cell of a man named "Baker" using the alias "Audrey". Posing as Audrey, she 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, Romanoff alerted Captain America.

Romanoff, Rogers 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.

Brooklyn
"My work for S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken me all over the world...and that is, without a doubt, not just the best milk shake in Brooklyn...but on the whole darn planet."

- Natasha Romanoff to Steve Rogers

After receiving intel that Nobel prize winning scientist Sana Amanat was going to be abducted. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury dispatched Romanoff and Steve Rogers to Rogers' old Brooklyn neighborhood on protection detail.

Under the guise of Rogers showing Romanoff 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.

Fighting the Pirates
"Doing anything fun Saturday night?" "Well, all the guys in my barbershop quartet are dead, so no, not really."

- Black Widow and Captain America

Two years after the battle of New York, Romanoff and Captain America were sent with the STRIKE team to liberate the Lemurian Star, the S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel in the Indian Ocean that was highjacked by pirates led by Georges Batroc. However, Romanoff's real mission was to retrieve confidential protected S.H.I.E.L.D. files in a flash drive.

On the Run from S.H.I.E.L.D
"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." "What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" "The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."

- Arnim Zola and Natasha Romanoff

Romanoff took Nick Fury's USB that Rogers left hidden in the hospital. When Rogers arrived later, she told him the masked man who killed Fury was a spy known as the Winter Soldier and she had encountered him once before. She decided to follow Cap. They went to an internet cafe to see if there was any valuable information on the drive. But they, as Fury did, found nothing. However they did find the location where the USB could be unlocked. Brock Rumlow and his team attempted to find them but failed to do so. On the way out Romanoff made Rogers kiss her to make oncoming STRIKE agents avert their gaze.

They stole a car and drove to Camp Lehigh, the army camp where Rogers had trained during World War II. There, they found a secret storage room full of old computers inside an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. office. In there they found a more modern looking USB slot and they put the USB in. The computers powered up and someone began to talk to them. The voice turned out to be Arnim Zola, who told them that he was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. after World War II and that he helped to rebuild HYDRA, inside S.H.I.E.L.D. In the 1970s, after being told he would soon die, he transferred his mind into a computer. He had been working on an algorithm that HYDRA wanted. He told them that some of the deaths of S.H.I.E.L.D leaders had been due to HYDRA, showing them a picture of Howard Stark, implying that his death might not have been an accident. Romanoff learned Zola was also involved in the Winter Soldier program. But before Rogers and Romanoff could get any more information out of Zola, S.H.I.E.L.D stormed in and blew up the base. They survived the explosion and sought refuge with Sam Wilson.

They went back to Washington, D.C. and interrogated Agent Jasper Sitwell who was a HYDRA agent. Sitwell told them that HYDRA was going to use Project Insight as a weapon to eliminate what they saw as threats against the world.

Return of the Winter Soldier
"We have to stop the launch." "I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore."

- Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury

Romanoff, Captain America and Falcon attempted to infiltrate the Triskelion but were attacked by the Winter Soldier and his men. The Winter Soldier successfully crashed their car and threw both Captain America and Romanoff off the bridge; Romanoff began to shoot at the Winter Soldier and fled. A battle broke out and Romanoff fought the Winter Solider in hand to hand combat; although she was able to use her skills as a former spy to use deception and gadgets to gain the upper hand against her opponent she was shot in the shoulder. Captain America saved her and fought the Winter Soldier himself until he got away. Eventually Rogers, Black Widow and Falcon were taken into custody, but were rescued by Maria Hill. Agent Hill took them to a secret facility where an alive Nick Fury shocked Romanoff. Hill and Fury revealed that there was a plan in place to stop Project Insight. To stop Project Insight, Romanoff used a Photostatic Veil to disguise herself as Councilwoman Hawley, a World Security Council member. After Captain America revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised, the council was held by STRIKE until she took them down. She then proceeded to dump all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files on the internet, pausing only to summon Nick Fury, to help her get around the encryption on the files. She then picked up Falcon in a helicopter after his fight with HYDRA infiltrator, Brock Rumlow.

