Who Are Black Widow's Real Parents?

Black Widow answered many questions about Natasha Romanoff’s past and gave her a family that isn’t her biological one, so one big question remains: who are her real parents? The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a tradition of giving its heroes at least three solo movies and then teaming them up, but there are some who have been the exception. Among those is Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who was introduced in Iron Man 2 and was seen in all Avengers movies and one Captain America adventure, and it took Marvel years to finally give her a solo movie.

Unfortunately, Natasha died in Avengers: Endgame when she sacrificed herself in Vormir so Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) could get the Soul Stone and return to their present to undo Thanos’ snap, but Marvel gave fans one final adventure alongside her in Black Widow. Set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Black Widow follows Natasha as she’s on the run and returns to Russia, where she reunites with her “family” and comes across a villain known as Taskmaster, who has connections to the Red Room and thus Natasha’s past. Black Widow solved a couple of mysteries about Natasha’s past, but everything about her real parents remains a mystery.

Black Widow begins by taking viewers back to 1995 to meet a young Natasha living in Ohio with her parents and sister Yelena, but it was all part of an undercover mission and Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian, played by David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) are not Natasha and Yelena’s real parents. Once the mission was over, Natasha and Yelena were taken to the Red Room for training, and they reunited many years later when Natasha returned after the Civil War incident. In the end, Alexei, Melina, and Yelena (Florence Pugh) were Natasha’s real family, but the identity of her biological parents remains a mystery, though the comic books can offer some clues.

Alexei Red Guardian and Melinas mission in america Black widow

The only confirmed character related to Natasha in the MCU is Ivan Romanoff, mentioned by the Red Skull in Avengers: Endgame when Natasha and Hawkeye arrived at Vormir. Very little is known about Ivan, who died of unknown circumstances after Dreykov (Ray Winstone) ordered the murder of his wife for attempting to expose the Red Room. As for Natasha’s mother, there’s no information on her within the MCU, and it’s pretty much the same in the comics. In the source material, the identity of Natasha’s mother is unknown, as she left a young Natasha in the custody of a man named Ivan Petrovich and she died shortly after during the Battle of Stalingrad, with Petrovich raising young Natasha. What happened afterward changes depending on the comic books you read, but she ended up training to be a spy.

Black Widow did its best to give Natasha a proper backstory and a family through Yelena, Alexei, and Melina, and it’s unlikely the MCU will give an answer to who her real parents were now that her time is over. The mystery of Natasha's real parents in the MCU adds to the tragedy of her story, but at least she wasn't left alone.

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