Black Widow's time in the MCU spans a course of 7 films, during which she has spent more time on screen than any other woman in the franchise. Her character has been a cornerstone of many significant events in the MCU narrative, including the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers' civil war, and the undoing of Thanos' Snap.
Like most elements of this complex universe, Natasha has an intricate history that is interwoven with other individual stories. Now, before her long-awaited solo film, Black Widow, is released in November, let's take a look at a few important details to keep in mind about the MCU's Natasha Romanoff.
Her Real Name
Natasha Romanoff had been known by a few names, having taken on different identities as a spy and the moniker Black Widow by the time she made an appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Some new information is revealed about her, however, in the abandoned SSR base, where Dr. Zola reveals himself to be alive in a series of computers.
His information lists her real name as "Natalia Alianovna Romanoff," which is a direct offshoot of her legal name in the comics, changing only her last name from "Romanova." This may have been a deliberate omission.
Her Multilingualism
The intel that Tony pulls up when he and the MCU first meet Natasha in Iron Man 2 lists her fluency in French, Italian, Russian, and Latin, as well as English. As she was going under the identity of Natalie Rushman at the time, the accuracy of this information may be called into question.
The Russian part is easy enough to assume as true with Russia being her country of origin, so it's likely she does have at least some proficiency in the other languages listed. German and Mandarin are among the languages in Russia used with some significance, making them other probable additions to the list.
She Believes Her Parents Are Dead
In an extended scene of Peggy Carter's funeral in Captain America: Civil War, Natasha meets Steve in the empty church. As they reminisce, she recounts to him her whereabouts was during her hiatus after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. She went back to Russia to find her parents, and she was greeted by "two little gravestones by a chain-link fence."
The publicity for Black Widow has revealed that the film will introduce characters who are family-adjacent to Natasha, but it's still unclear if they are her blood relatives or more of a found family, a theme not uncommon in this universe.
She Trained In The Black Widow Program
Avengers: Age of Ultron gave fans the most informational glimpse into Natasha's past to date. The scene in which Wanda puts all the Avengers under mind control takes Natasha back to her time in the Red Room, where she became Black Widow, going through rigorous physical and mental training. That abstract memory, though, is not all the MCU has had to offer about the Black Widow program.
In "The Iron Ceiling," an episode of Agent Carter, Peggy leads a mission in Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union, where she tracks down the origin of regular series villain Dottie Underwood. In doing so, she discovers an early stage of the Black Widow program, where the trainees endured harsh lifestyles even as little girls, being handcuffed to their beds at night when they slept and training as assassins.
Her Memories From The Program Were Altered
Also evident in the Agent Carter episode was that the girls in the Red Room were brainwashed. Peggy's team discovers films on which words like "instill" and "fear" were imprinted. In Ultron, it's revealed that Natasha's own recollections of training in the program had been veiled by memories of practicing ballet.
The experience is the reason that she can empathize with Clint Barton when he recovers from Loki's mind control in The Avengers, when he describes it as someone taking your brain to "pull you out and stuff something else in."
She'd Encountered The Winter Soldier Before
Natasha's history with the HYDRA operative predates their battle in Winter Soldier. She recognizes his work by the Soviet slug they had pulled out of Nick Fury, recalling to Steve a mission during which the Winter Soldier shot through her own abdomen and into the nuclear engineer she was covering. When the two go up against each other in Civil War, she tells him, "You could at least recognize me."
So far, there have been no indications that the Winter Soldier will appear in Black Widow, but it goes to show how intertwined each of the individual MCU stories are with each other. There's no telling what other established characters we may see in her film.
Hawkeye Recruited Her To S.H.I.E.L.D.
During her conversation with Loki in The Avengers, Natasha reveals that Agent Barton had originally been sent to kill her as a danger to the country. Instead, he chose to give her the opportunity to fight for good, kickstarting her own career as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
The two remain close, both in friendship and on the battlefield, during their time in S.H.I.E.L.D. and beyond. It's also this act of kindness that Natasha later pays forward with Dr. Banner, recruiting him as an Avenger for the team's first mission.
She Was The First Female Avenger
In terms of the MCU as a whole, this is probably the most important fact one can recall about Black Widow. It's important not because this hero being a woman is the most outstanding thing about her, but because her existence paved the way for a new generation of MCU women to be depicted as heroes who play vital roles in the story.
It also calls to attention how hard she must have worked and how skilled she must have been to reach the same status as the men around her at a time when no other women were allowed into that club.
She Found Purpose At S.H.I.E.L.D.
Her stint as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent comes after a long and tragic background as a Russian spy. When she started working for the organization, she saw it as "going straight" and making up for the things she did while in the KGB. It was her chance to bring both herself and the world closer to peace.
During her time in S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Romanoff put her spy skills to work to take down the most villainous of targets and the most evil of corporations, all in the name of what was right and good.
She Found A Home With The Avengers
While we don't know much about Natasha's original family as it stands, we do know that, in their absence so far in the MCU, the Avengers have served as her family during her time in the films. The team has been through countless triumphs, losses, and near-death experiences together.
It has served as a sort of second family for its members who already have familial ties elsewhere, but for Natasha, and the other teammates who haven't had any biological family to speak of for most of the films, the Avengers have been her home.