What Cinematic Trade Paperbacks Could Have Been: Marvel’s Black Widow

Natasha Romanov has a new movie slated for release in 2020.  The film will explore her past in the Russian Red Room as she battles demons from her secretive past.  But in the comics, she’s been dead since shortly after the Trump Inauguration.  (...they didn’t bring her back in time for this one?  *sigh,*  What did I expect?)  And as the last Marvel Phase 1 Avenger to have their own movie (sorry, Hawkeye), I’d like to bring up a massive missed opportunity I’ve noticed with the publishing division of the superhero industry.

With so many movies over so many years, and plenty of writers arranging their books for the trade paperback anyway, why not collect essential stories into single books to help new readers catch up quickly?  And I’m not talking about Marvel’s Essentials line.  Please help yourself to checkout, special order or whichever edition’s left on the shelves when Quarantine’s over.  I personally recommend Spider-Man Volume 5 and Man-Thing Volume 2.

If the publishers had some extra space space, a character’s subsequent appearances before the next big change.  It’s another peek at the writing style and perspectives of the time, and more of the Universe.  Supporting characters like Pepper and Happy, who was greatly utilized in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  And if you do the entire Issue, like in this case, you can learn some about the Watcher, seen in the end credits of Guardians of the Galaxy 2.  If not, Marvel had 2 stories per issue in most of their maximum 8 titles in those days.  So you could just focus on the subject of the collection and double them up to show more of her while saving space.  After all, they did this in the Marvel Essentials collection.

Speaking of Spiders, let’s get back to the Widow.  I’d like to use her as an example for the kind of template that I would like to see applies ALL Marvel Heroes and/or teams who have led their own movies so far.

Her introduction to Wolverine, “Her Little Uncle.”  And strangely for continuity, she meets Captain America.  But we’ll get to that later.

In her very first appearance, she was a seductress trying to get in close to horny ol’ Tony.  She did some lasting damage to a rival he had flipped to be bis staunch ally.  (Spoiler alert).  

This was her last real attempt to Mata Hari her way through Iron man’s defenses and devices.  Here she shows a quick study aptitude for advanced machines, even ones that don’t work the way they’re intended to.

Hawkeye’s introduction into the mythos has him walk face-first into the widow’s… machinations.

Here is the first appearance of the Black Widow gauntlets.  The suit in this issue did not last nearly long enough in my opinion.  Although if you’re going to be stealthy and cling to ceilings, maybe it needs gloves?  And while we’re addressing shortcomings, maybe it should be bulletproof?  She is shot at the end of this issue, but to add psychological harm to her injuries, her service is being …reinforced through threats to her family.

But apparently the threats were no longer enough to contain her in their eyes.  After being shot by the police in her prior outing, she was “reprogrammed” by her former handlers, then redeployed to contract 2 villains of the week to destroy the Avengers (following Iron Man’s first departure) only to accompany them along an underground adventure.

Hawkeye was initially elated to see her elated to see her again, not heeding the obvious (She was brainwashed, bro.)  So his older brother figure Steve Rogers needs to send a small spy to watch his back, Janet Van Dyne (The original Wasp)  Predictably the reprogrammed Widow (or so she thinks) does not hesitate to render Hawkeye unconscious.

Right after this reunion, the combatants are briefly trapped in an underground environment, battling the Serpent Society.  Gradually, along with Clint Barton’s support, she gains the ability to reclaim her identity.  And with it, the growing trust of the Avengers.  In the process, Hawkeye vouched for her, and she became an (uncertain) ally.  You’ll notice that her face is not in the corner collection of the subsequent issues.  

In an early and inverted case of “I won’t but my friend will,” she reminded an underground Snake Cult that while they were safe from any Avenger crossing the line, she was no Avenger.

Also of note, she’s wearing her old spider motif.  Where did she pick that up?  And this storyline should be her earliest published interaction with Captain America.  How is that lack of recognition addressed in retrospect?

Shortly afterward, she left her association with the team while they were still debating her membership.  In spite of the reasons she gives, this also has something to do with what Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. gives her to do just outside the Avengers mansion.  Double Agent Duty within the Soviet Union.  Highly unlikely they’d be too suspicious after having brainwashed her, and both teams being victims.

I sometimes forget how much the divide between East and West influenced popular media in the mid-20th century.  But at this point in her development, it would have been very interesting to see her working with (and against) 007.

Walking Spoiler: Her prime love interest meets her husband.  

