"The Woman Who Never Was!"

 

Having collected and read the entirety of the Marvel Team-Up title from the '70s, I suppose I feel as qualified as anyone to say that, in terms of hit and miss, its stories generally tipped into the latter category for me while they shoe-horned Spider-Man, the standard bearer of the book, into a meeting/partnership with a different character each month. That said, there were a number of gems that were quite readable, some of which even stood out as page turners--in fact, you and I would probably be able to compile a "top 10" list of stories if we put our minds to it. (A potentially interesting topic for a future post, I dare say.)

In your own listing, I hope you make room for a four-part story from 1979 by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema which, like other MTU multi-parters, drew in more than one guest-star to heighten the story's development and ramp up interest, which had the added benefit of spicing up the cover masthead with the naming of a new player with each installment. In its opening pages, things start off with an attempted mugging of a lady who seems out of sorts in her life, an attempt foiled by Spider-Man--but when the wall-crawler literally slips up and leaves himself open for certain death, our damsel in distress proves to be far more than the confused and helpless person we first laid eyes on.

Obviously distraught, the woman who by all appearances is the Black Widow gains the sympathy of Spider-Man, who makes allowances for the possibility he could be wrong about her and tries to help her collect herself. In the process, he learns her name and her occupation--but for himself, and the woman who calls herself "Nancy Rushman," the mystery of her identity only deepens with unsubstantiated assertions which call her story into question.

Since Spider-Man has noticed that the Widow's costume is insulated*, he suggests she put it on (with hopes that it might jog her memory). Yet Nancy's calm insistence of her own identity only raises doubts with the reader (which makes sense at this early stage of the story) that, despite appearances, she is the former Russian spy we and Spider-Man recognize.

*Something Spider-Man might consider for his own costume--how does he bear the frigid winds of winter while web-swinging through the city at such high altitudes?

Resigned to pick up the pieces of her life, Nancy prepares to change back into her clothes and part company with Spider-Man. Which is when all hell breaks loose, and a thus far unassuming story explodes into new, violent territory.

By now you've no doubt taken notice of the work of freelancer Steve Leialoha, whose assignments at Marvel have included titles such as Spider-Woman, New Mutants, and Howard The Duck and who provides finished art here for Buscema's breakdowns for the entire story. Given the end result, I wouldn't have minded seeing other inkers bring their full skills as finishers to the table on the rare occasion that Buscema restricted himself to layouts, something that his brother John indulged in with his Avengers work from the mid- to late-'80s.

With the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. now at the party in the form of the agency's "Femme Force"--a name that Claremont has dropped, presumably feeling that trained female SHIELD agents have no need to break barriers (after all, SHIELD has no "Guy Force")--it's all that Spider-Man can do to protect his charge, since the terrified Nancy shows no signs of any fighting "moves" that Spidey would otherwise recognize as the Black Widow's. Thus hampered, it's only a matter of time before being closed on by a strike force whose members have orders to shoot to kill.

And yet... the hidden talents of "Nancy Rushman" continue to surface.

There has to be little if any doubt by now on the part of Spider-Man, or ourselves, that this is indeed the Black Widow, whatever the circumstances of her current state of mind. But with Spider-Man having taken a liking to her as "Nancy," he continues to use that name in order to not upset her and put her at ease--considerations, unfortunately, which are not at all of interest to a new arrival who seems just as hard-edged as his agents, and just as impatient with those he now targets.

The "mess," as Fury coldly puts it, is efficiently dealt with--yet later, we find Spider-Man regaining consciousness on the snow-covered roof and discovering the bullet that took him down was anesthetic rather than fatal. As for Fury, he relocates to SHIELD'S New York headquarters with his prisoner, where it appears he has more of a mess on his hands than we were earlier privy to.

Nancy, as we've learned, is also alive; but unknown to everyone, the physician overseeing her care, Dr. Ames, has been compromised in the same manner as Agent Allegra de la Fontaine, and has been given the same goal to see to.

Escaping the facility with Nancy, Spider-Man drops her off at the apartment of Peter Parker, where Nancy has another seizure brought on by memories of the treatment she suffered at the hands of a mysterious figure in shadows who attempted to force information from her. Meanwhile, we see that figure has been busy on the SHIELD helicarrier--where her subordinates, Boomerang and the Silver Samurai, are tasked with slaying both heroes, even as our primary villain begins to bring into focus her ultimate plan.

Which brings us back to Fury, who in arranging for some extra help divulges the origin of the name "Nancy Rushman" before dropping in on Parker and the lady in question and taking them into custody. It's then, however, that Boomerang and the Samurai make their move--and the incident helps the Widow to begin piecing together the details of this affair.

(You have to wonder if both Peter Parker and Spider-Man exclaiming "Hit the deck, people!" just minutes apart registered with a quick-on-the-uptake agent like Nick Fury.)

By this time we've come to the second half of this story, as our heroes form and execute a plan of approach to the helicarrier: Fury arriving by aircraft, with Spider-Man and the Widow (still very much Nancy) para-gliding their way onto the vessel, hidden from detection thanks to portable radar-jammers supplied by Fury. The time has also arrived for our shadowed villain to be revealed (her identity as the Viper, the former Madame Hydra, probably coming as no surprise by this point)--as well as bringing to light the identity of the assistance that Fury had requested from his friend, Sir Denis Nayland Smith.

Shang-Chi makes a good showing of himself in an extended fight with Boomerang, yet when the time comes for all of these people to confront each other it appears it hasn't been good enough--that is, until Fury makes his move, and Spider-Man and Shang-Chi leap into the fray. Yet it's only when Spider-Man is in peril that Nancy can shake off her trepidation and fear and become a factor in this battle, even as Viper moves to execute her deadly plan that will have worldwide implications if it succeeds.

By all indications, time has run out for those attempting to stop the Viper. But when the situation reaches the command deck, Spider-Man and Nancy return to rejoin Fury and Shang-Chi--heralding the apparent return of the Black Widow, as well. (By the way, take note of the chilling words then-President Carter speaks to Congress, over four decades ago.)

Cornered by Shang-Chi and the Widow, Viper finally plays her hand regarding the helicarrier--and as it plummets toward the Capitol, two battles are being waged on which so much rides. Below, Fury and Spider-Man struggle to regain operational control of the vessel--while above, Viper and the Widow reach the pinnacle of their own struggle for survival just as the critical moment is reached.

Quite the cinematic climax, which we've seen take place to a greater degree in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As for Shang-Chi's death at the hand of Viper--well, with this story having made a habit of pulling the wool over our eyes already in teasing the deaths of two of its characters, do you think Shang-Chi is going to bite the dust in a team-up book, especially when his own title is selling so well?

The Black Widow, needless to say, parts company with Spider-Man as herself, though Spidey can't help but feel a little down at the absence of Nancy Rushman. As for Viper, she would return nearly three years later in an issue of Spider-Woman (written and drawn by, you guessed it, Claremont and Leialoha, respectively) along with (you guessed it) the Silver Samurai.

BONUS! The covers to this nail-biting, sword-swinging story.