Heavy Mascara

[terra]

So, months or so ago, I posted the first appearances of the Black Widow, Silver Age super-villain. Her character arc continued in the pages of Avengers. I don't know, I guess I find Marvel women in the Silver Age particularly fascinating because that era has such a bad reputation.



To catch you up: Black Widow and Hawkeye were lovers, and reluctant Iron Man villains, both caught up in the machinations of the KGB. After their last attempt to thwart Iron Man, the commies abducted Natasha, and Clint decided to go straight once and for all, breaking into the Avengers mansion and demanding a spot on the team, hoping to "avenge" his missing partner, Natasha. Who shows up in issue #29 with a group of supervillains and a plot to destroy the whole hero-team.

What Clint doesn't know is that the KGB's decided that holding Natasha's parents ransom is no longer enough to ensure her loyalty. So they brainwashed her.



But Natasha is able to break through the brainwashing and helps the Avengers at the last minute, reuniting with Hawkeye and serving as an occasional ally. Clint really lobbies for her to join the team in issue #36, but some of the other members have doubts.



Hank Pym's not sure why he hates her, he just does. (Yeah, his thought bubbles actually say this at one point.) But Pietro's been captured, so the whole team plus Black Widow go off to investigate. What do they find? Well, a bunch of aliens have invaded and they are disguising themsleves as heroes! That doesn't sound like any other Marvel comic I know of. Eventually, in issue #37, all the Avengers are captured and stuck into tubes, except Black Widow, who they didn't expect to be coming, and Hawkeye, who is just a dude with arrows who cares about him anyway.





Earlier the Avengers had stupidly explained to this guy that they don't kill. One of the big reasons they all got stuck in tubes was because they felt they had to spare the life of the innocent Burgomeister, who is actually the alien tyrent IXAR in disguise!!




Those are the eyes of someone with crazy mascara. Anyway, Natasha's threat works, and the day is saved. But Hawkeye is a bit spooked.



In issue 38, Clint's still trying to get Natasha onto the team despite this little incident, but she's late to the meeting. Why?




Blah blah blah the Avengers do stuff for some pages back to Black Widow.





Nick Fury's kind of a dick. Also worth noting: Natasha didn't defect to SHIELD, she defected to the Avengers. Sometimes writers would get this mixed up down the road. Anyway...




Next time: behind the bamboo curtain! And the (first) origin of the Black Widow!

Scans from Avengers 29, and 36-38.

And I haven't forgotten about Tigra. I'll be posting part two of that once I come back from the comic shop.

Comments

[stig]

On a tangential thought, I recently saw "Salt" and found myself thinking during the end of the bunker scene: 'Man, this is the BEST Marvel movie adaptation I have ever SEEN! Obviously, there's a new dawn ahead for the Black W - oh. Dammit.'

[psychopathicus_rex]

Y'know, all she would have to SAY would be something like 'I AM through with those creeps forever - this is a two-way trip; I just can't tell you the details because they're top-secret and I had to promise'. That'd make things pretty clear, and she wouldn't have to shoot herself in the foot like that. But nooooooooo, she's gotta be all noble and self-sacrificing and STUPID. Why do so many Silver Age heroes suffer from communication problems?