Black Widow (Yelena Belova) - Marvel Comics

Wait a second...isn’t the Black Widow an Avenger?
And a redhead?
I know she started out as a bad guy in the comics but she got over it right?
Well....yes.
This is the second Black Widow, Yelena Belova.
She was created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee and made her first appearance in 1999 in Inhumans #5.

After the original Black Widow (Natalia Romanova / Natasha Romanoff) went rogue, the Soviets replaced her with another woman trained by the same people that trained Natasha.
Of course one of the first things that Yelena did was to go after Natasha to kill her and take the name "Black Widow" officially.
But despite the fact that she was younger and she thought in better shape and trained better, she couldn't take the original Widow down, which bummed Yelena out to no end.

Yelema is an Olympic level gymnast, highly trained in martial arts and in weapons.
If we dont count the time she was the Super-Adaptoid, (and please, let's don't) she has no superpowers.

Outside of comics, the only place that Yelena has appeared so far is in the 2006 video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Oddly enough, with blonde hair, Scarlett Johansson looks more like Yelena than she does Natasha.
But if they ever do Yelena in live action....I vote for Katee Sackhoff

The Scarlet Pimpernel - The First Superhero?

You know I love comic books and superheroes.
And I also love the history of superheroes.
One thing I have always wondered is, technically, who was the first superhero?

Well you have the super powered beings of legend, Hercules, Thor, Samson, but they aren't quite it.

As far as I can tell, the first "true" superhero was The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Created in 1905, by Hungarian-born British novelist, Emma Orczy, you have the hero that has a secret identity.
True some of the heroes of legend disguised themselves as normal folk from time to time, but they were god-like beings hiding out as a human.

The Scarlet Pimpernel was a real hero.
He was a a master of disguise, a master strategist, a skilled swordsman and an escape artist.
All skills that would show up years later in The Shadow, Zorro and yes, the Dark Knight himself, Batman.

He is hunted by the French revolutionary authorities (early Batman and Spider-Man), and his secret identity is a slow-witted playboy (again, early Batman).
He even has a group that helps him called "the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel" which were forerunners of Doc Savage's "The Fabulous Five", the Shadow's underground agents, and shall I mention the "League" part of their name might have been an inspiration for another famous League of heroes?

The 1934 movie poster even has a little "V for Vendetta" feel to it.

And the tales of the Scarlet Pimpernel inspired others to become heroes in real life.
The "Pimpernel" name went on to be the real life undercover identity for men that saved hundred of lives in World War 2...

"The Tartan Pimpernel" helped over 2,000 Allied soldiers in France.
"The American Pimpernel" saved thousands of refugees in France.
"The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican" aided Allies and Jews in WW2.
"The Black Pimpernel" helped resistance fighters in Norway. (that name later resurfaced in the media when they used it as a nickname for Nelson Mandela).

So besides being the precursor of a lot of today's comic book heroes, The Scarlet Pimpernel was also the inspiration for men to use cunning and their wits to save thousands of lives.

And like today's heroes, he has appeared in books, movies, TV shows and even a musical.

Asp - Marvel Comics

Wildcats' Voodoo was one of the few comic book characters that was an exotic dancer...so Marvel did them one better and made a supervillainess that used to be one....Asp.
Is it just me or does Marvel seem to have a LOT of snake related supervillains?

Anyway, Cleopatra "Cleo" Nefertiti is a mutant who can generate bioelectricity that she can fire as energy blasts.
These blasts she calls "venom-bolts" affects living material only and causes almost instant paralysis.
Because of her bioelectric energy, prolonged contact with her can be fatal.

Asp was a member of the Serpent Society originally, but as with a lot of "bad girls", she got popular so the writers turned her into a good guy, or at least an anti-hero.
I hate it when they do that.

Besides the Serpent Society, she has been in BAD Girls, Inc. (which stood for Black Adder, Asp and Diamondback), the Femizons, the Secret Avengers and the Women Warriors.