A New Start
"You need us. Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and yes we help make it that way, but we're also the ones best qualified to defend it. So if you want to arrest me, arrest me. You'll know where to find me."

- Natasha Romanoff to Wenham

Natasha Romanoff was present at a government inquiry into the HYDRA affair. At the inquiry Romanoff stated that her and the other agents that fought against HYDRA in the HYDRA Uprising would not be arrested because they are the best qualified to protect the world. Now that her secrets were revealed to the world, she needed a new identity.

One Last Favor
"That thing you asked for, I called in a few favors from Kiev. Will you do me a favor? Call that nurse." "She's not a nurse." "And you're not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

- Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers

At the request of Captain America, she contacted some of her acquaintances in Kiev who sent her an old Russian top secret document about the Winter Soldier. Later, she stopped by Fury's fake grave to give the document to Rogers and kissed him goodbye. A few months later, after Phil Coulson's reorganization of S.H.I.E.L.D., Romanoff was called by Agent Melinda May.

Fighting HYDRA
Romanoff was in Sudan when she hijacked a plane carrying HYDRA operatives meeting with Doctor Jensen who had perfected a weapon using Chitauri technology. Finding a platoon of armed soldiers there, Romanoff had J.A.R.V.I.S. assemble the Avengers to provide her with assistance. Ultimately, the Avengers and Romnoff defeated HYDRA and Jensen and destroyed her weapon. With the rising threat of HYDRA, the Avengers team was officially reassembled, with the financial backing of Tony Stark. Using the former Stark Tower, now renamed Avengers Tower, as their headquarters, they embarked on several missions to thwart HYDRA's plans for world domination.

Their next mission together was to recapture the Scepter from Baron Wolfgang von Strucker's HYDRA Base. Romanoff fought the HYDRA soldiers and when Hawkeye was injured, she called the others for aid. When the battle was won, she approached the Hulk and used the lullaby method to calm him down so he transformed back into Bruce Banner.

Celebration
"What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" "A guy did me wrong. There've been a lot of people in my life, all of them fighters. Then there comes this guy, who's not like anyone I've ever met; he doesn't want to be a fighter."

- Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff

Tony Stark organized a party in Avengers Tower to celebrate their victory against Strucker and obtaining the Scepter. During the Party, Romanoff flirted with Bruce Banner, so he would understand that she had feelings for him. Trying to lift Mjølnir was a game the Avengers decided to play at the party. When Bruce Banner's turn came, he declined and pointed to Romanoff, sitting beside him. As she drank her beer, she politely declined.

Attack on Avengers Tower
The game was interrupted when one of Tony Stark's Iron Legion made a surprise appearance, and after admitting that it was the result of Stark's Ultron Program mixed with his research into the scepter, it and several more like it, attacked the group. Romanoff took cover behind the wet bar and drew a pistol concealed there to help with the fight, interrupted briefly at one point to drag Bruce Banner in after her. However, the attack was a diversion, and one of the robots made off with the scepter while the Avengers and their friends were engaged in battle.

Argument
"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

- Natasha Romanoff

After the brief fight, the team discussed what had occurred. Romanoff said that Ultron had deleted all their files and that he was in the surveillance. She also said that he maybe knew about them more they knew about each other. Tony Stark admitted his involvement in the creation of Ultron, although he still strongly defended the idea as he believed it was a beneficial plan to save the world. Thor, clearly furious at Stark's recklessness, charged in and grabbed Stark by the throat, but Steve Rogers was able to calm him down.

The team later learned that Ultron had sent them a message by murdering Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and leaving the word PEACE written in his blood. Together they worked out that Ultron would be going after Vibranium and he would get that from Ulysses Klaue in Johannesburg.

