Universe
Ultimate

Real Name
Natalia Romanova

Aliases
Natasha Romanov (anglicised name), Nanci Roman, countless other aliases

Identity
Known to various authorities

Citizenship
Russia (plus fabricated U.S. status)

Place of Birth
St. Petersburg, Russia

First Appearance
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #14 (2002)

A descendant of Russian royalty, Natasha Romanov was abandoned as a child and found by soldier Ivan Petrovich. A ballerina in her youth, she joined Russia's K.G.B. and became an elite intelligence operative, a combination of consummate skill and classified government enhancements of her natural abilities. She also became infamous as an often-wed, often-widowed heartbreaker whose husbands (beginning with test pilot turned intelligence agent Alexi Shostakov) tended to suffer "unfortunate accidents", a quirk which may have influenced her choice of long-term code name: the Black Widow. She eventually embarked on a lucrative freelance spy career, which culminated in her infiltration of New York City's Latverian Embassy.

Manipulating the naïve young superhero Spider-Man into helping her escape Latverian security, Natasha used the information she gathered to audition successfully for the American-based international spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. She became a mainstay of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s black ops division, often partnered with Hawkeye (Clint Barton).

After Hawkeye and the Widow led the successful extermination of over five hundred Chitauri extraterrestrial subversives, the duo was promoted to the ranks of the Ultimates, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s celebrity super-agents, with newly falsified personal backgrounds. Alongside the Ultimates, Black Widow helped save Earth from a Chitauri plot. She and teammate ]]Iron Man (Ultimate)