Why I love Natasha Romanov: She was one of the few women (not named Diana Prince) to have an actual character arc in comics, and, unlike Jean Grey, she did not have to be effectively lobotomized, turned evil once she un-lobotomized herself, killed, and then turned into an evil caricature of herself to deal with her competency and power. (Not that I'm not still nursing a 40 year old grudge named Dark Phoenix or anything.) Natasha got to be a bad guy and redeem herself and keep right on going. I question her taste in Matt Murdock (70s comics version, not Netflix DD) but she got to kick him to the curb, too.

What first drew me to the character: See above ramble. Also, right when I started overcoming that first wave of Dark Phoenix bitterness and begrudgingly started reading again, they were doing the first of the Winter Soldier run (when Bucky first came back from the dead) and she had a pretty decent role in that (though it was in support of the male character, sigh.) So I was primed for her in IM2.

Favourite scene in the MCU: So, this is weird, but that scene in Endgame, where she's sitting in the kitchen with her peanut butter sandwich and the hair she hasn't bothered to do anything to for the whole 5 years, methodically fueling her body so she can keep doing good things... I love that scene. Love it.

Favourite look: The loose, wavy curls at the end of IM2. Peak Natasha, imo. :D

Favourite fight scene: The matter-of-fact way she blew through the ship in The Winter Soldier.

Favourite line: "You know that I have." It's an entire backstory in 5 words. Or possibly "Thank you for your cooperation," which is fuck you, bitch, you only *think* you're a god.

Favourite comic book appearance: The Name of the Rose, by Marjorie Liu. So fucking good. Utterly lethal but still so very human. I maintain that every Natasha I've written starts with that as the base.

Favourite Clint/Natasha fic: Okay, for something I haven't talked about recently, let's go with Alliterative Domiciles, by Vera_Dragonmuse, which is many many different pairings, all rolled into one happy package.

Favourite alternate pairing fic: I really love this: you're gonna give your love to me, by irnan which is a Natasha/Steve/Bucky sex pollen fic where Natasha gets whammied so that everyone wants her, but Steve and Bucky are perfect gentlemen and take care of her and there are no consent issues and it has a lovely, happy ending.

Thank you for that last fic rec, I never would have read it otherwise and it was a real pleasure!

Love your favourite lines.

Isn't it funny how certain scenes resonate so differently for different viewers? That peanutbutter sandwich upset me to such a ridiculous degree. XD Not the choice of spread but the untoasted white parody of bread. My theories range from a sly "Anyone who can deliver emotional lines with that much cardboard stuck to the roof of their mouth must surely win an Academy Award" to "It's Barton brothers comfort food from the days the boys had to sort out their own meals at their parents's neglect and Nat misses Clint - which is why she can't finish eating the vile thing". :-D

I am waiting for the day this will be cleared up in fan fiction. ;D

I have never managed to get hold of a print copy of the Name of the Rose with any ease, so I've never read it because I hate reading comics on my laptop. I wanted to grab that whole little run/event/crossover/loosely tied collection of comics that was the Black Widow/Mockingbird/Hawkeye shenanigans that happened around that time but am still missing a bunch. One day!

"Thank you for your cooperation" YES!!!!!!! so good.