Black Widow

The Black Widow was the first in a series of robots designed to hunt down and destroy the superhero known as Spider-Man.

Commissioning
The Black Widow was commissioned by Norman Osborn to be built by the robotics expert Spencer Smythe. Norman wanted Spider-Man caught for his own purposes. Norman was commanded to do so by the Kingpin, who he owed a great deal of money to. Spider-Man had been interfering with Kingpin's operations and the crime lord wanted the hero out of the way. Spencer used the reason that Spider-Man was a hero to disguise his true purpose.

Although Spencer did not approve of Norman he accepted on idea that Norman would build the hoverchair for his son, Alistair. Spencer's last lab had an explosion which caused his son to become paralyzed, which Spencer blamed himself for.

Norman brought Spencer and his son to Oscorp Industries to build the Spider Slayer he christened Black Widow. Using the money he got from Norman, Spencer built the Spider Seekers to test out a technology designed the locate Spider-Man. Although the superhero easily defeated the flying robots they served the purpose and proved the tracking technology successful.

The hull of the Black Widow was designed to be that only acid could penetrate it. As such, Spencer needed acid in order to create the holes for the screws. Spencer designed it so he would control it remotely. He designed it to have the robot the appearance of a black widow spider, particularly in the red hourglass symbol on the back of the lower abdomen.

Spencer invited Eddie Brock of The Daily Bugle to witness the Widow's capture of Spider-Man as he wanted the press' presence so the situation would not be taken out of context. Eddie merely wanted the major scoop.

Operations
The Black Widow came online shortly after the defeat of the first Spider Seekers. Spencer and his son sent out an entire army of Spider Seekers to search the entire city for Spider-Man.

A Spider Seeker spotted Spider-Man at Jameson's Penthouse where a party was being held by J. Jonah Jameson and Felicia Hardy of the Hardy Foundation. Although unable to determine so, the Spider-Man was actually Flash Thompson in disguise so he could intimidate Peter Parker, the real Spider-Man.

Upon learning where Spider-Man was Spencer sent the Black Widow to the party. The Black Widow flew to the penthouse where its presence surprised Flash into breaking character. Black Widow flew above the penthouse before Peter could turn around to see what surprised Flash.

Black Widow then crashed through the roof to enter the building. It targeted Peter's aunt, May Parker, but he quickly grabbed her and got her out of the room. The Black Widow then moved to threaten Felicia until the real Spider-Man arrived to attacked it.

However, the design of the Spider Slayer proved too much and the hero is unable to affect it. However, the great size of the robot makes it cause massive damage to the penthouse. This caused part of the penthouse to fall on Spider-Man trapping him. Spencer eventually spots the unconscious hero again, unaware that it is again Flash, and picks him up. The Black Widow then flies back to Oscorp with the hero in tow.

At Oscorp Black Widow drops Spider-Man and deactivates. On live television via J3 Eddie makes a spectacle of unmasking Spider-Man, falsely revealing Flash. There to witness the events are Norman, Alistair, and Spencer. Elsewhere, the real Spider-Man witnesses the event and heads to Oscorp to save Flash.

After the false reveal Kingpin's forces storm into Oscorp, stop the news feed, and hold the others hostage. When Spider-Man arrives and defeats the guards one of the remaining guards demands to know how to activate the Black Widow. Instead Spencer powers it up and sends it after the webslinger.

Since the Black Widow is stronger Spider-Man uses a large structural beam to try to even the odds. Black Widow is knocked back but not defeated. At the same time Norman believes Spider-Man will win and activates a single Spider Seeker to destroy the hero. The webslinger knocks it away causing it do explode and cause a fire.

With the place in flames the others try to get out and Spencer leaves the controls. However, he is stopped by Norman who reminds him that unless he defeats Spider-Man there will be no hoverchair. Because he loves his son he goes back to the controls and again tries to finish off Spider-Man despite his son's protests.

Black Widow grabs the beam and knocks Spider-Man away. Out of webfluid Spider-Man climbs the wall to escape the robot. Spider-Man finds Flash who is terrified that the Black Widow will again pursue him so the real wallcrawler crawls farther up.

Black Widow flew up and shoots oil onto the wall which cancels Spider-Man's wallcrawling abilities causing him to fall. The hero falls right onto the back of the Black Widow. Spencer realizes this and tries to shake the hero off. However, thanks to his wallcrawling abilities Spider-Man stays on.

The Black Widow landed spotted Flash, still in the costume, and assumed Spider-Man fell off. While distracted the real Spider-Man threw several web cartridges into the Black Widow's jets. The Black Widow gets its legs webbed up by Spider-Man who then pulled it backwards.

Black Widow got pushed off the side over a vat of acid. Black Widow tried to activate its jets to fly to safety but the webbing exploded and clogged the jets. Black Widow fell in where it deactivated and melted.

Legacy
In the ensuing destruction it appeared that Spencer Smythe was killed. This led Alistair to become depressed and become influenced by the Kingpin, who used his knowledge and expertise to build technology for him.

Using his father's design, Alistair created another Black Widow. Physically it appeared exactly like this one except it had some major differences. The second robot had a grappling hook and could combine with the other Spider Slayers Tarantula and Scorpion, both designed by Alistair, to form a larger more powerful robot. This version also had some independent thinking capabilities since Alistair was able to send it and the Tarantula out to complete a mission while building the Scorpion. This version was destroyed along with Tarantula and Scorpion by a bomb thrown by Spider-Man on the George Washington Bridge.

This robot led to Alistair making a large number of robots for the Kingpin. One of which was a humanoid robot called the Mega Slayer.

The design of the robotic Spider Slayers were eventually used by Dr. Herbert Landon to make Alistair into the Ultimate Spider Slayer.

Technology
Black Widow was primarily controlled by Spencer Smythe, making it more of a puppet for the robotics expert rather than a self-thinking robot. The inherent flaw in this is that if Spencer were to become distracted, by something like a fire, he would leave the controls making the Black Widow unmoving and useless. This aspect was redesigned for the Black Widow II.

The Black Widow was much larger than a human being. But it was able to walk around inside a building without constantly damaging the ceiling. The actual height his variable based on its needs at the time. It remained lower to the ground while attacking Spider-Man at Oscorp while appearing taller during the attack on the party. Based on comparisons with humans seen near the robot, it was roughly eight to twelve feet tall.

It must have had a large fuel tank somewhere as the Black Widow could fly from the Chrysler Building to Jameson's penthouse and back without needing to refill its fuel. Given the flight capabilities of the Black Widow II, this robot could possibly fly long distances across the city.

The structure was designed to be resistant to damage as only acid could penetrate its outer shell. This made the robot able to crash through walls and stand up to small arms fire without difficulty. However, sufficient amounts of acid were able to completely destroy the Black Widow.

Background
This and the Black Widow II are the only Spider Slayers to be named. Tarantula and Scorpion are not and the Ultimate Slayer only goes by the name Alistair.

In the comics the Black Widow is the Mark XV (15) model in a series. In the show it was the first of five robots and one cyborg.

In the comics the Black Widow came after Alistair had become the Ultimate Slayer. It was designed by Alistair not his father.

The black widow spider is known for the female killing the male. Appropriate since it is one spider destroying another. Additionally, the paint job of the robot bears more resemblance to the female spiders, which is then attacking the Spider-Man.