Black Widow's Movie Costume Has A Nod To Her Comic Book Roots

Natasha Romanoff took the lead in her long-overdue solo movie, Black Widow, and her costume features a nod to her comic book roots. Depicted with understated humor and impeccable humanity by Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first superheroes and deservedly one of its most popular. After debuting as a SHIELD agent and ally to Tony Stark in Iron Man 2, Black Widow went on to become a founding member of The Avengers in the groundbreaking 2012 film, becoming an A-list hero in-universe and in the real world. Although Black Widow was a more peripheral hero in the comics, the MCU depicted her faithfully and fittingly made several nods to her decades of published lore in the 2021 film.

Debuting in 1964 as a Soviet spy and enemy of Iron Man, Black Widow defected to the US after overcoming her indoctrination and becoming an ally to SHIELD and The Avengers, soon joining the ranks of the famous superhero team. Black Widow wasn’t a founding member of The Avengers in Marvel’s mainstream continuity (Earth-616, which began in 1939), but she was in the alternate Ultimate Marvel timeline. The MCU is mostly inspired by Earth-616, but it borrows some notable elements from the Ultimate comics, such as Black Widow being a founding Avengers member.

Though Black Widow had numerous costumes throughout her decades of history, her most famous one was introduced in a 1970 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. The iconic superhero costume consisted of a black bodysuit, utility belt, and her signature wristbands, which contained numerous gadgets. The MCU’s Black Widow, similarly, had a plethora of outfits throughout her film appearances, with nearly all of them being slight variations of her classic comic costume. Natasha’s belt and wristbands notably were a different color than the comic version, but this changed in Black Widow, where one of her two suits finally included the gold-colored gear as a nod to the source material.

Black Widow holding a gun on the cover of Black Widow: Homecoming

In Black Widow, Natasha reacquaints herself with her “family” of former Soviet agents, who’d posed as an American family while under deep cover. When going after Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and the Red Room, Natasha dons the Black Widow uniform of her “mother,” Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). The suit appears to be functionally identical to Natasha’s other Widow outfits, but the suit is older, making its aesthetic homage to the classic comics particularly fitting.

Vostokoff’s suit isn’t the only classic comics miniseries homage in Black Widow, however, since Natasha’s other superhero outfit references a more modern Marvel comic. For Natasha’s mission to rescue her “father,” Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), aka the Red Guardian, she wore a white suit, given to her by ally and former SHIELD agent, Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenle). Natasha’s white suit references the 2010 comic Black Widow: Deadly Origin, a modern retelling of her origin story which features a white variation of her iconic costume.

Natasha, tragically, sacrificed herself towards the end of Avengers: Endgame to ensure that The Avengers would acquire the Soul Stone and reverse the damage done by Thanos. 2021’s Black Widow was not only a much-needed solo outing for Natasha but also a fitting tribute to the deceased hero. Black Widow answered Budapest questions, explored the full origin story of one of the founding Avengers members, and gave Natasha her two most comic-accurate cinematic costumes yet.

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