Black Widow or Bat Widow?

Did you know that the ultra-mod black leather sheath with matching bullet-bracelets was not the first costume worn by Natasha Romanoff, aka "Black Widow" of The Avengers? That honor belongs to this sporty number, ripped directly from the pages of Bruce Wayne's fantasy sketch journal:

That's a lot of fishnet and bat mask for someone named after a spider. And a lot of blue for someone named Black. I particularly love the big bold "B" neck clasp for the half-cape, which I believe is the grade she's hoping to receive for her fashion design project. Sadly, that's not even close.

On the plus side, nothing went to waste even though they ditched this outfit in favor of the much more functional and fashionable sheath, as a young Dinah Lance found it in a dumpster and promptly donned it to become the next Black Canary. So all's well that ends well!

35 Responses to Black Widow or Bat Widow?

  1. Dan says:

    Ah, the original Black Widow. I always forget that she started out as a brunette. Of all the costumes we’ve done so far, I’d say this is one of the ones that’s not so terrible. It’s dated, and does look like a Black Canary rip off, but since it was her first one and she never had a costume this goofy again, I’ll give her a pass. I’m actually not at huge fan of the 80’s outfit, but that was the first way I ever saw her, so it’s kinda her classic look to me.

  2. Mr. Q says:

    I only found out about Black Widow’s fashion faux pas when I read the first volume of Essentials Iron Man and I am very thankful that outfit got left in the trash bin of history. ^^; It says “Batgirl/Batwoman knock off” than anything related to one of the deadliest spiders in the animal kingdom. As for the 80s outfit Dan mentioned, its ok but I definitely prefer the black outfit she has now.

    Mr. Q

  3. Myro says:

    I was curious what would end up being dragged out for Black Widow, because I didn’t know about this one. As far as I knew, she was always about the black catsuit. Having said, this is…not horrible. Weird, and definitely Batgirl/Black Canary-esque as you said. But I’ve seen much worse. It just doesn’t say “Black Widow” to me.

  4. Jeff Hebert says:

    Yeah, it’s not one of the worst all time uniforms by a long shot. But I’m trying to do a “worst costume of each Avenger” series, and this is her worst look in my opinion.

  5. punkjay says:

    I think this is Batman, and Black Cannary’s Marvel love child.

  6. Myro says:

    Jeff Hebert:
    Yeah, it’s not one of the worst all time uniforms by a long shot. But I’m trying to do a “worst costume of each Avenger” series, and this is her worst look in my opinion.

    Oh, I agree, in a “relatively speaking manner.” It’s hard to pick out a “worst costume” for someone who has worn a variation of the same outfit for years, with no major stylistic changes. This one’s just a head-scratcher, more weird than bad.

  7. Nick Hentschel says:

    I actually think I saw her in a variation of this outfit later, in a 90’s issue of “Iron Man”: she played a joke on Tony Stark by showing up in it.

  8. Gero says:

    Not awful. Not great, but not awful. I actually like it better that the original Batwoman costume from around the same time-period: http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/batwoman.jpg

  9. William Peterson says:

    Me, I love how Pepper is worried because Black Widow and Hawkeye are going to gang up on Iron Man…
    Okay, so where’s the rest of the army? 😀

  10. Myro says:

    William Peterson:
    Me, I love how Pepper is worried because Black Widow and Hawkeye are going to gang up on Iron Man…
    Okay, so where’s the rest of the army?

    Come on, WillyPete, this looks to be about the same time that Iron Man was getting around on roller skates attached to his armor. Maybe Hawkeye has some trick arrows that will fling gravel all over the street, causing Tony to fall down in a humiliating manner. 😀

  11. ProwlerKnight says:

    (Thread Hijack)

    Dblade im not for sure if you saw my post in the Character Conest 92 thread for the item to be put in the builder and well I actually got the Item narrowed down to the baggy Cargo jeans like this:

    http://www.mens-designerjeans.com/wp-content/uploads/image/mens-cargo-jeans.JPG

    I apologize for taking soo long my work keeps me constantly busy and too tired to work on other things lol but something like this where it goes over the shoes and stuff but is still pretty baggy

    Thread unhijacked

  12. ProwlerKnight says:

    (Previous post was for getting the dice roll on Character Contest 91 ^^)

  13. Herr D says:

    Ah HA! I FOUND it! The Senior Citizen Artists’ Commission hired me to locate the picture of the Bassmistress that one of their members with early onset dementia misplaced. She always wears fishnets as a nod to her catching prowess. With a fishing rod, a net, her bare hands, OR one of those curly phone cords, she can catch giant piranha, energy blasts, bullets, etc. Why would Herman have put it HERE, in the old Avenger comics?

