Spy Smasher and Black Widow in: "Recruiting Romanoff!"

 

This serves as a direct continuation of the events presented in the first meeting between these two, from STF #4637.  Now that they've joined forces, the Foreground Gun Guys won't know what hit them!

Daredevil & The Black Widow and The Spectre

 

I saw a chance to do a Gene Colan inspired cover and I went for it.  Colan is one of those artists that I did not appreciate as a kid, but now I recognize as one of the best and most unique in the art form.

Daredevil first met The Spectre in STF #3067...

The Champions and The Ray

 

the MCU is supposedly going to concentrate more on the "big gun" heroes and teams for a while going forward, so I guess I won't be holding my breath for a Champions movie announcement any time soon.  It's too bad, they finally have the rights to all the characters! 

Wonder Woman and The Champions

 

Bees have always creeped me out. I can only imagine how much worse giant mechanical bees would be.  Hopefully this would turn out to be a buzzworthy issue.

Spy Smasher and The Black Widow

 

This is a pairing that I have meant to get to for a while.  There was a bit of prep work required before I could add in Spy Smasher, though - here's a look at the behind the scenes progress: 

Daredevil and Black Widow Vs. The Rogues

 How would DD and The Widow fare against a half-dozen of The Flash's greatest adversaries?  This is an Acts of Vengeance style crossover battle that I would have loved to have seen. 

Black Widow and Nightshade

 

Nightshade still has a lot of untapped potential.  She's one of the Charlton characters that DC acquired back in the 80's, and still has not done enough with yet.  I have liked the brief moments where she has shown up and her appearances on various teams over the years - but it would be nice to see her truly get a moment in the spotlight.

Black Lightning and Black Widow

 

Here's another pairing that I am surprised to just be getting to. Now that I see them side by side they got together very well visually.  It's not hard to come up with stories that would involve both of them, either.

Black Widow and Nemesis

 

I doubt I would ever read any Nemesis growing up if he wasn't the star of the back up feature in my favorite comic - The Brave and the Bold.  I'm glad I did though, It's a crackling spy adventure featuring a master of disguise, deftly illustrated by Dan Spiegel.  I've always wanted to see those back-ups collected into a TPB, but I don't know if the demand will ever be there for such a project.

Green Arrow and The Black Widow in: "From Star City to Stalingrad!"

I thought that it would be fun to present a Silver Age adventure featuring these two heroes.  Green Arrow and Black Widow shared a Bronze Age adventure in STF #2722 and first met (with Daredevil) in STF #1935...

Raven and Black Widow

 

Scarlett Johansson is seemingly done with the role of Black Widow, but who knows what will happen down the line?  Between time travel and the multiverse, there seems to be opportunity to bring her back if desired by Marvel Studios.  While I prefer death in the movies to have some permanence, and I enjoy Yelena as her replacement, I wouldn't mind seeing her back at least one more time - if only to have an adventure and possibly romance with Daredevil.  I loved the comics of my youth when they she shared his title. 

Red Star and Black Widow

 

One real shame about Natasha Romanov being killed off in the MCU is that it creates a big missed opportunity.  Now that Daredevil is in the MCU proper, I would have loved to see him share some adventures (and possibly romance) with The Black Widow.   I guess there are a couple of opportunities to do this.  The upcoming 18 episode Daredevil series on Disney+ will have plenty of room for flashbacks, so maybe she could be included there.  Failing that, they could bump into each other in one of the upcoming time and reality warping Avengers movies.  I think all of these scenarios are probably long shots, however.

Black Widow and Black Canary

 

Wow, have I really never paired these two together before?  Well they did both appear as members of one of STF's very first hero teams, The Black Beauties way back in STF #299 in 2013.  Still, it's high time they shared a cover together again.  They also appeared as guest stars in STF #2491 with Iron Man and Starman...

Deathstroke and Black Widow

 

The line up for the Thunderbolts movie has been announced, and with a line up that includes Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Taskmaster, The Contessa, Winter Soldier, USAgent and Ghost, it feels like it will pretty much be a sequel to Black Widow, with a few other characters thrown in.  I would have preferred Marvel started with the Citizen-V led team of masquerading villains from the comics, but it will be interesting to see what is done with this group.

I am always happy to use artwork by the incredible Mike Mckone.  I was fortunate enough to pick up an original page by him several years back:

The Baroness Vs. Black Widow

 

The one thing that that bothers me about the death of The Black Widow in the MCU is that it eliminates one team up I had been hoping to see.  Now that Daredevil is in the fold and getting his owns series on Disney+, I was really hoping we would see some action with DD and the Widow side by side.  I loved the era in the comics when she was Daredevil's partner, and even shared logo space on the cover.  It would have been great to seen an episode of Daredevil: Born Again pay homage to those classic tales.

Blue Beetle and Black Widow

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Xolo Mariduena bring the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle to life in the announced HBO Max movie.  I hope that the legacy aspect of the character is left intact and that we also get to see Ted Kord in there somewhere, perhaps in a mentor role as eventually happened in the comics.  A nod to the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, would just be icing on the cake!

Thank you to Mike Shirley, a Patron of this Blog, for suggesting this team up!

Black Widow and Wildcat

 

It looks like the Black Widow solo film has finally settled on an a release date after a year's worth of delays, as publicity has begun to ramp up for it once more.  Let's hope it is going to be worth the wait - I for one can't wait to see The Taskmaster in action.

I am always happy to feature the work of the great Mike Wieringo on this blog.  He was gone far too soon.  I was lucky enough to pick up a page by him several years back.  I love how no dialog or captions are needed to get the gag:

The Creeper and The Black Widow

The Black Widow trailer seemed interesting, teasing a much more scaled down and personal story in comparison to the bombast of Avengers: Endgame.  It will be cool to get some back story on Natasha and he personal demons.  Maybe we will learn why she doesn't have even a hint of a Russian Accent, that always bothered me.  I can't wait to see The Taskmaster in action, he's always men a favorite Marvel Villain.

Green Arrow and The Black Widow

At first I wasn't all that excited about a solo Black Widow film.  It sound like it might be pretty cool though.  Wth The Red Guardian, Taskmaster, and fellow Black Widow Yelena Belova in the mix, there should be plenty of drama and action.  Plus, the events of Avengers: Endgame will give all the proceedings a deeper significance.  Hopefully Hawkeye will make an appearance and we finally find out just what went down in Budapest.

Green Arrow first encountered Black Widow with Daredevil in STF #1935...

Black Widow and The Huntress in: "Last Rites!"

The Black Widow solo film finally seems to be getting underway, with Cate Shortland named as director and Florence Pugh tapped to co-star as a fellow agent.  No word on whether any other Marvel heroes will be showing up, but I wouldn't mind seeing Winter Soldier or Hawkeye as part of the mix.  My first choice would be Daredevil, but I know that wont be happening.

These two first crossed paths in STF #735