Black Widow & The Marvel Girls # 3

 By Mark Rodriguez

This mini-series seems to be a bit of an anthology series as Black Widow encounters different Marvel women at various stages of her life. In the first issue she encountered Enchantress when she was still a young girl training in the Red Room. Last issue she worked alongside the Wasp when she was still new to being an Avenger. This time she'll cross paths with Miss Marvel, so let's see what happens.

The story opens with the Black Widow checking out the Great Sky Hotel, in Ashood Israel, where apparently Miss Marvel stayed. There are no traces of her, and Widow realizes that Marvel is a professional like her. She monologues to the reader that Nick Fury assigned her to investigate Miss Marvel, which makes her a little uncomfortable. Black Widow has no super powers, and has always used the fact that an enemy will underestimate her as an advantage. Fury understands her full potential, which Widow sees as losing that advantage. Just then a truck speeds down the street and nearly hits her. She shoves an innocent woman and her child out of the way before the van crashes and explodes into a building.

Black Widow makes sure the woman and child are OK and heads off to help any other victims. She convinces the Israeli soldiers guarding the building that she has no nationality but has clearance to help from their government. One of the soldiers says to be wary of her since the truck driver might not have been working alone. Another soldier lets her enter but warns her that Russians aren't exactly loved at this time. Widow runs in and thinks to herself that she must work harder to get rid of her accent if the soldier could tell she was Russian so easily.

Black Widow finds a soldier trapped under debris and asks for extra help to get him out. She then runs to the lower levels to look for survivors. She hears a voice calling out from a hole in the floor. It's a woman who says she was asleep. Widow informs her of the bomb that went off and says the building might collapse at any moment. She takes hers hand and as she pulls her out of the hole, the woman asks if she is to be 'activated'. Widow doesn't understand but pulls her out anyway. Widow checks the hole and asks the woman if there are other down there. The woman doesn't respond and just walks off, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Widow decides to go down the hole to investigate.

Widow sees the woman's footprints and follows them to see where the came from. She sees a room with a portrait of the Red Skull, as well as some diagrams of that same woman as some sort android, and an open capsule, where we can assume this mystery woman stepped out of. Widow climbs back out and asks the soldier if she saw a woman wearing western-themed clothes. The soldier did now and Widow tells him to seal of the exit, no one leaves, no one enters. Widow radios Fury about the room and tells him this is another matter that doesn't involve Miss Marvel as she still doesn't know where she is. Just then, Miss Marvel appears flying in the sky.

The soldiers aim their guns at Miss Marvel, who tells them she is only here to help. Widow tells the soldier that she is with her. The soldier says he is amazed by the level of clearance they have, seeing that Widow is Russian and Marvel is American. He says he is not obligated to recognize that level of clearance but leaves to look for his friend. Miss Marvel thanks Black Widow, who tells her they have much work to do. Black Widow hears a voice that needs help. Miss Marvel lifts a huge change of debris out of the way as Widow pulls an old woman out of the rubble. 

The next day, Black Widow and Miss Marvel are walking down the beach in full costume. Widow asks what she was doing there, to which Marvel says she was tracking down a terrorist, but lost sight of him shortly before he drove the truck into the building. Marvel asks Widow why she was following him. Widow is surprised she knew. Marvel says that Widow is a great spy but she's not used to dealing with people that can fly, and doesn't look up often enough. Marvel has been flying overhead keeping an eye on her. Widow says she allowed herself to be seen, saying that Marvel doesn't look down enough. She reveals several insects that are actually video cameras patrolling the skies.

Miss Marvel asks who Widow is spying on her for. Widow doesn't answer but wants to know more about Marvel. Miss Marvel says they can play twenty questions, and Widow says she thought only frat boys play that. Miss Marvel understands that she is a new super powered woman and everyone is curious if she's a superhero or a super villain but she reserves the right to her own secrets and privacy. Marvel offers to help Widow investigate this mystery woman, despite the fact she's also being investigated by the Russian spy. They agree to work together and meet up at the mystery room in an hour. Miss Marvel flies off to leave Widow with her public.

An hour later, the women meet up at the hidden room where the person leading the investigation says the Israelis has no idea it was there until the recent explosion. The room has been hidden since World War II. He explains that the woman they saw was named Thera, and she is actually a robot sleeper agent created by the Red Skull. The sleeper agents stay dormant for up to decades but once they awaken they seek to destroy the world. The investigator says this creation might be one of the Red Skull's most horrible one. Widow asks if that is because she is so powerful. The investigator says Thera is a Mother Robot, so is out there currently creating other sleeper agents. 

