Marvel Unlimited, Marvel’s digital comics subscription service, is currently offering all fans free access to some of Marvel’s most iconic stories from recent years, including now-classic Marvel Comics events and critically acclaimed runs featuring the Avengers, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and more.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a look back at these classic stories and maybe help you decide whether or not you would like to check them out. Our next series takes a look at Marvel’s most famous spy and assassin, only this time she’s going up against the intelligence agency for which she has done some of her best work in…
Black Widow: S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Most Wanted
The Black Widow has been compromised and coerced into stealing something from S.H.I.E.L.D. by a mysterious villain with information she doesn’t want the public to see. Now with the most powerful intelligence agency in the world tailing her and a thug in a mask pulling her strings (maybe?) each mission becomes that much more dangerous.
But when it comes to the Widow, her future has always somehow led her back to her dangerous past and that is the case again when she is forced to retrieve documents from the Red Room in Russia. Her mission leads her to discover that the sinister program that created her is once again active and poses a threat to her and the world down the line.
With more pressing matters at hand though, Natasha has to put that on the back burner. She has a mission to accomplish and tables to turn on the man who thinks he’s in charge. Plus, if that information he threatened her with sees the light of day, some old allies would quickly become enemies. Luckily, the Black Widow is always one step ahead of her opponents.
If you like your comics to be actions-packed, this is absolutely the series for you. It opens with Widow in a chase with S.H.I.E.L.D. and never looks back. In fact, writers Mark Waid and Chris Samnee do an incredible job of telling the story with very little dialogue at all. The first issue in particular features several pages without a word, just panel after panel of high-speed, explosive action.
Widow is a character who can let her actions speak for her. She’s not like a Steve Rogers, who will try tp be diplomatic at every turn, or a Tony Stark, who will gloat and trash talk his way through a fight. Natasha is a spy and is trained to let others do the talking. You’re not going to get much out of her other than acrobatic kicks and exhilarating car chases. And of course, some incredibly sneaky spy techniques.
This isn’t a series for someone who wants a ton of exposition or to learn a lot about Natasha Romanoff. You’re not going to get a whole lot of new information here. You will however, see just how good the Black Widow is at her job and how exciting that job can be at times.
We do get one piece of new information in this series though. It’s not much to explain who Natasha is or what she’s been through, but it is a tidbit from her past and does have major ramifications for how the Marvel Universe played out, particularly if it proves to be true in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well.
You can read “Black Widow: S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Most Wanted” for free now. And be sure to check back as we look back the rest of these classic Marvel Comics stories over the next several weeks.