How Black Widow’s New MCU Backstory Compares To The Comics

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Natasha Romanoff's new backstory in the MCU's Black Widow is quite different from her origin story in the comics; here's how they compare. After 11 years and being a founding member of the Avengers, Black Widow finally gets her own spinoff movie. Set during the events of Captain America: Civil War, after the airport battle in Germany but before Captain America shows up at the Raft to break his teammates out, it follows Natasha as she's on the run from Secretary Ross after letting Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes escape.

But Natasha's new life runs up against her past when she receives a mysterious message that sends her back to first Budapest, then Russia, where she meets up with her quasi-adopted Russian family: Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov, a.k.a. Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). Their goal is to finally bring down Russia's horrific Red Room and its Black Widow program once and for all, but "family" secrets and history threaten to get in the way.

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The movie finally explores a major chunk of Natasha Romanoff's life that has never been explored in the MCU before. Not only does it finally explain what happened to Black Widow and Hawkeye on their long-mentioned mission in Budapest, but also clarifies that red in her ledger. More than that, though, it finally gives Natasha roots and grounds her in a way previous movies haven't. That said, the movie changes her backstory considerably from the comics. Here's how they compare.

Black Widow's Early Years In The Comics

As is the case with most comic book characters with any longevity, Black Widow's origin story has been retconned at least once. Fitting for the enigmatic spy, her original comic book origin story is still a bit murky. Born Natalia "Natasha" Alianovna Romanova in Stalingrad, Russia sometime around 1928, young Natasha was orphaned at a young age after enemy soldiers attacked Stalingrad and burned down the building she and her mother were living in. Just before she died, her mother pushed young Natasha out the window to a Russian soldier below and implored him to take Natasha in and raise her. That man turned out to be Ivan Petrovitch, who became Natasha's foster father and raised her into adulthood, with Natasha becoming an accomplished Olympic athlete and renowned Russian ballerina. Eventually, her talents were noticed by the KGB and she was recruited by the agency to become a master spy, having run-ins with characters like Captain America and Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine during World War II. After the war, she joined Russia's Red Room and became part of their Black Widow program.

However, for the first few decades of Black Widow's existence in the comics, the Red Room program was never mentioned and other details of her inconsistent backstory continued to contradict themselves. In 2004, her origin story was finally retconned in the Black Widow miniseries by writer Richard K. Morgan and illustrators Bill Sienkiewicz and Greg Land and all the disparate pieces of her story were together. In her new backstory, her mother did indeed still die in that fire in Stalingrad, and Natasha was given to the care of Ivan Petrovitch, but he quickly turned her over to Taras Romanov. Though Petrovitch was still in her life, Romanov began Natasha's early training, teaching her spycraft. During that time, she even learned hand-to-hand combat from Logan. When her training with Romanov was over, she was given over to Department X's Red Room facility and the Black Widow program. While she was still just a child, she was brainwashed and given altered memories of being a ballerina, as well as being biochemically altered to never get sick, age extremely slowly, retain her physical perfection, and heal quickly, not to mention increasing her agility and stamina. In this retconned origin story, Natasha was far more of an orphan, being given to the Red Room at an extremely young age, but it helped explain things like her ballerina backstory and Olympic-level athletic abilities.

How The MCU Changes Black Widow's Backstory

The Black Widow movie somewhat marries both of these concepts. In both the comics and in the movie, Natasha's mother certainly did die, but it happened in very different ways. Rather than dying in a fire in Stalingrad, Natasha's mother instead gives Natasha to the Red Room program willingly. Melina explains that one of the Red Room's algorithms determined Natasha was genetically special and showed great potential and the Red Room recruited her. Natasha's mother gave her to the program, thinking she was sending her daughter to a better life. However, when she lost contact with Natasha and started to realize something was off about the program, she became a thorn in the Red Room's side, relentlessly attempting to track down her daughter; the movie makes it clear Natasha gets her resourcefulness from her mother. Eventually, Natasha's mother became a real problem for the Red Room and they had her assassinated, burying her body in an unmarked location.

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The movie also changes the circumstances of her foster family. Instead of being raised by Ivan Petrovitch, she's instead given to Melina Vostokoff and Alexei Shostakov, two Russian spies who act as Natasha's surrogate parents, instead. Whether under Melina and Alexei or someone else, the movie also indicates that Natasha had training from a young age before going on their "family" mission in America. It's unclear if the early training she underwent was the actual Black Widow program or just an early training program, but in any case, it was the equivalent of her comic book training under Taras Romanov.

Black Widow's Relationship With Her Family Members Is Very Different In The Comics

Natasha's relationship with each member of her foster family in the movie is very different in the comics, as well. In both of her comic book origin stories, Alexei was not her foster father but her husband. The KGB arranges for Natasha to marry hotshot Russian test pilot Alexei Shostakov; later, when they decide his skills would be better put to use as a secret operative, they make him into the Red Guardian and tell Natasha that her husband has been killed during a test flight. Though their marriage had been arranged, Natasha's love for him is real and her grief at thinking she'd lost him drives her to be even more reliant on the Red Room and turns her into the exemplary Black Widow.

As for Melina, she is certainly not a mother figure to Natasha in the comics. They're not even uneasy allies. Instead, the Melina of the comics is still a Russian agent but absolutely despises Natasha Romanoff because she resents having to live in the former Russian super spy's shadow as well as the fact that Natasha defected to the United States and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. After becoming a free agent, Melina joins up with a team that is hired to assassinate Black Widow. During their assault, Melina is the only one who survives and she almost fights Black Widow to a draw before S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up. Clearly, there is no love lost between them in the comics as there is in the movie.

Of the three relationships, the one between Natasha and Yelena could be considered the most similar to the comics. In the comics, they are not foster sisters as in the movie, but Yelena Belova is indeed younger and also raised in the Red Room like Natasha. Wanting to prove herself and believing herself the rightful heir to the title of "Black Widow," Yelena volunteers for a mission that will see her crossing paths with Natasha. However, instead of beating the original Black Widow, instead, Natasha uses reverse psychology to mock Yelena, telling her to think for herself and not be so blindly loyal to Russia and the Red Room program. Eventually, Yelena follows in Natasha's footsteps and defects, becoming an antihero. In a final nod of respect, when Natasha is killed by Captain America's Hydra doppelgänger, Yelena Belova finally takes up the Black Widow mantle, this time not to defeat Natasha, but to honor her. While their backstory is certainly significantly changed in Black Widow, their loving but antagonistic relationship is similar.

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