Battle at the Salvage Yard
When reports of robots attacking sources of Vibranium began surfacing, the Avengers raced to a coastal scrapyard in Africa where Stark believed that a substantial quantity of the rare metal might be stored. They arrived shortly after the A.I. and its two enhanced allies, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. A fight broke out with the Avengers trying to stop Ultron taking vibranium from the site, and Romanoff found herself incapacitated by Wanda's power to instil nightmare visions. She languished in a scene from her past while the fight carried on around her and the enemy made their escape.

Retreat
Still haunted by the ghosts of her past, Romanoff had a welcome respite when Clint Barton took the group to his farm, and the laughter of his two children welcoming their "Aunty Natasha" helped to wash away her troubles. She also had time to speak privately with Banner and discuss their feelings for each other, even suggesting that they could depart together, but Banner was quick to point out that there was nowhere that she could be safe with him. Nick Fury also arrived at the farm and spoke with the group at length about stopping Ultron.

Battle of Seoul
"Am I always picking after you boys?"

- Black Widow

After Banner made the observation that Ultron was trying to evolve, the remaining Avengers split into two groups, with Black Widow joining Captain America and Hawkeye in a bid to stop Ultron obtaining cellular regeneration technology in South Korea. The trio raced for their objective, and found that Ultron's plan to create a new android body for itself were already well underway, but the Avengers' arrival caused it to grab the body and flee. Hawkeye located Ultron escaping in a truck trailer in heavy traffic, and when a window of opportunity presented itself, Romanoff dropped to the streets on a motorcycle to pursue it herself. She and Rogers managed to jointly fend off a number of Ultron Sentries, and although Romanoff was successful in delivering the dormant android to Hawkeye, she was captured by Ultron shortly thereafter.

Kidnapped and Rescued
When she awoke, Romanoff found that she had been transported back to Sokovia, where Ultron made a show of demonstrating his latest upgrade before confining her to a cell. She turned to using an old Cold War-era communication technique in a bid to expose her location without being detected, but could do little else but sit and wait. Hawkeye eventually received her signal, and eventually she was treated to the welcome sight of Bruce Banner sneaking in alone to free her while the other Avengers, and their new members, made a show of confronting Ultron outside. Romanoff forced Banner's transformation into the Hulk, and then they too joined the fight to stop the A.I..

Battle of Sokovia
"Well, it's not like we ever had a place in the world..."

- Black Widow

The Avengers fought hard to break the ranks of Ultron Sentries in Novi Grad. Black Widow used her martial arts mastery and weapons, along with her new taser batons, to fight the robots alongside her fellow teammates. As the battle wound down, Black Widow and Hawkeye turned their attention to evacuating the civilian populace, but soon she received the call to "sing a lullaby" to the Hulk, and calm him back to his human state. Her calming technique was interrupted by Ultron, at the controls of the Avengers' own Quinjet, raking the Hulk with gunfire. The Hulk grabbed Romanoff and bore her to safety on a newly arrived S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier before leaping after Ultron to vent his rage. Romanoff soon learned that the Hulk had beaten Ultron in the departing Quinjet and appealed to him through a video link to disengage the plane's stealth technology, but the Hulk simply severed the connection.

New Avengers
"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees." "We've got some hitters." "They're good; they're not a team." "Let's beat 'em into shape."

- Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff discussing the new roster of Avengers

With the War against Ultron finished, Romanoff returned to the New Avengers Facility with the rest of her teammates. With her plan to run away with Banner having failed, and Banner missing in action, she had nothing else but to remain a superhero. She joined Captain America in co-leading the second incarnation of the Avengers featuring Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Vision and Falcon.

Personality
"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is. Yeah. Who do you want me to be?"

- Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff

The entirety of Romanoff's character is hard to distinguish based on how she lies and tricks people for a living. She is capable of convincingly portraying friendly and flirtatious, timid, vulnerable and scared. For the most part, she is a level headed, strong-willed and independent woman. Romanoff normally maintains a controlled, almost emotionless persona to keep whatever she is thinking a secret unless she is around people she absolutely trusts. Although she is more than willing to rush into deadly battle and other unnerving missions for S.H.I.E.L.D., she is not completely fearless as she was visibly frightened of Hulk, although she is no longer afraid of him due to falling in love with Bruce Banner.