Now let’s move onto her most iconic look.  It brings back the emulated Spider-Feats of the suit she wore on the attack with a young Hawkeye.  I find conflicting claims about where she wore it first.  So I would recommend them both for submission to this.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Amazing_Adventures_Vol_2_1 Though may I ask who so demanded a high-flying defected spy to be paired with something so fantastic and otherworldly as the Inhumans mythos?    Ivan Petrovich Bezukhov makes his first appearance here.

 Now can I say how disappointed I am that she was not featured in the Grim Hunt?  All the other Spider-Women got to.  But that’s a trade collection for another time.

Her first time on an all-female team.  For reasons evident in the plot, this is seen as an Old Shame now, but a first is a first.  (And how does a plot like this not show up in the Corporate Subsidiary era?)

Her first encounter with The Man without Fear.  Before the MCU happened, her partnership with him was the one she was most often associated with.

Reunited with Hawkeye.  Receives a joint request with Daredevil to save Avengers captured be Magneto.

Finally takes her place on the Avengers.  

For all of one outing.  (This is getting Frustrating).  Also I suspect she was only here to set up for that “End of an Avenger” bait and switch on the cover.

Following an adventure with the Thing where Matt was not present, Natasha decides she wants another Solo career.  Parting amicably with a kiss, Natasha heads out on her own.

Taking her leave of Matt, she joins the Champions in their founding.

When the former Super Spy was officially elected Leader of Champions.

In this issue she and Ivan found her old trainer’s calling card and go to investigate.

Ivan Petrovich Bezukhov parts ways to find his son Yuri.  Ivan spent many years a stalwart companion of Natasha, even before she partnered with Daredevil.

And so the Champions fall.  Their final battle is in only the 17th issue, but more details about the breakup are expanded on in the 17th issue of another series.  Nat took it hard, being the leader made her feel responsible for the group’s cohesiveness.

Following the dissolution of the Champions, Hercules and the Widow hurry off to join the Avengers with great urgency.  Only to be disintegrated and preserved by the Collector.  Just in time to be introduced to ANOTHER cosmic treat.  This is the time she decides to stick around?  She showed up for a tryouts issue so briefly I couldn’t justify even including it.  But it was so incomplete individually, that I had to add the next 2 issues.  Comics are weird.

And after less than 10 issues, and a half dozen Avengers appearances in Daredevil, she gets booted off again.  Just can’t stay away from Matt, even when she wants to.

Well, that’s it for 1 volume.  30 chapters might seem long for 1 collection, but remember that the Marvel Essentials line could compile 25 issues of stories by utilizing the cheap paper of old, in all black and white.  And the last of these issues was published in 1979. While she first appeared in 1964.  That’s 15 years of growth and development highlighted in only twice as many chapters.

Next time, we’ll look at her chronicled relationship with Daredevil.  I had to make a draft a separate collection to chart her character development with such an ongoing partner.  So many instances seemed so significant to really know her and her sometimes startling progress from her appearances not 10 years prior.  But they didn’t meet the criteria of changing events in her life and career.  So they are another trade template, and various arcs where she’s teamed with Hawkey, Hawkeye and the Avengers, Daredevil and the Avengers, and even Spider-Man in a fight for her Identity will have to come later.  

But until then, if you’d like more Black Widow…

Here’s her first mini-series.  Her mission is a Joint task by both Russia and the United States.  She repeatedly battles the 2nd Black Widow, Yelena Belova.  And the Red Room is introduced.

And for my own personal experience with her publication history.

This was the first series I picked up with Natasha in it.    It carried the same vibes as the Weapons of Mass Destruction narrative from the Bush Administration at the time.  But it had the massive impact of making Nick Fury a fugitive.  And set the initial moves in place for Secret Invasion.  But it had things to introduce to the broader Marvel U.  Like Quake.  And …Quake.  

Super Saiyan Salad recipe

Easter Weekend during Covid-19.  I’m glad that the country has not been reopened prematurely.  But this means that Sakuracon, the largest anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, has been cancelled.  It was to be held over Easter Weekend.  As it has been every year I’ve attended.  And it’s just one more convention that’s been cancelled for 2020.

So to keep myself sane, I have whipped together a salad inspired by Saiyans from Dragon Ball Z. One of my earliest Ambitions with the FandomFoodie was to produce new culinary dishes based on things that I was a fan of.  Particularly Darkstalkers.

A unique feature about this salad is that it goes in the oven for the most part, that is to reflect the Flames that are emitted when I say and it goes into their super mode. However some are the vegetables do not go into the oven, and they are employed at different parts of the process. The the symbolism there is that there are a couple saying she never went super, and some who appeared outside of Dragon Ball once Akira Toriyama was done with the series in the mid-90s.