  14. Frevoli says:

    So it’ll be Hulk next… I can’t imagine how anyone could mess his costume up – seeing as it’s just ripped pants

  15. Kaldath says:

    Frevoli:
    So it’ll be Hulk next… I can’t imagine how anyone could mess his costume up – seeing as it’s just ripped pants

    I don’t know, I think this is a pretty bad get up:

    http://www.wrestlingvalley.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/hollywood-hulk-hogan-001.jpg

    Oh Sorry, that’s the wrong Hulk, my bad!

  16. Jeff Hebert says:

    Frevoli:
    So it’ll be Hulk next… I can’t imagine how anyone could mess his costume up – seeing as it’s just ripped pants

    I actually tried finding a bad Hulk costume for this week, but I came up empty. He might just survive unscathed!

  17. Trekkie says:

    I agree. It’s not bad, per se- it just doesn’t say ‘Black Widow’. It looks more like a generic female costume from the earlier days of comics.

    That said, I guess the fishnets might have been an attempt to mimic spiderwebs. Or maybe I’m just overthinking this.

  18. Dan says:

    Jeff Hebert: I actually tried finding a bad Hulk costume for this week, but I came up empty. He might just survive unscathed!

    The only one I can really come up with is the 90’s brown shirt & sweatpants look. I know alot of people liked that version of The Hulk, but I always thought he looked dumb.

  19. Myro says:

    Dan: The only one I can really come up with is the 90′s brown shirt & sweatpants look. I know alot of people liked that version of The Hulk, but I always thought he looked dumb.

    Yeah, I always thought “The Professor” was Hulk’s worst look. He had dumb looking hair, and the outfit’s not that great. But, again, it’s hard to find a “bad” version of the Hulk.

  20. ProwlerKnight says:

    Well with hulk its like Black widow, same outfit for years, but for me personally I think Leifelds work could be considered the worst

    http://www.oocities.org/area51/rampart/3438/Rhlk3.jpg

  21. Gero says:

    Myro: Yeah, I always thought “The Professor” was Hulk’s worst look. He had dumb looking hair, and the outfit’s not that great. But, again, it’s hard to find a “bad” version of the Hulk.

    I’m writing this from a phone so I can’t link a picture, but Hulk once had a SECRET IDENTITY. Not Banner, but an actual civilian disguise under the name “Mr. Fixit”. If I remember it right he was either a mob enforcer or a bouncer, and NO ONE realized it was actually just Hulk in a giant zoom suit. While not a crazy costume, it IS a crazy concept…

  22. ProwlerKnight says:

    Gero: I’m writing this from a phone so I can’t link a picture, but Hulk once had a SECRET IDENTITY. Not Banner, but an actual civilian disguise under the name “Mr. Fixit”. If I remember it right he was either a mob enforcer or a bouncer, and NO ONE realized it was actually just Hulk in a giant zoom suit. While not a crazy costume, it IS a crazy concept…

    I was actually looking for that lol, yeah Hulk in a suit pretty much, Mr. Fixit was Banners other Alter-ego, whome was smart like Banner but not as strong as the Green Hulk himself.

    http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4owqzftGu1qju0d0o1_1280.png

  23. Myro says:

    Gero: I’m writing this from a phone so I can’t link a picture, but Hulk once had a SECRET IDENTITY.Not Banner, but an actual civilian disguise under the name “Mr. Fixit”.If I remember it right he was either a mob enforcer or a bouncer, and NO ONE realized it was actually just Hulk in a giant zoom suit.While not a crazy costume, it IS a crazy concept…

    Yeah, I remember Mr, Fixit. And yeah, it was a weird concept, but aesthetically, it was not a bad look in my opinion. And, yeah, I think he was some kind of mob enforcer.

  24. Gero says:

    Myro: Yeah, I remember Mr, Fixit. And yeah, it was a weird concept, but aesthetically, it was not a bad look in my opinion. And, yeah, I think he was some kind of mob enforcer.

