In the desert of Rhapastan, Black
Widow Natasha Romanoff sits in a truck, reading a letter from her doctor. She
detects the rival Black Widow, Yelena Belova, standing over her and pointing a
gun at the head; a scuffle breaks out, leading Natasha to release the brake,
sending the truck off a cliff and into a river. Natasha opens up the emergency
raft and takes off, picking up the suitcase with the bio-toxin on her way.
Belova ends up with the letter from Natasha's doctor, which turns out to be a
routine message wishing her a happy birthday....
In New York, Matt Murdock gets a
call from Natasha; and uncharacteristically insecure Natasha wants to know what
he thinks of her—is she unique? Matt reassures her and then she goes back to
work. She captures Dr Didier Ines, creator of the bio-toxin and asks for a
demonstration of his “Deathless Frenzy.” A lab rat injected with a sample tears
another to bits and then decays and dies. With a tear in her eye because the
thought of personal extinction cuts too close to her heart, Natasha decides to
take indepndent action....
Belova arrives at Ines' lab to
find it dark and she notices the two dead rats....
Neither the Pentagon or the
Kremlin knows where the Black Widow is and the US General assumes a
double-cross and plots to have her killed. The Russian General already has the
new Black Widow on the field for just that purpose....
Natasha has taken Dr Ines to a
safe house in Zurich where she forces him to work on an antidote to the
bio-toxin. She calls her former Soviet handler to taunt him but Belova has an
agent shoot up the phone booth and attacks Natasha as she escapes but Nat decks
her and keeps moving. They catch up to one another on the frozen lake in a
Mexican standoff: Natasha warns Belova that the life of a spy means sacrificing
everything dear to her to becomes a pawn for any number of bureaucrats. She appeals
to Belova to give up being the Widow to become Yelena—and then Natasha is shot
in the back by a team of SHIELD Agents and dies in Belova's arms....