Aboard a yacht at a Manhattan marina, a
businessman named Pound is selling a computer disk full of top-secret tech to a
bad guy named Sterling. Black Widow intervenes and seizes the disk but
Sterling’s clients step out of the shadows and open fire; Sterling and Pound
are killed but Natasha escapes. She swims to shore where she is picked up by
Ivan Petrovich; on the way to the next destination, they spot a gray limo that
has been following them and Ivan speeds off, losing their pursuers. They arrive
at a Senator’s classy penthouse party where Nat passes the disk to her SHIELD
contact, the washroom attendant. They are then accosted by their pursuers, a
couple called Zamatev and Katrinka who are accompanied by a couple of KGB
goons. Nat and Ivan subdue the goons and Nat dangles Zamatev over the balcony’s
edge and he quickly shows her a photo—of Mikhail Gorbachev and Nat’s late
husband Alexei Shostakoff….
At a quieter meeting in Nat’s home, we are reminded that Alexei was the USSR’s
Red Guardian and he was killed in action in China. Zamatev and Katrinka show
Nat and Ivan film that reveals Alexei survived the disaster in China and was
restored to health in Moscow; now the Soviets want Nat to undertake a little
task for them in exchange for Alexei’s continued care: the theft of a memo from
UN headquarters. Nat throws them out then spends the night thinking about it.
She calls Hawkeye for advice but when Mockingbird answers she hangs up. She
goes out to find Daredevil but seeing Karen Page in his apartment prevents her
from talking to Matt when she finds him. She calls Zamatev and Katrinka and
tells them she will do the job….
Natasha cases the UN building as a tourist then returns that night to dodge the
guards and filch the memo. When she returns to Zamatev and Katrinka, they
spring a surprise on her: they didn’t want the memo, they just wanted to get
the Black Widow on tape breaking into a secret facility to hold against her.
Now they tell her what they really want: the control chip for the master matrix
for SHIELD’s latest version of the Life Model Decoys. She agrees to do it on
one condition: that she personally deliver the chip to Alexei, punctuating her
requests with violence against her foes….
The next day, Natasha enters SHIELD HQ by one of their secret entrances, moves
past all sorts of traps and defense protocols, takes down guards when
necessary, and faces a huge android in the lab. She beats it in a fight while
bantering with its creator, Dr Gorff who once made a pass at her while drunk.
Nat then nabs the chip and departs with Ivan Petrovich whisking her away….
Natasha flies to Moscow with Zamatev and Katrinka, carrying the chip in a
briefcase wired to explode if it is tampered with. She recalls a romantic tryst
with Alexei on the way. At the lab, she is greeted by Alexei—who knocks her
down and destroys the detonator, allowing the KGB Agents get the microchip.
This Alexei is a Life Model Decoy and when the new chip is installed, he
becomes the most powerful version of the Red Guardian (No. IV) and is ordered
to eliminate Black Widow and Ivan Petrovich. There is a battle while the LMD,
which retains Alexei’s memories, mocks Natasha who fires her Widow’s Sting
first at the LMD and then at the electrical wires overhead, electrocuting her
giant foe. Nat and Ivan escape to Red Square where the damaged Alexei LMD catches
up to them. It proceeds to beat Natasha severely but when it grabs her in a
bear hug, she reaches to the back of its neck and removes the microchip
whereupon it collapses. Katrinka orders Natasha’s arrest but Nick Fury arrives
with the KGB officers who arrest Katrinka for her unauthorized project. Nat and
Ivan go home….
Epilogue: Three years later, Natasha and Nick Fury meet in a park where Nat
tells Nick that she was contacted by Zamatev, part of the new post-Soviet
government, asking her to come home to dance. She exults in her new
freedom….