Natasha Romanoff

Natalia Alianovna Romanova, more commonly known as the Black Widow or her Americanized name of Natasha Romanoff,  was one of the most talented spies and assassins in the entire world and a founding member of the Avengers. Originally an agent of the Soviet agency for foreign intelligence, the KGB, she later became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., the international counter-intelligence agency. Having extensive mastery in martial arts and armed with her Widow's Bite, Black Widow became one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most efficient agents. During one mission, she was sent undercover into Stark Industries to watch Tony Starkdue to fears that he was dying. During this mission, Romanoff assisted Stark with defeating Ivan Vanko's terrorist plots against him.

When Loki declared war on the Earth, Black Widow was recruited into the Avengers as her friend Clint Barton had just been taken hostage by Loki and used as a pawn against the team. Romanoff assisted in recruiting Stark and Bruce Bannerinto the team while they tracked down and attempted to capture Loki, eventually saving Barton from his grasp. Once Loki's entire plan had been uncovered, Romanoff joined the team during the Battle of New York and was instrumental in destroying the portal over the city which had been created by the Tesseract, effectively ending the entire invasion while Loki was defeated and captured.

In the wake of the Avengers successfully defeating Loki, Romanoff had continued her work with S.H.I.E.L.D., this time working with Captain America. While working together, Romanoff and Rogers uncovered a conspiracy following an assassination attempt on Nick Fury, which had eventually led to them discovering that HYDRA had somehow been infiltrating their entire organization. Despite the efforts of the Winter Soldier to stop them, Romanoff helped expose Alexander Pierce's evil schemes to the world, which also resulted in all of her own morally dubious history being revealed. As a result, Romanoff was forced into dropping off the grid again to begin rebuilding her cover.

Romanoff eventually rejoined the Avengers, working to bring down various HYDRA cells across the world and assisting in the capture of their leader, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. However, before she could form a romantic relationship with Banner, the rogue artificial intelligence Ultron was created by Stark and Banner, forcing Romanoff and the rest of their team to join together and defeat him. Despite being captured, Romanoff was able to inform the team of Ultron's location on Sokovia, resulting in a final battle in which the Avengers had defeated Ultron once and for all. Unlike most members of the original Avengers, Black Widow remained a member while forming the second incarnation of the team.

As many of the governments of the world had demanded the Avengers to sign the Sokovia Accords in the wake of their recent battles, Romanoff agreed to their terms and signed the Accords. She later joined Iron Man in a fight against Captain America due to his disagreements with the Accords and his criminal activities with the Winter Soldier who Rogers was attempting to protect. As the two Avengers' factions fought against each other, Romanoff betrayed Iron Man's team in order to assist Captain America to find the instigator of the team's fight. As a result, Black Widow had to escape from the government for aiding her old friend, while being on the run, Romanoff soon joined the fugitive Rogers and Wilson in stopping terrorists.

When the threat of Thanos approached Earth, Romanoff, Rogers, and Wilson protected Vision who had the Mind Stone, which Thanos was after. They later defended Wakanda from the attack and managed to kill all of Thanos' forces but unfortunately Thanos effortlessly overpowered Romanoff and the other heroes when he personally came to Wakanda and destroyed half of all life in the universe with the assembled Infinity Gauntlet, with Romanoff being one of the survivors.

After meeting Captain Marvel, Romanoff was part of the Ambush on Thanos in a try to retrieve the Infinity Stones and undo the Titan's snap, with no success. Sometime later and after 5 years, Widow leads the Avengers alongside Captain America, now formed by Okoye,  Rocket,  Nebula,  War Machine and Captain Marvel. In order to undo the Decimation, the remaining Avengers split up in teams to retrieve all Infinity Stones from an alternate timeline. Romanoff was sent to retrieve the Soul Stone on Vormir with Hawkeye. Having been told by Red Skull a sacrifice was required for the Stone, she and Hawkeye fought to be the one sacrificed, ultimately resulting in the both dangling off a cliff and Romanoff on the lower end, holding onto Hawkeye's hand. Romanoff then shakes herself loose, leading to her death in exchange for the Soul Stone. She, however, by her sacrifice was deemed worthy by the Soul Stone and resurrected possessing the stone.

She is the mother of Sarah Romanoff-Barnes by a relationship with The Winter Soldier, James Barnes. She is also the godmother of Nathaniel Barton and Morgan Stark, being an aunt-like figure to the two. She is also the mentor in combat and firearms and an aunt-like figure to the Iron Cross, Oneleigh Stark. She is also an aunt-like figure to Cooper and Lila Barton, being best friends and like a sister with their father, Clint.

Red Room Training
Natalia Alianovna Romanoff was born in 1984 in Stalingrad. At a young age, Romanoff was recruited by the KGB. At a Red Room facility, she endured both an education and indoctrination into the world of spy-craft. Romanoff 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. As a final ceremony to complete her training, Romanoff was sterilized, as to avoid any distractions and focus solely on her missions, something she deeply regretted later in her life.

On SHIELD's Radar
Due to both her expertise and her growing threat to global security, Romanoff quickly appeared on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar, prompting director Nick Fury to send agent Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye, to eliminate her. Hawkeye disobeyed this order, recognizing her skill, and recommended her for recruitment for S.H.I.E.L.D. At the behest of Fury, Romanoff later defected from Russia and joined the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D.

From that moment on, she developed a lasting partnership with Barton, becoming best friends with each other. Together, they had tactical missions within Budapest, Abidjan, and many other locations.[3] Natalia eventually started going by the name "Natasha". The pair became so close that Romanoff was the only other person Barton told about his family. She became a close family friend to them and adopted an aunt-like relationship with their children.