    That’s sort of what I’m getting at. Since Hulk doesn’t really have a bad costume, going with a weird concept/idea like Mr. Fixit or Professor Hulk may be the best we can do…

  25. Gero says:

    Oh…and I can post these now: http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/JoeFixit1.jpg

    http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/JoeFixit2.gif

    When you look at these, remember that the majority of the people “Joe Fixit” hung out with had no idea that he was secretly the Hulk…

  26. Myro says:

    Gero:
    Oh…and I can post these now: http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/JoeFixit1.jpg

    http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn48/GeroTheKeymaster/JoeFixit2.gif

    When you look at these, remember that the majority of the people “Joe Fixit” hung out with had no idea that he was secretly the Hulk…

    To be fair, at the time, there were a number of reasons for someone not to think that he was the Hulk. First, he was grey, not green. He was smarter, and speaking in complete sentences. He was, if I remember correctly, somewhat smaller than in his savage hulk form (although he was still huge by normal human standards). And, if I remember correctly (and this would be key), Rick Jones had been transformed into a Hulk-like being during the same event that caused Hulk to become the Grey Hulk version he had become, and that Rick Jones was actively rampaging around during the nights. So while Hulk wasn’t going to pass for a regular person, it was possible for him to convince others than he was a completely different brick-type super.

    Of course, I might be remembering things wrong, and I fully expect someone like Dan to correct me later.

  27. Frevoli says:

    ProwlerKnight:
    Well with hulk its like Black widow, same outfit for years, but for me personally I think Leifelds work could be considered the worst

    http://www.oocities.org/area51/rampart/3438/Rhlk3.jpg

    Leifeld did Hulk? Well let’s just go with that.

    Why’s his head so tiny in proprotion to his insainely huge muscles? And making muscles look insainely huge for the Hulk is really quite an achievement

    Plus – I thought the “curtains” hairstyle went out with most boybands

  28. Dan says:

    Myro: To be fair, at the time, there were a number of reasons for someone not to think that he was the Hulk.First, he was grey, not green.He was smarter, and speaking in complete sentences.He was, if I remember correctly, somewhat smaller than in his savage hulk form (although he was still huge by normal human standards).And, if I remember correctly (and this would be key), Rick Jones had been transformed into a Hulk-like being during the same event that caused Hulk to become the Grey Hulk version he had become, and that Rick Jones was actively rampaging around during the nights.So while Hulk wasn’t going to pass for a regular person, it was possible for him to convince others than he was a completely different brick-type super.

    Of course, I might be remembering things wrong, and I fully expect someone like Dan to correct me later.

    I’m pretty sure you got it right. I was never a big Hulk fan, so I’m kinda fuzzy on the exact details. More than anything, it’s just making me feel old that we have to explain the Grey Hulk to these kids. 😉

  29. Jeff Hebert says:

    Dan: I’m pretty sure you got it right. I was never a big Hulk fan, so I’m kinda fuzzy on the exact details. More than anything, it’s just making me feel old that we have to explain the Grey Hulk to these kids.

    How many colors of Hulk are there nowadays, anyway? I know there’s a Red Hulk running around, and various Children of Hulk (who are all green?) but I’m pretty far out of the loop on the current state of the Marvel Universe.

  30. Dan says:

    Jeff Hebert: How many colors of Hulk are there nowadays, anyway? I know there’s a Red Hulk running around, and various Children of Hulk (who are all green?) but I’m pretty far out of the loop on the current state of the Marvel Universe.

    I’m not really sure. I dropped off too. I know of the Red Hulk, and I think he’s the only one right now. Last I heard Banner lost his powers, but I’m sure since the movie did so well, he’ll be hulking up again soon.

  31. Frevoli says:

    What I heard is that they’ve reversed it – made banner into a meglomaniacal genuis who the hulk transforms into when he gets calm

  32. Frevoli says:

    Running round: I think there’s only Hulk, She Hulk, Skaar (Hulk’s son, acting as Hulk for the dark avengers), Red Hulk and Red She Hulk

  33. TOOL says:

    Okay so I have always liked the idea of an archer type character, but has Hawkeye always dressed like a douche?

  34. ProwlerKnight says:

    Frevoli: Leifeld did Hulk? Well let’s just go with that. Why’s his head so tiny in proprotion to his insainely huge muscles? And making muscles look insainely huge for the Hulk is really quite an achievementPlus – I thought the “curtains” hairstyle went out with most boybands

    Yeah leifeld did the entire avengers in the Heroes Reborn project, I dont follow comics strongly but I know the series very well