Black Widow is a recurring character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series. While she debuted as a non-playable character in all console versions of the first game, she is playable in PSP version and was meant to be playable on Wii as well. While the main Black Widow is Natalia Romanova, Yelena Belova acts as her alternate costume in all of her playable appearances.
Character History
Natalia was born in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia on July 25th, The first and best-known Black Widow is a Russian agent trained as a spy, martial artist, and. Romanova was recruited by the KGB. At a Red Room facility, she endured both an education and indoctrination into the world of spy-craft. Romanova 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. She was a proficient sniper, and outfitted with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry, including a pair of wrist-mounted energy weapons dubbed her "Widow's Bite".
The KGB arranged a marriage between Natasha and the renowned Soviet test pilot Alexei Shostakov. However, when the Soviet government decided to make Shostakov into their new operative, the Red Guardian, he was told that he can have no further contact with his wife. Natalia was told that he died and was trained as a secret agent separately. When the KGB found out about this they sent several hit squads to try and kill her for treachery but she killed them all. She later became an agent of SHIELD and a trusted ally to Nick Fury. She had her name legally changed to Natasha Romanoff as a way of her allies becoming more accustomed to her and the American lifestyle.
Due to her delayed aging, courtesy of the multiple red room experiments done to her, she had the appearance of a woman in her twenties and some of her fellow agents found her to be very attractive especially Clint Barton a.k.a Hawkeye. She had a brief relationship with him but called it off due to the increased danger that they faced over the years. She later became part of The Avengers in the late 20th century and stayed a member until the team disbanded after some time. One year after the team disbanded for future team formation (New Avengers), she began a relationship with the hero known as Daredevil but the two were only together for three months when his former lover, Elektra came back from the dead. She later became second in command of SHIELD.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
The Black Widow was still associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. and became second-in-command to Fury. During Doctor Doom's attempt to take the powers of Odin Borson. Weasel, an expert computer hacker, had conducted a clandestine investigation on her as he believed she was a double agent. There were concerns among the heroes over whether or not she was double-agent traitor, However, before the mission to Niffleheim on Act 3, the info about Black Widow as a double agent traitor was proven false, as Fury was the one who sent Widow for Operation All-Father to investigate what she got from the Masters of Evil's plot on the laptop she recovered, which later fell into the Masters hands during their attack on the Helicarrier, until the heroes retain it, but without her and Fury knowing. At the end of the game, A phone call made during the credits reveals that the Black Widow had been using Weasel to steal information from S.H.I.E.L.D. for her own purposes and then setting up Weasel for the fall as he confronted by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
Black Widow was the leader of Bravo Team during the Secret War on Latveria. During the Civil War, she stayed with S.H.I.E.L.D. to support the SRA and joined the Pro Reg forces. Widow was also one of the many heroes to not escape from Prison 42 during the breakout. It is assumed she was infected by the Nanites for a time.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3
She is one of the starting characters after the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man (Peter Parker) defeated Sandman at The Raft in Chapter 2. She and Falcon plays major parts in Chapter 8, Wakanda, on helping Captain America and Wakanda army led by Storm and Black Panther to secure the Winter Soldier and the Soul Stone from A.I.M. led by MODOK and Klaw.
Gameplay
Trivia
- The Black Widow that appears in the third game is not the same one who appeared in the first two games, as the third game is set in a different continuity.
- The reveal that she was stealing information from S.H.I.E.L.D. for her own purposes was most likely meant to foreshadow a possible betrayal similarly to her Ultimate universe counterpart, who betrayed the Ultimates (Earth-1610's Avengers) and joined the Anti-American group known as the Liberators only to be executed by a vengeful Hawkeye.
- Due to the change in Developers from Raven Software to Vicarious Visions, her status as a mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D. was not elaborated further in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.
- Her design in the third game is based on her MCU counterpart, most specifically her Age of Ultron outfit.
- Nika Futterman voices Black Widow in the first two games.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, She is an exclusive character in the PlayStation Portable (PSP) version, and in all other versions of the game as a non-playable character.
- In the third game, Laura Bailey reprises her role. She also voices from Avengers Assemble, the 2018 animated Lego film Black Panther: Trouble in Wakanda, the Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, the 2015 Lego film Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled and more.
