Black Widow Anatomy: 10 Things That Make Her Special

Black Widow is far from the most powerful Marvel superhero, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a few tricks up her synthetic suit’s sleeve. Born back in 1928, young Natasha Romanov was noticed due to her already pronounced natural abilities such as agility, durability, and intelligence. She was sent to train in a Black Widow program, also known as the Red Room. The advanced training program gave her some special abilities as well as advantages and in today’s post, we’re going see what makes Black Widow special.

1. Black Widow received a super-soldier serum like Captain America

As a part of the Black Widow training, young Natasha was injected with a super-soldier serum similar to the one Captain America received. It was the soviet version of the serum but it failed to enhance her strength. What it did manage to do was optimize her metabolic processes and now she “operates at peak human condition”.

Due to that special serum, Black Widow ages more slowly, much more slowly than a regular human being. She is resistant to diseases and is able to some extent manipulate her bodily processes at will. But we’re going to cover that in a short while as well.

2. Black Widow has enhanced senses

Our next Black Widow special ability takes some inspiration from the spider she was named after. Black Widow’s senses are so enhanced she is able to detect someone who appears to be invisible just by their breathing. It seems like a useful ability for a spy to have.

3. Black Widow is a master acrobat

This one is partially due to her natural abilities and partially enhanced by a super soldier serum. Black Widow appears to be a master acrobat judging from what we were able to see both in the comics and in the MCU movies. She is able to perform crazy stunts and walks away unharmed.

4. Daredevil’s special ability doesn’t work on her

We know that one of Daredevil’s special abilities is to be able to tell when someone is lying. Since he’s been deprived of sight, as a response to that all his other senses got super enhanced to the point that he can tell apart changes in human behavior based on their heartbeat. It’s a power that comes quite in handy while he working as a lawyer.

One peculiar thing is, his heartbeat detection (at least when it comes to lying) doesn’t work on Black Widow. It’s due to her superhuman ability to control her heart rate. In the panel below even Daredevil comments on how Black Widow is basically a “self-crafted instrument of deception”. I wonder if is that the real reason why it never worked out between the two of them.

5. Black Widow has the tremendous pain tolerance

This next one can be attributed to the super soldier serum as well as to the years of torture she was exposed to in her line of work. Black Widow can tolerate pain much better than most humans. Combine that with control over her heartbeat and basically have a perfect spy that never breaks down if interrogated. It also comes in handy when you’re throwing punches around with the most powerful creatures universe has at its disposal.

6. She got punched by Hulk and lived to tell the tale

I mean let’s face it taking a punch from the Hulk is the equivalent of getting dusted by Thanos to some extent considering the fact that the Hulk is among the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Black Widow managed to take the punch, survive and remain conscious throughout the whole thing. That speaks volumes about her pain tolerance and durability as well.

7. Black Widow is crazy fast

Related to her acrobatics skills, Black Widow is insanely fast. She is able to dodge Hawkeye’s arrows, outrun Winter Soldier and dodge bullets in general. It’s one of the things needed in her line of work to remain unscathed. Even though she is durable, she wouldn’t be able to survive all dangers, so why not outrun them?

8. Black Widow always comes prepared

One thing that compliments her already peak performance is her advanced equipment. Black Widow’s standard equipment includes a special bulletproof suit made out of Kevlar and her famous gauntlets dubbed Widow’s Bite. Widow’s Bite gauntlets can deliver pretty powerful electroshocks able to take down almost anyone who stands in her way.

Her other standard equipment includes utilities such as flash bangs, smoke bombs, knives, and antigrav shoes, just another day at the office I guess.

9. Black Widow can resist mind-altering drugs

This next Black Widow special ability is probably a part of her standard package that comes with her being a KGB spy. Black Widow can resist mind manipulation drugs to some effect and resist their influence.

10. Black Widow is a master manipulator and master tactician

Just like her body, Black Widow’s mind operates at peak condition as well. Black Widow is a renowned tactician and one of the highest-ranking agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She is quite a skilled hacker and speaks several languages fluently. She also managed to pull off some crazy disguises, and infiltrations and is no stranger to using manipulation to get what she wants.

It’s debatable how much of these skills can be attributed to her natural abilities or KGB Red Room training. She is also known to manipulate men using her masterful skills as a seductress to get what she wants.

And that’s pretty much it. As you can see, most of Black Widow’s special abilities stem from the fact that she took a super-soldier serum. That serum allowed her to develop her skills far from what her regular human body would allow.

She ages slowly and she is pretty much disease-resistant. She is able to throw punches among the best of them, and her durability allows her to take on everything heads-on and remain unscathed. That’s the definition of a superpower. Even though she is not the strongest Avenger, she is definitely one of the most resourceful and tactically oriented members.