 

 

 

1 head broccoli, 1 leaf cabbage, 2 heads of cauliflower, 3 leaves kale, 2 carrots.  Also one small onion, 1 banana (soft) 1 tablespoon hot sauce, 5 small radishes.

Dice one small onion, and pan fry until clear.

Dressing is one very ripe (but not spoiled) banana, a tablespoon hot sauce, and water from the onion pan.  The clear onions are the last topping. 

Roast at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then add 5 small radishes, thinly diced.  Toss in bowl with the thin dressing. 

Makes 2 servings, though I put all the onions in the photographed serving.

Now that we’ve established the naming wordplay, how much of which Saiyan goes in here?  I did my due diligence when looking for Saiyans.  And I discovered that in one of Toriyama-sensei’s later series, he introduced a supplemental surviving Saiyan.  So I’ve placed the characters inspiring this list in rising order of awareness.  (I really would like to see Neko Majin come back in the future).

Onion for Onio.  He appeared in a later series, so he is added last and prepared in a different way.

Raditz=Radish.  Raditz was only around for a few chapters in the very first saga following the first time skip.  Widely regarded by his peers as “Chicken Weakling,” his power appears below the average power level in an army generally treated like cannon fodder.

Kale=kale.  Add 3 leaves.  Kale is considered a super food, and the leafy green’s namesake is the hulk-like legendary Super Saiyan of Universe 6.  So for her, she gets 3 leaves.  

Califla=Califlower.  Enter 2 heads of califlower for her.  She operates in a pair, not really complete without her sworn sister Kale.  And Kale is the only Universe 6 Saiyan stronger than her in any of the tournaments they appear in.

Cabba=Cabbage. One leaf for him.  He was the first Saiyan from Universe 6 introduced, and therefore the first new Saiyan from the DragonBall Super Sequel Series.

Broly=Broccoli.  He gets 1 head Broccoli.  The individual florets will scatter throughout.

I’ll assume this one needs no introduction.  We throw in the 2 carrots for him.  Kakarot was only revealed as his given name when the series when from Dragonball to Dragonball Z, and he had already been wearing orange training uniforms for some time.

Oozaru gets made into the dressing.  An Oozaru is what a Saiyan becomes when they look at the full moon, so long as they currently have a tail.  Bananas for the giant ape, with water soaking up the cooked Onio residue from the pan with a tablespoon of hot sauce (amount to taste.)  This spicy and savory blend represents the energy blasts they emit from their mouths.

And Vegeta, name to the Prince, King and Planet the Saiyans call home.  For this there will be only vegetables before adding the dressing.

So, I spent my Easter Sunday writing this up and getting my veggies in.  How are you saying sane?

 

Disney’s Problem with Marvel’s Mutants and Film Part 2

When last we met, I shared my thoughts on the Disney Decision to remove Mutants from Marvel.  In an effort to devalue the X-Men film rights and buy them back, they …destroyed the X-Men.  With a Terrigen Mist bomb to sterilize mutants and drive them into Limbo, realm of Belasco.  One of the most hostile and unpredictable environments in the Marvel Universe.  And I showed how an X-Men contest Fox put on in the 90’s completely undermines that.

X-Men the Animated Series launched an animated universe in the 90’s.  Here they are in Spider-Man the Animated Series, during a crossover.  

But alas, the reasoning of both Disney AND Myself are both moot points.  Outside of Deadpool, the last time Fox released an X-Men movie not adapting a story from the Claremont era (1975-1991) was the aforementioned X-3.  The third movie had another director, who forced in Joss Whedon’s Cure arc into what was clearly being established as the Dark Pheonix Saga.  Also by Claremount.  Also drawing from the Claremount era, X-Men Apocalypse reset the cast to characters appearing in X-2.  So they’re looking backward in movie content as well.  There’s no WAY that any new mutants (no pun intended) would be appearing.

Just putting in mutants from the 90’s like Deadpool (the Merc WITH a Mouth) in a proper adaptation called for so much push-back against the studio heads.  Mostly this was for an R-Rating, but who had their first cinematic appearance in that movie, and their first comics appearance after 2014?  Nobody.  Deadpool’s first film came in 2016, 2 years after Disney Marvel tried to bury everything that Fox had the film rights to.  It also gave us the newest face from the source material, Bob, originally a Hydra henchman held hostage by Deadpool.  Bob made a cameo as an armed mercenary in the final fight scene in the 3rd act.  He was first published a couple years after Dr. Kavita Rao’s introduction in Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run in 2004.  And Kavita Rao’s only film appearance was in 2006’s X3.

