The long-awaited "Black Widow" introduces an entire family of new characters into Marvel's
box of toys. Naturally, most of these characters first appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics,
making them more significant than they appear. Here are the characters in Black Widow that
are more important than you realized. Warning: Spoilers for "Black Widow" ahead!
Natasha's adopted sister and presumptive replacement is an interesting case when it comes to predicting
the future of the MCU. We know Yelena is scheduled to appear in Disney's upcoming "Hawkeye" show,
an appearance that's directly set up by the post-credits scene in "Black Widow." Given
that "Hawkeye" is also introducing the character of Kate Bishop, Yelena could be added to the
Young Avengers lineup that Disney is clearly preparing. Her comic book character, however,
has mostly been used as Natasha's rival and enemy, and Natasha is dead. Yelena has some
loose ties to the X-Men franchise thanks to brief associations with characters like Micromax
and an eventful trip to the Savage Land, and she would, strangely, fit right in alongside
AIM and the Super-Adaptoid in "MODOK," but it's unlikely either of those connections
will bear fruit in the MCU. One thing that could be in the works, however,
is an MCU version of the Thunderbolts — a team of supposedly reformed villains who have
had several comic book incarnations since their debut in 1997. Yelena was indirectly
part of the Thunderbolts during the "Dark Reign" storyline in 2009, though she turned
out to be Natasha in disguise, and it's been speculated that Julia Louis Dreyfus' Valentina
Allegra de Fontaine could end up being the Nick Fury to the Thunderbolts' Avengers. In
that case, given that Yelena and Valentina are already working together, Yelena joining
the Thunderbolts roster alongside U.S. Agent would make a ton of sense.
While Yelena is a relatively recent addition to the ranks of Black Widow's supporting cast,
Alexei Shostakov is a significantly older character, dating back to 1967. His first
and most iconic appearance came in "Avengers" #43-44, a two-part story by legendary Marvel
writer and editor Roy Thomas, which introduces the Soviet super-soldier known as the Red
Guardian. This is the version of the character that inspires David Harbour's Alexei and the
crimson suit he squeezes into, and at least in the comics, he does indeed fight Captain
America. "Black Widow," however, makes a dramatic, if welcome, change to the relationship between
Alexei and Natasha. While in the movie he serves as an absentee father figure to Natasha
and Yelena, in the comics, he's actually Natasha's long-lost husband, whose faked death had driven
her to become the Black Widow.
Of course, by the time this reveal occurs in the comics, Alexei has already died for
real, killed in an explosion after sacrificing himself to save Natasha and Captain America.
He's still alive at the end of the movie, though, and if the MCU has further plans for
him, it could have something to do with Ronin. The mysterious alias that has been adopted
by, among others, Clint Barton, whose time as Ronin inspired the "Endgame" version of
Hawkeye; Maya Lopez, who will also appear in the "Hawkeye" series, and a life model
decoy of Alexei himself.
Rounding out Natasha's surrogate family in "Black Widow" is her mother, Melina Vostokoff.
Introduced to the comics in 1983, Melina, like Yelena, was originally a Black Widow
villain, the resentful Russian agent known as Iron Maiden. In her first appearance, she's
one of a group of assassins sent to kill Natasha, and she turns out to be by far the most formidable.
Unlike her film character, this version of Melina wears a powerful suit of armor that
Black Widow is completely unable to break through, and she likely would have finished
Natasha off then and there if not for the timely interference of Jimmy Woo. It's an
extremely minor connection, but since Woo, played by Randall Park, has turned up a couple
times now in the MCU, it's possible that they could end up interacting. It's certainly more
likely than Marvel adapting the Femizons, a group of female Captain America villains
who wanted to conquer the world and create a matriarchal utopia, and who Melina was part
of during their debut in 1991.
In truth, Melina is an obscure and infrequent character with little in her history to extrapolate
from — even her relationship with Black Widow was basically dropped after that first
appearance. However, in 2018, Iron Maiden briefly showed up again in the pages of "Invincible
Iron Man," clashing with Riri Williams, aka Ironheart. With an Ironheart series in the
works, it is theoretically possible that Melina could make her way to that corner of the MCU.
Of all the new MCU characters introduced in "Black Widow," by far the most notable in
the world of comic books is the superhuman mimic known as Taskmaster. Taskmaster first
appeared in "Avengers" #195 in 1980, where he claimed to have photographic reflexes and
could perform the same feats as every member of the Avengers. He's been part of the Marvel
Comics landscape ever since — his extreme versatility as a villain has allowed him to
show up in a wide range of comics over the years, primarily as a teacher and trainer
for criminals, supervillains, and even the occasional hero. While he's never been strongly
associated with Natasha Romanoff, he has connections with a host of other characters, including
the recently introduced U.S. Agent. Of course, all of this is complicated by the
fact that, as it turns out, Taskmaster is a very different character in the MCU. The
powers are the same, but the person in the mask is very much not — instead of former
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Anthony Masters, it turns out that Taskmaster is the revived daughter
of General Dreykov, first mentioned by Loki in the original "Avengers" movie.
"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter?"