Agent of SHIELD
In 2009, when she was assigned to protect a nuclear scientist, she was attacked by the mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier, who was sent to kill the scientist. Though she and the scientist were pushed over a cliff, Romanoff managed to save both herself and the man she was protecting. Seeing this, the Winter Soldier fired a single round through Romanoff's stomach and into the scientist, effectively killing him.

After this encounter, Romanoff would go on to attempt to track down the Winter Soldier for an unspecified amount of time, but was forced to give up after accepting that he was more elusive than any other enemy she had encountered.

Natalie Rushman
Under the name "Natalie Rushman", Romanoff did modeling work in Tokyo, Italy, France and United States as part of an undercover operation from 2005 to 2007.[5] Romanoff was then sent on one of her usual missions, sent to ruin an operation of the Ten Rings. She boarded the Ten Rings plane and caused its explosion. Just as she was fighting off a Ten Rings operative in the plane, she was sent by Nick Fury to infiltrate Stark Industries.

Under the guise of "Natalie Rushman", Romanoff was hired as a notary public by Bambi Arbogast. Romanoff worked her way at getting to Tony Stark in many ways, including secretly making Samantha Carlisle sick in order to deliver documents to Stark.

Watching Tony Stark
The ulterior motive for her employment was for her to keep an eye on Tony Stark after he signed his company over to Pepper Potts. In reality, Romanoff had been assigned to assess whether he was suitable for a Avengers Initiative. Romanoff arrived as Potts' replacement catching the attention of Stark and Happy Hogan while they were boxing. Romanoff obtained signatures from Potts as Stark asked for her name and then telling her to join him in the boxing ring.

Stark then told Hogan to give Romanoff a lesson for which Hogan didn't take seriously not being aware of her training. Stark ran a search on her and discovered that she was fluent in French, Italian, Russian, and Latin and had done some modeling in Japan. As Romanoff watched Stark ogle her, Hogan went to hit her, but Romanoff blocked the blow and scissored him around the head and pinned him to the ground. Romanoff then got out of the ring and obtained Stark's fingerprint and then left, leaving Stark astounded. Romanoff went on to be Stark's assistant from then on.

Monaco
Romanoff met Stark and Potts in Monaco who greeted them and guided Stark with the photographers and informed him of his nine-thirty dinner which he told her he'll arrive at eleven. When Stark appeared on the television, contesting in the Monaco Grand Prix, Potts called Romanoff over to see if she knew about it which she didn't. Potts asked for Romanoff to get Hogan and bring him to her so they could stop Stark.

Stark's Party
On Tony Stark's birthday, Romanoff walked in on Stark, who was observing his Arc Reactor in his chest which was getting worse, with a selection of watches to wear for his party. The two then talked about whether he should cancel his party due to recent events. Romanoff then covered up some of Stark's bruises on his face as Stark asked her what she would do if it was her last birthday, which she told him that she would do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted to do it with before leaving.

Taking in what Romanoff said, Stark got really drunk, flirting with Romanoff and letting her wear the Mark IV's gauntlet and blast an ice sculpture. After being frustrated with Stark's behavior, James Rhodes stole Stark's Iron Man Armor: Mark II and engaged in a fight with Stark, causing the party guests to leave.[5] During Stark's and Rhodes' fight, Romanoff ran into Potts who confronted her saying that ever since she arrived she knew something wasn't right. Suddenly, the fight made its way to the two causing them to evacuate. Romanoff then contacted Director Nick Fury and debriefed him on the situation. When he offered to come, she told him not to.

Revealing Self To Stark
Now dressed in her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, Romanoff met with Fury at Randy's Donuts to provide a short-term antidote to Stark's palladium poisoning.[7] Sneaking in from the back entrance, Romanoff surprised Stark as she revealed to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. the entire time. Stark said she was fired, but Romanoff made it clear that it wasn't up to him. Fury introduced her to Stark revealing Natalie Rushman isn't her name and that she was assigned by Fury to watch him. Romanoff gave Stark a serum which postponed the effects of the Arc Reactor's radiation, which was poisoning his body, so he could work on a cure.

Later, Romanoff, along with Fury and Phil Coulson, went to Tony Stark's Mansion and she was told by Fury that she was to remain in position as an assistant. Later at Stark Industries, while Stark was visiting Pepper Potts, Romanoff walked in and requested for Potts to sign something. Romanoff was told by Potts to sort out the personal belongings with Stark. When Potts left, Stark started to grill Romanoff and told her that he found it amazing that she does what she does. When he claimed that she could not speak other languages, she replied in Latin, then repeated herself in English, telling him that he could, "Either drive himself home or she can have him collected."

Hunt For Ivan Vanko
At the Stark Expo, Romanoff was in attendance with Pepper Potts when Ivan Vanko started to take control over the Hammer Drones. Romanoff and Potts followed Justin Hammer where they discovered that Vanko had taken control over the drones after Romanoff threatened Hammer. Romanoff left Potts and went outside where she ordered Happy Hogan to go to Hammer Industries Headquarters. As they drove, Romanoff got changed in the back into her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, causing Hogan to try to watch.

When they arrived at the facility, Romanoff told Hogan, who was confused about what she was wearing, to stay in the car. Romanoff broke into the facility and the two were approached by a guard who Hogan engaged in a fight while Romanoff continued. She then defeated any guards in her way using multiple gadgets like her Taser Disks, Flash Bombs, Wire and Pepper Spray as well as her skills.

Romanoff managed to defeat all the guards with ease and continued to Vanko's location where she found he wasn't there. Romanoff was able to gain back control over Rhodes' battle suit. She also informed Iron Man of Vanko arriving at his location after they defeated all the Hammer Drones. She then retrieved Hammer Industries data before Ivan Vanko's bombs went off.