These Space Pirates first appeared in the 70’s comics.  Same series.  Prisoners of the Shi’Ar who banded together to form Space-Fairing adventures.  Pop Quiz, which one is related to Cyclops, and which one served as an X-Man?  

And there were so many alternatives to the Inhumans, when choosing who to be the non-mutant stand-ins.  Meanwhile the Terrigen Mysts being deployed on Earth had already been explored in the Earth-X series.  And just 6 years before 2014, The Secret Warriors had introduced a variety of hybrid types.  Not mutants, but something various people descended from gods, monsters and silver age supers.  The official wiki says they are mutates, even though a Mutate is someone changed after birth.  This was established through the Savage Land Mutates... in the mid-60’s.

And then in the early 2000’s, a failed bid to turn the Mutant X comic into a TV show.  So we got the Mutant X series that yielded New Mutants completely unrelated to any team or mythos in Marvel Comics.  No, not those new mutants.

In this syndicated series, Dr. Adam Kane and his fellow researchers at a company called Genomex offered experimental treatments to various small children who grew up to display superhuman abilities.  An important way that this varied from the mutations in the comics is that when mutants in the Marvel Universe mutates further it is the secondary mutation meant to give them new superpowers, whereas New Mutants make sudden and massive gains in their existing powers, at the risk of destroying themselves and dying spectacularly.  Also, there is a state called “mutating,” where the New Mutant needs to consume great amounts of something specific like electricity until their mutation has fully set in.  And lastly they come in only 4 specific types, overlapping only once.

Molecular

Elemental

Feral

Psionic

The “once” was a man named Gabriel Ashlocke.  Patient 0 of Genomex, his powers were off the meter across all 4 categories.  The weapons Genomex used to contain and confine New Mutants were both designed to foil him when he proved to lack all conscience.  He not only introduced New Mutant organizations like the links in the strand, but when his powers proved to great,  he was also the first Self Destruct in the series.  If a Mutant gained too much power, even the show’s leads, they were a ticking clock to their own destruction.  The only New Mutants to prove ultimately stable were introduced in the 3rd season.  Creations of a one episode villainess never seen again.

The individual New Mutants can be found here.

And then there were Ultras from Marvel’s Malibu Comics Universe.  Mutants are born through some ambiguous means, while Ultras take their powers and strange abilities through nanotechnology called “Wetware.”  The wetware affected developing bodies and some adults to provide powers, not relying on puberty like Marvel’s X-Gene.  Several of them are neat parallels to mutants from the X-Men franchise.  Fitting, as Ultras are basically Alternate Company equivalents of the Mutants themselves.  Although, the Malibu Ultraverse had a LOT of alternate company equivalents.

The Savage Land Mutates gain powers post-birth from a machine.  And whenever the machine is destroyed, they lose those powers.  Naturally, this suggests an issue with range.  And yet Mutates like Lorelei and Vertigo have traveled as far as New York without any diminished performance.  So is there a way to make the changes permanent?  Vertigo left the Savage Land Mutates to work with Mr. Sinister’s Marauders.  Since Sinister was such a splicer himself, he may have been the determining factor for her.  And when Lorelei left, she left with Magneto’s Brotherhood.  Magneto again being the creator of this technology.  And before you think this is just another set of X-Men villains, remember they have battled the Avengers.  Coming back to Vertigo, she was also in the Femizons, a collection of villainesses from almost every corner on Earth.

And then Gamma Ray Mutates would do very well in the modern role of NuHumans.  NuHumans were created by Terrigen Myst released on Earth.  This created a bunch of new .  1) they’re both mutations, 2) triggered by an external trigger, 3) released by a bomb.  A bomb detonated in the heart of New York.  (Again, HOW did no one stop this!?)  The biggest problem with this method is that Marvel has repeatedly established that whenever a human comes into contact with Terrigen, they go through some sort of Superhuman_change.  A global contamination of some kind of low-level gamma radiation could suppress existing mutations, activate dormant mutations within the general public, while not harming otherwise normal people (because it is a MacGuffin, it doesn’t have to be too realistic).  The best part is that the Gamma Rays are integral to the Hulk.  Along with Iron Man, Hulk was one of the 2 original MCU theatrical releases.  And in the original Avengers Movies, the Gamma Rays became a way to locate for the Infinity Stones.  This ties into MCU properties already on the bug screen, and thusly wouldn’t have sabotaged intended planning going forward.

