Black Widow

We talk about Black Widow and the things you missed if you never read the comics. Learn about Yelena, Taskmaster, Red Guardian, Melina, Red Room, and more!

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Links from the discussion…

Yelana is not Natasha's sister in the comics, and sorta joined the Avengers, and she’s dead now.

The Black Widow Ops Program was based at the Red Room during the Cold War and was created because of their success with the Winter Soldier.

Natasha was trained by the Red Room and once a member of the KGB before defecting to the US to join Shield.

There was a Red Guardian before Alexi from the movie who was named Aleksey Lebedev.

Alexi Shostakov was the second Red Guardian and was married to Natasha for a while. In the comics, he did not have the super soldier serum. 

Taskmaster is a completely different character in the movie than the comics.

Nastasha’s fixer in the movie, Rick Mason, is from the comics but isn’t closely associated with Natasha.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine has a convoluted history but was once a leading member of Shield. 

Melina lived in the shadow of Black Widow while working as an agent of the Russian government named Iron Maiden. She later tried to kill Black Widow.

The cold open of Black Widow is very similar in feel to The Americans television series.

Kevin Feige talks about the changes Marvel Studios is making to eliminate the Samuel L. Jackson-style, nine-picture contracts they’ve locked actors into in the past.