Talent
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Penciller: Daniel Acuna
Cover Artist: Stephanie Hans
THE HEROIC AGE IS HERE! The deadliest hero from IRON MAN 2, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN and CAPTAIN AMERICA fights for her life! Somebody wants the super-spy codenamed the Black Widow dead…and they came damn close! Now Natasha Romanoff, recovering and angry, chases the trail with fatal skill! What do her friends Iron Man, Wolverine and Daredevil know about her would-be killer…and why won’t they help her?!
Black Widow has narrowly escaped death. Recovering from her near-fatal injuries, Natasha sets out on a mission of retaliation! But what do Iron Man and Wolverine know about her attacker and why won’t they help her? Find out here!
Review
Black Widow dreams she is trudging through the snow in WW2-era Russia…then she awakens in the hospital. She drags herself out of bed and punches a code into the phone. Wolverine walks in and tries to persuade her to rest; the Avengers were all called away, including Captain America (Bucky Barnes at this time), so he was assigned to be her bodyguard. He presents her with the black rose and ribbon, recovered from the site where she was attacked. But there’s something else he wants to know, revealing he knows what was taken from her. She leaves the room and is attacked by a phony nurse with a hypo; Natasha knocks her out and heads for the stairs where she encounters three armed guards. She pretends to be weak and ill to throw them off guard then takes them all down, stealing a uniform to leave in….
The Avengers, Bucky Cap, Tony Stark, and Hawkeye, have been assembled by a government functionary who informs them that Black Widow has been spying on them all for years, carrying a small data storage device in her body, and selling the intel to the highest bidder. They call him a liar and he asks if there is anyone of them she did not seduce. Tony has a call from Pepper Potts who is in a park; she is then shot down by Lady Bullseye, using a sonic weapon. As Tony dashes out, the functionary reveals that Natasha’s data lists Pepper as the best way to get to him….
The wounded Natasha takes herself to a safe room over a corner bar where she binds her wounds and ponders the situation. The black rose and the data chip were two of her deepest secrets and now someone has uncovered them in what has to be a personal vendetta. As she prepares, she watches the TV news bulletin that the FBI wants her….
Bucky Barnes comes home to find Wolverine in his apartment. Logan tells him Natasha is innocent of spying on her friends so someone is gunning for her….
Natasha is walking along the waterfront and detects someone following her from the rooftops. Nat tells her to come out and it’s Elektra, who needs to talk….
SCORE: 8.5/10