Miss Marvel says the situation is creepy. Widow says she has worked on Red Skull related cases and it keeps her up at night sometimes too. Just then Marvel screams as she sees a vision of Red Skull and Thera overseeing a sea of destruction. The investigator asks if Marvel is ok, she says she has a headache. Widow finds a little red book and it seems to be a journal detailing the construction of Thera. It seems Thera was extremely problematic during the early stages of production. Miss Marvel seems to have a stronger headache.

Miss Marvel tells everyone they have leave immediately She has moments of precognition and says they have to leave. As everyone climbs out of the hole, a skull-faced robot spider crawls down past them. As everyone runs away from the underground room, there's a massive explosion and piece of debris stabs into one of the soldier's legs. 

Black Widow asks the soldier what happened. He says they saw the robot run past them and go into the building. Miss Marvel asks where it came from. The soldier says it was so fast, it was like it appeared out of nowhere. He just remembers seeing it crawl through the gates. Miss Marvel asks if Widow still has those hidden videocameras flying around. Widow says she does and activates the replay. The footage shows that Thera is operating from a red van, where the let the robot spider loose. Widow tells the soldiers to fan out into the streets and find that red van.

Miss Marvel picks up Black Widow and flies with her. Marvel is surprised to not get a reaction out of Widow, and the spy says it's faster this way. She says they have to find Thera since she might be able to create deadlier robots and possible even more Mother Robots. They soon spot the red van. The van stops at the red light and the women land behind it.

The van opens and several killer robots step out. Miss Marvel and Black Widow fight them off. One of the robots explode and sends Widow flying onto a car's dashboard. Thera steps out of the van to confront the women. Widow says if they disable her, it will disable to control of all the robots. She still has the journal and says it was a failsafe created in case Thera ever turned against the Red Skull.

Miss Marvel flies off to destroy Thera. Black Widow warns that Thera is set to explode if she gets seriously damaged and the explosion is strong enough to wipe out the city. Miss Marvel backs off and tosses a car into the robots. She plans to grab Thera and fly up with her. Widow says she won't survive the explosion. Marvel says she has no choice.

Black Widow calls out to Thera and says 'One. Two. Three. Activation Error. Go Back to Bed.' Thera says she feels sleepy and falls to the ground. Widow found a section in the journal that said Thera has accidentally woken up twice before, so the Red Skull's scientists added this deactivation phrase. Miss Marvel says it pays to read.

Miss Marvel asks if she is still being investigated and wants to play twenty questions. Widow says that is for frat boys, and admits that she is working for Nick Fury who only cares about three things. She says she observed her powers during the fight, and the fight also revealed whose side she's on. The third thing is if Marvel could be counted on if the chips were down, and she showed that she was willing to sacrifice her life to rescue strangers. Miss Marvel asks if she passed the test, and Widow says she did though there might be a final exam.

Miss Marvel asks if Widow found the deactivation phrase just at the right time... or if she was purposely withholding that piece of information to see if she was willing to die for the cause. Black Widow says that is a very question.... but she doesn't play twenty questions. Black Widow drives off with the soldiers and the deactivated Thera.

My thoughts- 

It's kind of funny to see how the last issue dealt with the Avengers not knowing whether or not they could trust the Black Widow, and this one deals with her trying to see if Miss Marvel was trustworthy. This series seems to take place during different points of Natasha's life, so in this point of time it seems Carol just recently made her appearance to the world as Miss Marvel.

It's always a treat to see superheroes in action when it comes to saving lives. It's easy to forget that being a hero isn't always just punching the bad guys, but also rescuing people in need of disasters and dangerous situations. Black Widow doesn't hesitate to set her mission aside to rush into a collapsing building to rescue any survivors.

The villain was quite a threat but luckily Natasha and Carol stopped her before she could become a world-wide threat. It seems she was too out of control for even the Red Skull and his scientists to handle, which is why she was given several ways to shut her down.

Not too much say. I did like the banter between Carol and Natasha, with one trying to break the ice while the other is all business. I liked how Natasha kept her guessing at the end.

I guess the only question I have was why those two were just walking down a public beach in full costume? My only guess was the government told the soldiers to let these two costumed people do their thing if you see them... but it still looks weird.