Marvel’s Avengers’ New Black Widow Skin Comes From an X-Men Comic

Marvel’s Avengers‘ Black Widow is going back in time for her newest skin. Crystal Dynamics recently added her Widow 1998 outfit, which is based on Natalia Romanova from Earth-1298 as seen in the “Mutant X” comics.

This skin is not being sold in the marketplace like many of the others and will only be available through Shipments until June 2. Shipments were added in late 2021 alongside Spider-Man and give players a new way to earn cosmetics. Everyone has a chance to earn the premier skin (which is this Widow 1998 outfit, in this case) through the Shipments, but it will automatically be rewarded to those who open 100 Shipments.

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While the “Mutant X” run started in 1998, Natalia Romanova herself didn’t show up until 2001 for the 30th issue and died in the following one. Some have pointed out how her look in that run is quite different from Crystal Dynamics’ interpretation. The two have the short red hair, red boots, red gauntlets, and chest logo in common, but it seems as though Crystal Dynamics took some liberties when translating the getup to its game, given its many differences. She likely doesn’t have her Spider-Man-like web shooters in the game, either, which might explain why her in-game costume doesn’t have Spider-Man’s webbing on it.

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Fans are still waiting for the game to get more substantial updates. Even though the next hero has already been announced, she doesn’t have a release date. This dearth of content might be attributable to Crystal Dynamics allegedly swapping the release of its heroes, as She-Hulk was reportedly supposed to come out earlier, but was pushed in order to better line up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Its roadmap plans were also changed in the sense that the team will now provide smaller, shorter-term updates instead of vast, six-month plans.