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!

Character Spotlight: Red Widow

Red Widow, aka Ava Orlova, is a character created for the novel Black Widow: Forever Red (2015) by Margaret Stohl. We first meet her, however, in the aptly named "Red Widow: First Strike", a backup story in Mockingbird: SHIELD 50th Anniversary #1 (September 2015). This story introduces us to Ava and gives us her backstory: Black Widow saved her from the Russian mob in the Ukraine, and she was brought to the US and raised in Brooklyn under SHIELD custody. She eventually ran away and lived on the streets, where she met a girl named Oksana; when Oksana went missing, Ava created the persona Red Widow to save her. She has a complicated relationship with Black Widow, simultaneously being disappointed in her and inspired by her. The story's main point to compare and contrast the two characters.

Black Widow: Forever Red then forces the two characters to team up, their individual stories intertwining as the investigate the possible resurgence of the Red Room, the Russian spy training program that Black Widow (and possibly Red Widow) went through as children. There's some debate over where this story takes place. Margaret Stohl originally said the MCU, but later said it's "comics canon, but follows the continuity of the MCU"...whatever that means. I have decided to treat this series as its own thing which takes inspiration from both universes but isn't a part of either.

The following year, Red Widow got another appearance in "Red Widow: The Last O.P.U.S.", a backup story in Ms. Marvel #12 (October 2016), which leads into the sequel novel, Black Widow: Red Vengeance (2016).

Two years later, Marvel used Avengers #700 (November 2018) to establish several counterparts/competitors to the Avengers around the world, including the Black Panther's Agents of Wakanda, Namor's Defenders of the Deep, and Thunderbolt Ross's Squadron Supreme of America. The one important for this entry is Russia's Winter Guard, a pre-existing team that was re-established in this issue. And as part of that re-establishment, they get a new team member: Red Widow!

Not much is known about this version of the character yet, except that she's from the Eastern Bloc and was trained by the Red Room. Is she Ava Orlova? Is she someone new? Either way, I don't believe it's a coincidence.