15 surprising facts you didn’t know about Black Widow

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War..Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson)..Photo Credit: Film Frame..© Marvel 2016

Natasha Romanoff isn’t Black Widow’s birth name

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) know Black Widow as Natasha Romanoff, but that’s not actually the name she was born with. She took on this name as an alias after fleeing her life as a Russian spy. Given that Natasha wanted to cut ties with her past and avoid crossing the powerful people she faced while in the Red Room, it makes sense she’d abandon the name she was originally known by.

Of course, her birth name isn’t actually too far off from Natasha Romanoff.

Born in Stalingrad, Natasha was initially called Natalia Romanova. As ScreenRant points out, she took on a Westernized version of her name after leaving the Red Room and becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, likely in the hopes that it would prevent anyone from recognizing her.

Natasha’s original name is referenced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it’s slightly different from her comic name. When her information is shown on a computer in the abandoned SSR base, it’s revealed that she once went by “Natalia Alianovna Romanoff.”