Though a very serious agent, Romanoff is by no means stuffy and has a sarcastic sense of humor which is mostly when she is with Captain America and Hawkeye with whom she seems comfortable. Romanoff is very smart and loyal which is displayed when she made good on the debts she owed Barton and Rogers (saving the former from Loki's mind control and trying to protect the latter during a highway assault). While tough and at times ruthless, she is still a good person and can be quite heroic in her own right. These qualities are usually brought out by her other Avengers, mainly her missions with Steve Rogers. And no matter how injured she is in battle, Romanoff will go out her way to make sure bystanders are out of harm's way (keeping several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents away when Banner was transforming into the Hulk, helping Hawkeye evacuate civilians when the Chitauri was attacking Manhattan, and risking her life to make sure innocent people weren't shot by the Winter Soldier when he was chasing her).

Romanoff is also very close with Clint Barton's family, especially with his and Laura Barton's only daughter, Lila, being the only member of Avengers who knew of their existence. Romanoff is genuinely affectionate with the child, hugging her the moment they reunite and sweetly commended the little girl on the drawing she made. They originally named their youngest child after Romanoff prior to them discovering that it was in fact a boy, thus naming him Nathaniel instead, with Romanoff humorously referring to the unborn child as a "traitor".

Romanoff was sterilized as a rite-of-passage for her graduation from the training she underwent in the Red Room. This event deeply affected her, tearfully telling Banner of the so-called advantages of the procedure and even going on to say that she is a monster because of it.

Abilities
Natasha Romanoff is one of the most talented spies and lethal assassins in the world, being said by her instructor Madame B. to be the best student in the Red Room, never failing a single test. Both the KGB and S.H.I.E.L.D. considered her as one of their most dangerous operatives. Highly skilled in martial arts and hand to hand combat, she also possesses computer hacking skills and training in psychology. Romanoff's extraordinary skill-set has made her a core member of the Avengers, despite not being applied to the initiative. "There's not many people who can sneak up on me."

- Loki

"I could use a boost."
 * Master Spy: Romanoff is a dangerous secret agent highly skilled in espionage, stealth, disguise, infiltration, and demolitions. Her talents and years of experience have enabled her to reach a high ranking as a special agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. She often resorts to seduce men to obtain her goals while working undercover, such as when she posed as an assistant to evaluate Tony Stark for the Avengers Initiative. Romanoff's skills are so legendary that Nick Fury created a Lie Detector that he hoped she could not deceive.
 * Master Martial Artist: Romanoff is extremely skilled in the field of martial arts, having mastered arts such as, , , , , and multiple styles of . She has easily taken down many enemies, such as dozens of Hammer Industries security guards, Georges Batroc's armed pirates, several members of STRIKE, dozens of Ultron Sentries, and even the hordes of Chitauri soldiers that invaded New York City. She is skilled enough to be able to defeat Clint Barton in combat when he was under Loki's influence, and she even held her own against the much stronger Winter Soldier.

- Black Widow

"You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers."
 * Master Acrobat: Romanoff incorporates gymnastics and acrobatics into her fighting style as she battles opponents. During her fight within Hammer Industries Headquarters, Romanoff used these skills to defeat the guards. During the War for Earth, she got to ride a Chitauri Chariot by using her acrobatics to commandeer it.

- Loki

"Thank you for your cooperation."
 * Master Assassin: Romanoff is very skilled in the art of assassination, considered to be one of the most dangerous assassins in the world. She is known to have killed many people during her time serving the KGB and S.H.I.E.L.D..
 * Expert Marksman: Romanoff is a very accurate marksman skilled in sharpshooting. During a battle in Washington, D.C., Romanoff would have shot the Winter Soldier through his eye if he had not been wearing protective goggles.
 * Multilingualism: Romanoff is fluent in Latin, Russian, English, French, German, Chinese, and various other languages.
 * Gifted Intellect: Romanoff'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.