Is this removal why we got Ant-Man 2?  What might they have performed between snaps?  Would it have been another prequel like Captain Marvel?  (And for what we got instead, check out this review)

So in summary, Fox had many mutants exclusive to themselves already.  And the Fox Studios refused to make the most of their mutant masses, so looking at the cosmic fare spanning the cosmos and multiverse that made so much of the Claremount run makes the Fox movies look sad and embarrassed to even exist.  Almost all of Fox’s movies are based on the most distinctive and inventive 16 years of the title, but they refuse to embrace anything introduced in it, excepting Mystique and Wolverine, 2 mutants introduced in Miss Marvel and the Hulk.  Marvel had MANY alternatives to cancelling the Inhumans movie (and making that …awful miniseries) in order to reduce the value of Fox’s Marvel properties.  They could have simply cancelled all Fox-owned properties.  Marvel Comics currently has the reputation of spearheading the destruction of the entire comic book industry.

Disney’s Problem with Marvel’s Mutants and Film Part 1

Today was supposed to be the day that the New Mutants finally saw their theatrical release.  20 years ago this Summer, the original X-Men series from Fox premiered.  After the first 2 movies and their bookending third release, Fox stayed VERY close to that original formula.  It took 14 years to get the X-Men just a little less grounded than their Fantastic 4 movies.  5 years after that, Disney bought out Fox to get these film rights.  In my opinion, they should have bought out Fox either after Age ofUltron, or the 2nd Fantastic 4 reboot.  But instead they tried to …replace the mutants under the direction of Ike_Perlmutter.

In 2014 Fox released an adaptation of “Days of Future Past,” marking the first time travel story within the film series.  This same year, Marvel Comics began killing off and phasing out the ever-popular X-Men line.  All because their parent company Disney lacked the film rights to the X-Men after they were sold to 20th Century Fox in the 90’s in response to Marvel’s Financial Struggles.  They had bought the publisher, Marvel, but Marvel had sold the X-Men film rights already.  So they began killing off popular characters owned by Fox, like Wolverine.  They created a new race of supers based on the Inhumans by detonating a Terrogin Bomb in New York. (Which none of the DOZENS of superhero teams in town managed to stop?) This had the side-effect of killing off Marvel’s Mutant population, starting with Cyclops.  Leader of the X-Men.

Well, this is sadly pretty unnecessary.  Fox has had THOUSANDS of Merry Mutants sent in through at least one contest.  What you see above you was from Totally Kids Magazine, before it became Fox Kids Magazine.  Movies like the …divisive X-3: The Last Stand had massive amounts of mutants showing up.  The sheer degree of existing characters shoved in reminded me multiple times throughout of Mortal Kombat Annihilation.  And many of them seemed to be wholly original, sharing only names with a handful of mutants in the source material.

So when they need a bit character to introduce, or someone to chance on a supporting role, why not rely on a contest submission instead of adapting.  Back in the 90’s, when Fox Network was airing X-Men the Animated Series, their Totally Kids had a character creation contest.

I have managed to find one scan of the two interior pages across as many pages that between them, show 6 whole submissions, and the artwork of 20 more.  Out of THOUSANDS of submissions.  Thousands.  The pool of characters to draw from here is potentially as vast as the canonical print catalog.  And the contest page does say that ALL submissions belong to Totally Kids Magazine.  Which is a 20th Century Fox publication.  Which makes them property of 20th Century Fox.

So here are the first 3 of the 6 featured character submissions.  As a kid I was most impressed by Vortex, but I think I liked Rapsel Best.  It was always significant to me that Flexie was the only one with backstory and character development.  So I suppose I appreciate her the most for that.  I wish I could have found you the other 3 (especially Idiot Man, he could have SUCH a crossover with Deadpool) and the subsequent 20 runner ups.  Especially Power Bear.  Wow, just wow.  But alas, just because everything is allegedly online, doesn’t mean you can easily FIND it online.  Any given search engine only covers 20% of the net, after all.  But that was in the Spring 1994 issue, and I couldn’t find it online.

But alas, the reasoning of both Disney AND Myself are both moot points. Come back next time for when I address just how reluctant Fox was to really seize on this material.  Then I’ll close out with the myriad alternatives Marvel Studios had to sabotaging their own projected Cinematic Universe.  So stay tuned for that.  And if you had any scans of that issue that you posted or found online, please share them in the comments.  I’d prefer the actual page wrapping up this contest, but it’s always nice to see more Totally Kids 90’s Nostalgia.