Continuing our “Countdown to ‘Ultron’” miniseries is Black Widow.

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AGENT OF KGB

Portrayed by: Scarlett Johansson

First Appearance: Iron Man 2

What makes Black Widow awesome: She is the sole female avenger, plus she can kick ass.

Best MCU Moment: Probably that awesome fight sequence she had in Iron Man 2, though her verbal showdown with Loki in The Avengers comes pretty close.

Black Widow is something of a staple in the MCU. Though it was technically the the third MCU movie at the time, Iron Man 2 stands proudly as the first time we got to see two eventual Avengers together on screen. Since then, she has had co-starring roles in both The Avengers (duh) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Black Widow tends to stay out of the spotlight in those movies, though fans have been calling for her to get a movie of her own—possibly alongside Hawkeye. Sadly, however, this has not yet been announced.

Natasha Romanoff (if that is her real name) is a native-born Russian who was recruited by the KGB at an extremely young age. Given what we know about the “Black Widow” program from Agent Carter, this was likely an unpleasant and mentally scarring experience, to put it mildly. She eventually became famous enough in the spy community to pop up on SHIELD’s radar, leading to Hawkeye getting sent to kill her. He disobeyed his orders, saving her life, and recommended that she join SHIELD. Nick Fury agreed, and Black Widow has been a SHIELD agent and close “friend” of Hawkeye ever since.

Iron Man 2 was the first time we got to see Black Widow in action, when she was sent undercover to watch Tony Stark. He eventually became suspicious of her, and Nick Fury revealed who she was while having donuts with Stark. After helping stop Whiplash’s drone invasion, Black Widow was reassigned.

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Black Widow was next seen in The Avengers, while being held hostage by a Russian mob boss. After receiving a call from Agent Coulson, she broke out of her captivity in a rage, finding out that Hawkey had been compromised. She was then sent to recruit Bruce Banner for the team. After the rest of the Avengers captured Loki, she tricked him into revealing his plan to have Hulk destroy the Helicarrier and had a harrowing runoff with the big green brute herself. She then fought with a brainwashed Hawkeye, eventually knocking him out and returning him to normal. During the Battle of New York, it was Black Widow herself who closed the portal that allowed the Chitauri to invade.

Black Widow next appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when she was sent on a covert mission with Captain America. While he saved hostages on board a ship, she was off securing valuable intel, much to Cap’s annoyance. After Nick Fury’s supposed death, Black Widow tried to find out what happened from Cap himself, though he refused to say anything, unsure of who to trust. She then got a hold of a flash drive that he had tried to hide in a vending machine. When he went back to retrieve it after fleeing from SHIELD, she convinced him to trust her. The two of them followed the information on the flash drive to Cap’s old training ground, where they discovered the consciousness of Arnim Zola in an old fashioned computer (cue dramatic music). After discovering that SHIELD was hiding HYDRA, the two of them were almost blown up, though they escaped.

Captain America and Black Widow then had a run-in with the Winter Soldier, which ended in their arrest by SHIELD. They escaped with the help of Maria Hill and were taken to where Nick Fury was secretly hiding and recovering from his wounds. Captain America, Black Widow, Falcon and Maria Hill then worked together to destroy SHIELD, making sure that they annihilated HYDRA along with them. This also led to all of SHIELD’s files getting released publicly, including her questionable past.

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We don’t know much about Black Widow’s role in Age of Ultron, though we can assume based on the trailers that she has her role to play in the battle to come. She might even get involved romantically with Bruce Banner. We will just have to wait and see.

How big of a role do you think Black Widow will have? What do you think of a Black Widow/Bruce Banner hook-up? Tweet us @YouNerded.