Between the sheer breadth of Taskmaster's comic book history and the fact that "Black
Widow" put an entirely new spin on the character, it's difficult to make predictions. But given
Taskmaster's comic book prominence over the last four decades, it's hard to imagine she
won't have a significant role to play going forward.
From one of "Black Widow's" most prominent additions, we move to one of its most obscure:
Rick Mason, the man Natasha hires in the film to acquire supplies and equipment for her.
He doesn't have a huge role, but his arrival in the MCU raises some interesting questions
considering the Marvel Comics character with the same name. For one thing, in the comics,
Rick Mason is the son of Phineas Mason, a genius inventor and supervillain known as
the Terrible Tinkerer. Despite the silly name, the Tinkerer actually has a long lifespan
in the world of Marvel — his original appearance can be traced back to the second issue of
"Amazing Spider-Man," and he's still trying to ruin the webslinger's life nearly 60 years
later.
Rick, in contrast to his father, is a mercenary who goes by the much more subdued nickname
of "The Agent," and he's never been associated with Spider-Man. In fact, his comic book appearances
don't even number in the double digits. Six of those appearances, however, came in 2009
in the pages of "Ms. Marvel," the last time Mason was seen and certainly his longest storyline.
That version of Ms. Marvel was Carol Danvers, now known as Captain Marvel, but it might
be more likely to see Mason popping up in the area of the upcoming "Ms. Marvel" Disney+
series. It seems as though "Black Widow" might have a thing for setting up the television
side of Phase Four.
You've already met Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross in the MCU, but it's worth going over
his previous appearances and the potential that still exists for him based on his comic
book counterpart. "Black Widow" marks William Hurt's fifth film portraying Ross, though
his most recent cameos in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" are brief. Prior
to that, he's the man who presents the Sokovia Accords to the Avengers in "Captain America:
Civil War," and the man who commits himself to hunting down the ones who don't sign. "Black
Widow" takes place directly after the events of "Civil War," and Ross' role is basically
the same one he had back in 2016: find the rogue Avengers, including Natasha, and bring
them into custody.
Let's not forget, however, the film in which Ross makes his MCU debut: 2008's "The Incredible
Hulk." Ross is a major character in the "Hulk" comics, and at one point transforms into a
gamma-irradiated monster in his own right, becoming the Red Hulk. This could potentially
still happen in the MCU — in "Black Widow," Natasha mentions that Ross has recently undergone
a triple bypass surgery, and his deteriorating health could lead him to take drastic measures.
With the 2022 "She-Hulk" series bringing back "Incredible Hulk" villain Emil Blonsky, aka
the Abomination, it would be a perfect time to return Ross to his red roots.
The deepest cut among the cast of "Black Widow" is Oksana, played by Michelle Lee, the woman
who frees Yelena from the Red Room's control immediately after Yelena fatally stabs her.
She's not onscreen very long, but it's an important enough role that we got curious
and did some digging. It turns out that, improbably, there are three characters named Oksana who
have appeared in Marvel Comics. The first one, Oksana Sytsevich, is probably not relevant
here — she was the wife of the Spider-Man villain called the Rhino. The other two, however,
have direct Black Widow associations.
In the late 1980s, Marvel released a 20-issue run of comics called "Solo Avengers," which
featured Hawkeye as the main character in the primary stories and various other Avengers
in short secondary stories. In the secondary story for "Solo Avengers" #7, Black Widow
briefly reunites with Oksana Bolishinko, the woman who trained her as a ballerina prior
to Natasha's recruitment by the KGB. It's Bolinshinko's only appearance in comics, but
it could have been where Lee's character got her name. A more interesting theory, however,
is that the name refers to Oksana Davis, a minor character associated with Ava Orlova,
the Red Widow. Orlova's story has mostly been limited to a pair of novels by Margaret Stohl,
but she starred in a secondary story in "Ms. Marvel" #12 as recently as 2016, so it's not
insane to think that somebody at Marvel could have plans for her.
In the penultimate episode of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," Julia Louis-Dreyfus
made her delightfully surprising debut as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. While she doesn't
play a major role in the Disney+ series, it was apparent that she was being set up for
something bigger in the wider MCU, a notion that's essentially confirmed when she shows
up in the "Black Widow" post-credits scene. All we really know about her so far is that
she's recruiting — she gives her card to John Walker in "The Falcon and the Winter
Soldier" and is the person who renames him U.S. Agent, and we've now learned that she's
sending Yelena after Hawkeye. As previously mentioned, all this has led to speculation
that Valentina is gathering a team that may or may not be the Thunderbolts, positioning
herself as the new group's answer to Nick Fury.
That's appropriate, because the comic book version of Valentina is primarily associated
with Fury, having been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Fury's love interest almost since her
first appearance in 1967's "Strange Tales" #159. She's also had a relationship with Captain
America, and a rivalry with fellow agent Sharon Carter. Her true manipulative nature, however,
became known during the 2009 "Secret Warriors" storyline, where she briefly becomes Madame
Hydra before revealing that she was actually a sleeper agent for the shadowy organization
known as Leviathan. In other words, as a potential villainous version of Nick Fury, there couldn't be anyone better than Val.
"Don't call me that."
"Copy."
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