Black Widow (Romanoff and Belova) after BW5 6
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 11:11 pm
I just re-read Black Widow: Homecoming and The Things They Say About Her (which reprint BW4 1-6 and BW5 1-6).
At the end of that storyline, Black Widow (Romanoff) and Daredevil are both stranded in Cuba, under Belova's protection, and are persona non grata in the U.S. (due to Natasha's recent assassination of a well-connected businessman, and Matt's running into trouble with a shadowy branch of the federal government). Nick Fury is also in federal prison. Yet, they all return without any explanation shortly thereafter:
BLACK WIDOW III/NATALIA ALIANOVNA ROMANOVA/"NATASHA ROMANOFF"
...
* BW5 6
* M/TU3 6
CAPU/DD-BTS
HOM 6-BTS
NA 45-BTS
W:O 8
W:O 9
* DD2 77
DD2 78
DD2 79
DD2 80
...
FURY, COL. NICHOLAS "NICK" JOSEPH
...
* BW5 6
SPECSM3 15
SPECSM3 16
SPECSM3 17
SPECSM3 18
SPECSM3 19
SPECSM3 20
SECWAR:FNF (40 - 41)-FB-VO
HERCULES 1-FB
M/TU3 5-BTS
* M/TU3 6
CDPOOL 7
CDPOOL 8
CDPOOL 9
CDPOOL 10
CDPOOL 11
CDPOOL 12 (21:4 - 22)
NA 14 (10 - 11)-FB
...
I haven't read all of the relevant issues, but I have read M/TU3 6, which is listed as Natasha's next appearance after BW5 6. There, she is with Nick Fury, who is fully in charge of SHIELD again, and neither seems to be having any legal problems at all. So I assume that how they got out of the trouble that they were in, at the end of BW5 6, was just something that was unexplained?
Anyway, my real question has to do with the other Black Widow (Belova). I came across the following on a search, which explains that Belova, who attacked the New Avengers and seemingly died as a Super-Adaptoid, was actually a Skrull:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4127&p=25969&hilit ... ova#p25969
The Skrull explanation works for me, but the 2011 handbook, v.2, under Natasha's entry, as well as Marvel's website (http://marvel.com/universe/Black_Widow_ ... omanova%29) states as follows:
Shortly after the Scarlet Witch’s insanity seemingly killed Hawkeye and again disbanded the Avengers, Natasha, weary of espionage and adventure, retired to Arizona but was targeted, as were other survivors of the Black Widow Program, by the North Institute on behalf of the corporation Gynacon. Natasha’s investigations led her back to Russia, where she was appalled to learn the previously unimagined extent of her past manipulation, and she discovered the Widows were being hunted because Gynacon, having purchased Russian biotechnology from Red Room’s successor agency 2R, wanted all prior users of the technology dead. After killing Gynacon CEO Ian McMasters, she clashed with operatives of multiple governments to help Sally Anne Carter, a girl Natasha had befriended in her investigations, whom she rescued with help from Daredevil and Yelena Belova. She soon returned the favor for Daredevil by reluctantly working with Elektra Natchios to protect his new wife, Milla Donovan, from the FBI and others, although Yelena proved beyond help when she agreed to be transformed into the new Super-Adaptoid by A.I.M. and Hydra.
[end block quote]
Is the situation with Yelena ever explained/reconciled in subsequent stories? Personally, I prefer the version where the Adaptoid version that died was a Skrull, and the 'real' Yelena was okay after helping out Natasha in Cuba.
At the end of that storyline, Black Widow (Romanoff) and Daredevil are both stranded in Cuba, under Belova's protection, and are persona non grata in the U.S. (due to Natasha's recent assassination of a well-connected businessman, and Matt's running into trouble with a shadowy branch of the federal government). Nick Fury is also in federal prison. Yet, they all return without any explanation shortly thereafter:
BLACK WIDOW III/NATALIA ALIANOVNA ROMANOVA/"NATASHA ROMANOFF"
...
* BW5 6
* M/TU3 6
CAPU/DD-BTS
HOM 6-BTS
NA 45-BTS
W:O 8
W:O 9
* DD2 77
DD2 78
DD2 79
DD2 80
...
FURY, COL. NICHOLAS "NICK" JOSEPH
...
* BW5 6
SPECSM3 15
SPECSM3 16
SPECSM3 17
SPECSM3 18
SPECSM3 19
SPECSM3 20
SECWAR:FNF (40 - 41)-FB-VO
HERCULES 1-FB
M/TU3 5-BTS
* M/TU3 6
CDPOOL 7
CDPOOL 8
CDPOOL 9
CDPOOL 10
CDPOOL 11
CDPOOL 12 (21:4 - 22)
NA 14 (10 - 11)-FB
...
I haven't read all of the relevant issues, but I have read M/TU3 6, which is listed as Natasha's next appearance after BW5 6. There, she is with Nick Fury, who is fully in charge of SHIELD again, and neither seems to be having any legal problems at all. So I assume that how they got out of the trouble that they were in, at the end of BW5 6, was just something that was unexplained?
Anyway, my real question has to do with the other Black Widow (Belova). I came across the following on a search, which explains that Belova, who attacked the New Avengers and seemingly died as a Super-Adaptoid, was actually a Skrull:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=4127&p=25969&hilit ... ova#p25969
The Skrull explanation works for me, but the 2011 handbook, v.2, under Natasha's entry, as well as Marvel's website (http://marvel.com/universe/Black_Widow_ ... omanova%29) states as follows:
Shortly after the Scarlet Witch’s insanity seemingly killed Hawkeye and again disbanded the Avengers, Natasha, weary of espionage and adventure, retired to Arizona but was targeted, as were other survivors of the Black Widow Program, by the North Institute on behalf of the corporation Gynacon. Natasha’s investigations led her back to Russia, where she was appalled to learn the previously unimagined extent of her past manipulation, and she discovered the Widows were being hunted because Gynacon, having purchased Russian biotechnology from Red Room’s successor agency 2R, wanted all prior users of the technology dead. After killing Gynacon CEO Ian McMasters, she clashed with operatives of multiple governments to help Sally Anne Carter, a girl Natasha had befriended in her investigations, whom she rescued with help from Daredevil and Yelena Belova. She soon returned the favor for Daredevil by reluctantly working with Elektra Natchios to protect his new wife, Milla Donovan, from the FBI and others, although Yelena proved beyond help when she agreed to be transformed into the new Super-Adaptoid by A.I.M. and Hydra.
[end block quote]
Is the situation with Yelena ever explained/reconciled in subsequent stories? Personally, I prefer the version where the Adaptoid version that died was a Skrull, and the 'real' Yelena was okay after helping out Natasha in Cuba.