- Black Widow after tricking Loki

"The person who wrote this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly."
 * Master Interrogator: Romanoff was able to trick Loki into telling her about his plan to use the Hulk against the Helicarrier to bust him out of his cell. She was able to do a "reverse interrogation"; while she seemed to be in danger, in truth, she was getting all the information she wanted to know.

- Black Widow


 * Expert Hacker: Romanoff can hack into most computer systems without tripping any firewalls or security. She used this talent to hack into Hammer Industries mainframe and help James Rhodes regain control of the War Machine Armor and enabled him to help Stark fight the rest of the attacking Hammer drones, and again to access the location of Camp Lehigh from the USB Steve Rogers received from Nick Fury.
 * Pilot: Romanoff is a skilled pilot, capable of flying a Quinjet with ease.

Weapons

 * Black Widow's Bite: Electroshock weapon that can deliver powerful electrical discharges from two bracelets worn by Black Widow.
 * : Natasha Romanoff's original weapon of choice. She carried it when she went to stop Ivan Vanko at Hammer Industries Headquarters, but chose not to use it against the security guards inside the complex. She wielded it when she stormed inside the room were Vanko was supposed to be, only to find it empty.
 * : Romanoff took a Heckler & Koch USP Compact from one of the guards at Hammer Industries Headquarters. She dual-wielded it along with her Walther PPK/77S when she stormed inside the room were Ivan Vanko+ was supposed to be, only to find it empty.
 * : Romanoff replaced the Walther PPK/77S for a pair of Glock 26 handguns as her weapon of choice. She had one of them concealed in the abandoned house in India where she staged a meeting with Bruce Banner, and then used both her firearms shortly after to fight the Chitauri army during the Battle of New York. Romanoff continued to used them during her missions with S.H.I.E.L.D., killing some of Georges Batroc's pirates when she joined a mission to rescue the Lemurian Star, and during a shootout against the Winter Soldier in Washington, D.C., managing to hit him in the face and forcing the Soldier to remove his googles.
 * : The Glock 19 pistol is the standard sidearm carried by STRIKE. Romanoff was able to obtain one of them when she posed as Councilwoman Hawley inside the Triskelion, using it to threaten Alexander Pierce.
 * ' with a ': A fully automatic carbine and the standard weapon used by S.H.I.E.L.D. Strike Team members, outfitted with a grenade launcher. Rshe made him escape before he could kill Steve Rogers in Washington, D.C.
 * Chitauri Staff: Romanoof took one fo the staves used by the Chitauri army when they invaded New York City and effectively used it against them as both a ranged and melee weapon.

Uniform

 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniform: Black Widow's first uniform was a bluish-black catsuit. It zipped up the front and had fingerless gloves with a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the shoulders. It had two belts one of which had a red hourglass symbol on it and the other had lots of different pouches. It also had a thigh holster.
 * Avengers Uniform: Her second uniform was a slightly modified version of her earlier one. It was now grey and seems to be made out of a different material. The red hourglass was brighter and the belts were slightly different. The only major difference was the inclusion of built in wrist tasers.
 * Stealth Uniform: Her third uniform was worn while working on S.H.I.E.L.D. missions with Captain America. Her uniform became black with grey webbing, a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on her right shoulder and her trademark red hourglass over her stomach. It also features her Widow's Bite, a utility belt, and two thigh holsters.
 * The Fourth Uniform: The fourth uniform worn by Black Widow was similar to her second. She wore a black suit with black padding at the shoulders, knees, and elbows. Her suit also contained a more powerful version of her Black Widow's Bite which when used caused piping on the suit to light up. She also wore a thigh-holster on her left leg.

