Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Character Spotlight: Dante Cruz

When I was researching my post for Red Widow, I discovered that she's not the only character from Black Widow: Forever Red that has appeared in comics! I love it when that happens.

First, some backstory: Black Widow: Forever Red is a 2015 young adult novel by Margaret Stohl about Black Widow investigating the possible resurgence of the Red Room, the Russian spy program that trained her. Along the way, she teams up with Red Widow, a teenager she saved years ago and who grew up in SHIELD custody but is now on her own.

During her time on the streets, Red Widow meets a boy named Alex Manor, who has a friend named Dante Cruz. Alex lived with Dante and they were on the fencing team together, and considering that Alex is really Black Widow's brother, Dante's family was considered (but not chosen, as far as I know) for surveillance on him.


In Mighty Captain Marvel #5 (May 2018), Captain Marvel meets the first three members of her Alpha Cadets program. Dante Cruz is one of them. Each cadet was recommended by one of Captain Marvel's colleagues, and it should be no surprise to you that Dante was vouched for by Black Widow.


If you're wondering why a minor character from a YA novel made it into the comics and so quickly, it's because Margaret Stohl also wrote Mighty Captain Marvel (at least this arc of it). Sometimes the easiest way to get your original characters into the comics is to take them there yourself!

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