Marvel Graphic Novel (1982 series) #74

Mad scientist and fugitive murderer Peter “Doc” Malum has been apprehended by the FBI and taken into custody but he has been freed, with a great deal of violence by a ragtag gang led by his henchman Cassaday….

Nick Fury, assigned to oversee transfer of Malum from the FBI’s custody to SHIELD’s, warns Black Widow not to get involved as a SHIELD task force is on the way. Natasha, refusing to heed Fury’s orders, parachutes into the scene of the action. Natasha intercepts two of Malum’s men and takes them down, then pursues Malum himself, who has just decapitated an FBI man with a bear trap. Natasha challenges him but he’s much faster than she expected and he brutally beats her down with his fists. She fights back but Malum chokes her into near-insensibility but Cassady warns his boss that they must get away while they can. So he spits on Black Widow and leaves her where she fell, heading to the coast to escape by boat….

Nick Fury picks up the injured Natasha and drives her into the secret SHIELD base in the American Southwest, to fill her in on their quarry. Nat is introduced to Alexander Pierce who is a bit cowed by meeting the legendary and beautiful agent. Fury tells her about Project Pluto, who was a plan to build a supersonic low altitude missile (S.L.A.M.) with a nuclear reactor powered ramjet, carrying H-bombs and deadly exhaust. And he shows it to her: the base contains the original 1960s prototype created by project director Peter Malum. The building was irradiated by tests and the place can’t be dismantled for two thousand years. And now Malum seems to be planning to recreate the weapon elsewhere which is why SHIELD wanted to talk to him. So Fury tells her she is being taken off the mission especially now that the Punisher seems to be involved as well. But Fury knows that taking her off the assignment is the best way to get her on it, as lack of action is what she fears most….

The Punisher visits the site of the battle with the FBI to see what he can pick up to help him find and kill Peter Malus….

Meanwhile, Malus is at his base, overseeing the construction of the new missile….

In San Francisco, Black Widow, disguised as a Navy man, joins the engineer Lepton, who had worked for Malum on the original Project Pluto, for a visit to a nuclear powered cruiser in dock for repairs. And then Doc Malus arrives by helicopter, firing tear gas at the Naval personnel. Natasha takes on his men while Malus recognizes Lepton and kills him with a welding torch. Enraged, Natasha attacks Malus—just as the Punisher fires a rifle at them. Nat deflects it with her wristbands and fires back at the Punisher. Interpreting her protection of Malus as her being a bad guy too, he tries to fire again but Natasha leaps on him. He hurls a knife, sheering her Widow’s Bite, causing it to burst. Meanwhile, Malus has picked up the ship’s reactor and flies off with it, calling in another copter to cover their getaway. The second copter fires on them and they take refuge in the water. The copter fires on various ground targets to maximize mayhem. Castle fires to gain their attention while Natasha fires her climbing line to attach to the copter, hooking the other end to a cable car’s brake, who anchors it to the underground cable. When the copter tries to fly, it is pulled down to an explosive crash to the ground….

Black Widow and Punisher board a friendly Russian ship to track the stolen nuclear reactor to an airport in Anchorage, Alaska. They appeal to the airport Director to ground all flights so they can search for the reactor. He refuses. Then they notice a plane that is riding too low to the ground for a supposedly empty plane and recognize their quarry. So Castle fires his machine gun at the runway, constituting terrorist activity, requiring the Director to ground all planes. Malus and his plane take off anyway, Natasha and Punisher pursue in a car and leap onto the landing gear to be carried into the plane when it retracts. They recognize that the interior of the plane has been converted into a booster for his S.L.A.M. and they open fire on Malus’ gang. Cassady balks at making the missile operational so Malus snaps his neck and accelerates. Natasha faces him, telling him that he should have killed her earlier. There is a brutal fight and Malus hits the switch that turns the ship into a wind tunnel to feed the ramjet. He makes a crude knife out of shrapnel and attacks Natasha who turns it back on him; the wounded Malus is sucked out of the jet while Natasha lands the plane….