Natasha Romanoff - Phase 1

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This page is about the Phase 1 incarnation of the character. For other uses, see Natasha Romanoff (disambiguation) and Black Widow (disambiguation).


PHASE 1
Natasha Romanova
Natasha.JPG
Portrayed by Cate Blanchett
Known Aliases: Natasha Romanoff
Affiliations: GRU
Socked By: Dex
Introduction: Oct 22, 2006


Natasha Romanova is a Major of the GRU, assigned as the operational second in command to Alexei Vazhin. A career intelligence agent, Natasha's work has put her in the center of of mutant related activities inside and that effect the Russian Federation.

Details

Name: Natasha Alianovna Romanova

Aliases: Natasha Romanoff

Occupation: Major of the Glavnoe Razvedyvatel'noe Upravlenie (GRU)

First appearance: Oct 22, 2006

Family: Alexei Shostakov (deceased)

Biography

Natasha Romanova was the daughter of General Ivan Romanov, a powerful leader in the Soviet military and often believed to have been close to assuming command during the Cold War. She grew up as part of the Soviet elite, spending most of her youth training as a talented prospect for the Bolshoi Theatre ballet company. However, a growth spurt in her teens ended any chance of a career as a dancer, and Natasha began to take a closer interest in her father's work.

She graduated as a language major from the University of Moscow, and began work with the KGB as a translator. Thanks to her father's influence, she travelled widely as a teenager and possessed a strong grasp of the nuances of several languages. She was also briefly married to a test pilot in the Russian Air Force, Alexei Shostakov. However, her husband and her father were killed in a car accident, at about the same time as the KGB was being dissolved for their part in a plot to overthrow the elected government.

Alexei Vazhin, an old friend of her father's, took Natasha under his protection during the disintegration of the KGB, and had her trained as a full GRU agent. Her worldly knowledge, ease with local tongues, and physical excellence quickly propelled her to the status as a top agent in the shadowy intelligence world.

Natasha worked all over the world, coming into contact with numerous groups. Her own networks flourished, and she often provided the necessary international perspective to Vazhin's projects. She and Betsy Braddock clashed on a number of occasions, while the former was an agent of STRIKE.

Following the events on Liberty Island, the Russian government provided a free hand to Vazhin in dealing with the emerging mutant question. He immediately brought Romanova out of the field to serve as his right hand in investigating and dealing with both external factors caused by mutants, but also the twisted history of 80 years of Soviet experimentation with them.

It was one of these experiments, Mastermold, that had Romanova reach out to her former rival Betsy, and request the help of X-Force. Since then, Vazhin has kept a closer eye on Braddock's group, and Natasha has often been his representative. Romanova also has been tasked to watch the X-Men, helping them resolve a hostage situation in Moscow, and most recently, assisting Garrison Kane with an investigation in Afghanistan. She again came into contact with the X-Men during Zemo, during which there were distinct clashes of personality and ways of doing things. In early 2009, she managed to keep a Cold War artifact, the Satan Claw out of the hands of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker's followers, and had to be extracted from Bucharest by X-Force, an operation which balanced the group's scales with her superior, Vazhin.

Natasha is a very controlled person; extremely attractive, worldly and sophisticated, she lures her opponents into positions advantageous to her. Like her boss, she can be utterly ruthless when necessary, and is every inch the dedicated intelligence agent.

Powers/Abilities

None. Natasha does have the authority to call forces of the SVR and FSB to assist her, as well as a certain level of military assistance. However, Romanova is extremely well trained in hand to hand combat and weapons. She is known to be an excellent marksman with a number of types of firearms, and can hold her own physically against stronger and faster mutants.

Plots

Operation: Flesh Mechanic

Operation: Xorn

Epiphany Frosts

Operation: Cruel Country

Zan Zar Zameen

X-Men Mission: Opera Redux

Zemo

Operation: Godhand

Operation: зимний солдат

Meta

PB: Cate Blanchett

Socked by: Dex