Marvels Original Black Widow (1964)
It’s been a long time coming but the much delayed Black Widow movie is finally being released! We get to see Scarlet Johansson back as Natasha, kicking butt and taking names. We had to wait a year for Black Widow the movie but its taken almost 60 years for the Black Widow to get here. First appearing in the pages of Iron Man in 1964, there’s quite a difference from what the Black Widow began as to the super hero she is now.
How different was the original Black Widow?
Black Widow…Iron Man villain
Yup, Black Widow showed up in Iron Mans life as one of the bad guys. When Natasha Romanov was introduced way back in Tales of Suspense #52 it was as a villain. The year was 1964, the cold war with Russia was all over the news. Marvel, not one to miss out on low hanging fruit, created Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow. This sexy Russian spy was sent to seduce Tony Stark and steal his weapons plans for the Soviet Union
Black Widow must kill Moose and Squirrel
1n 1964 nobody knew who Black Widow was, but everybody knew Rocky and Bullwinkle. “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends” was a hit animated TV show from 1959–1964. The popular villains of the show were two over the top Russian spies, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. They spent endless episodes trying to kill Bullwinkle J Moose and Rocky J Squirrel. Marvel knew the value of piggybacking on pop culture. When the Natasha shows up at Tony Starks weapons factory, she has her “brother” Boris with her. As an Iron Man reader, you may not have seen these two before, but because it was Boris and Natasha, you knew they were up to no good.
Go Go Gadget Purse
Todays Black Widow is an olympic level gymnast. Fighting side by side with the Avengers against some of the baddest bad guys in the universe. 1964 Black Widow did things a little differently. The days of her punching aliens next to the Hulk were years away. Instead of throwing punches she relied on an some high tech weapons to knock someone out. Like a purse that shot paralyzing gas.
Whatever Natasha wants, Natasha gets
And if 1964 Black Widow wanted you she was going to turn on the charm to get it. The original Black Widow was all about seduction. No roundhouse kicks for this Natasha. Her only power was being sexy. When the Kremlin told Nastasha to steal Tony Starks weapons her plan was to make Tony fall in love with her. When that plan didn’t work she seduced a young Hawkeye and convinced him to commit treason.
Her First Makeover
By Mid-1965 Marvel figured out that the Black Widow could be more then the one note villain she was. They decided to make Nastasha into one of the good guys. At the time Spider-Man was Marvels most popular comic. Marvel leaned into the spider theme and gave the Black Widow suction cups on her hands and feet to scale walls. She shot a rope from her wrist to swing from building to building. It wasn’t super original but it was the first step into making the Black Widow the super hero we know today.