Other Equipment

 * Taser Disks: Romanoff used two Taser Disks aimed at the feet of one the security guards at Hammer Industries Headquarters, paralyzing his legs to temporarily disable him.
 * Flash Bombs: Romanoff used two of these Flash Bombs to blind some of the security guards at Hammer Industries Headquarters, easily dispatching them afterwards.
 * Garrote: Romanoff carried a garrote inside one of her bracelets, using it to deflect the blows of one of the security guards at Hammer Industries Headquarters, and later to strangle him until he lost consciousness.
 * : Romanoff took one of the pepper sprays carried by Hammer Industries security guards, and used to dispatch the last guard before attempting to arrest Ivan Vanko.
 * Miniaturized Smoke Grenades
 * Glider Harness
 * Grappling Hook Gun

Allies

 * S.H.I.E.L.D. (First Incarnation) - Former Employers
 * Nick Fury - Director
 * Maria Hill - Deputy Director
 * Phil Coulson - Colleague
 * Melinda May - Colleague
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Good Friend, Colleague and Partner
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Best Friend, Colleague and Partner
 * Stark Industries
 * Pepper Potts - Former Boss (as Natalie Rushman)
 * Happy Hogan - Former Co-worker (as Natalie Rushman)
 * Avengers - Teammates
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Team Leader, Good Friend and Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Partner
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man - Former Teammate
 * Thor - Former Teammate
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk - Love Interest and Former Teammate
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Best Friend and Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague, Former Teammate and Partner
 * Vision
 * Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch - Enemy and Enthraller turned Teammate
 * Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver † - Enemy turned Teammate
 * Sam Wilson/Falcon - Friend
 * James Rhodes/War Machine
 * Erik Selvig
 * Helen Cho
 * Barton Family - Aunt-Like Relationship to the Children
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Best Friend, Former Colleague, Former Partner and Former Teammate
 * Laura Barton - Close Friend
 * Lila Barton
 * Cooper Barton
 * Nathaniel Barton
 * Red Room
 * Madame B. - Mentor

Enemies

 * Justin Hammer
 * Ivan Vanko/Whiplash †
 * Mikhail Fjodorov †
 * General Starodoub
 * Georgi Luchkov
 * Loki
 * Chitauri
 * Baker
 * Georges Batroc
 * Ten Rings
 * Sofia † - Former Fan
 * Richard Frampton †
 * HYDRA
 * Alexander Pierce † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Superior
 * Brock Rumlow - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague
 * Jasper Sitwell † - Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Colleague
 * Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
 * Ultron †
 * Ultron Sentries †

Video Game Only

 * A.I.M.
 * Kearson DeWitt
 * Valentin Shatalov/Crimson Dynamo
 * Brendan Doyle/Mauler
 * Firepower
 * R.A.I.D.
 * Sinthea Schmidt/Sin
 * Tony Masters/Taskmaster
 * Lancaster Sneed/Shockwave
 * Serpent Society
 * Klaus Voorhees/King Cobra
 * Gordon Fraley/Puff Adder
 * Rachel Leighton/Diamondback
 * U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.

Trivia
"Oh, looks like I'll be able to make my date with Ms. Romanoff after all."

- Iron Man


 * In the comics, Black Widow is the product of a Soviet Super Soldier experiment, and has had relationships with both Bucky Barnes and Daredevil.
 * In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Widow wore a necklace with an arrow pendant as a symbol of her friendship with Hawkeye.
 * Black Widow shares her birthday with her actress, Scarlett Johansson.
 * Black Widow is mentioned in the non-canon video game Iron Man. While battling Maggia forces in Afghanistan, Tony Stark comments that he may be able to make it for his date with Ms. Romanoff after all.

Behind the Scenes

 * Scarlett Johansson was pregnant during the filming of Avengers: Age of Ultron, so many of her scenes were scheduled early in filming before she began to show. To help hide her pregnancy later in filming, three stunt doubles were hired. This caused a lot of confusion among the other actors since, according to them, all of the stunt women looked very similar to Johansson. Chris Evans stated that it got to the point where he would say hello and start a conversation with one of them, only to realize that the person he was talking to was not Johansson. Ultimately, some scenes used CGI to hide Johansson's pregnancy.