Wolverine, Captain America & Black Widow Get Matching Costumes in Dark Redesign

Summary Wolverine, Captain America, and Black Widow are now evil agents of the Hand, a dark development that's marked by their new matching costumes.

The corruption of the three heroes pays off a decades-old Marvel Comics story, as the Hand not only finally corrupted Natasha Romanoff, but also the two men that once saved her from them.

The heroes' corruption by the Hand makes the organization more dangerous than it has ever been, as these three Avengers are now mindless slaves to the demonic cult.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #4! Wolverine, Captain America, and Black Widow have a surprisingly deep-cut history together in Marvel Comics lore, one that stretches all the way back to Natasha Romanoff’s earliest origin, which is directly connected to Steve Rogers’ pre-Avengers team-up with Logan. And now, they’re taking yet another historic plunge together, only this time, these heroes are coming out the other side as dark villains - with matching costumes.

In Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #4 by Chris Claremont and Edgar Salazar, Captain America and Wolverine are doing the same thing they did decades earlier: trying to save Natasha from the Hand. As the title suggests, this story takes place in Madripoor, and follows Wolverine, Captain America, and Black Widow as they work to extract a valuable artifact before the evil ninja cult, the Hand, gets its hands on it. However, it wasn’t the artifact the Hand was after, but Black Widow herself. And unfortunately, the Hand ended up being more successful than they anticipated.

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As Black Widow is fighting a demonic Hand assassin dubbed the Corruptor of the Soul, she finds that her attacks have no effect. Meanwhile, every time the ninja makes contact with Black Widow, her body becomes increasingly infected by the dark energy fueling this monster, which is slowly corrupting her. Even when Captain America and Wolverine successfully track her down and join the fight, they are also overtaken by the immense evil that powers this world-wide demonic cult (which manifests as a ‘black goo’ creature regarded as the Supreme Assassin), and they eventually succumb to its influence.

The matching costumes come as a result of Captain America, Wolverine, and Black Widow’s corruption, and while the redesigns look cool, they mean trouble for the Marvel Universe.

Related Black Widow's Nickname for Wolverine Proves They Have 1 of Marvel's Strongest Friendships Black Widow has a nickname for Wolverine (and vice versa) that she recently used again, reminding fans of their strong friendship in Marvel Comics.

Wolverine, Captain America, & Black Widow are Now Evil Agents of the Hand

Three of the deadliest people in the Marvel Universe have become enslaved by arguably the most dangerous organization on the planet. The Hand is always operating from the shadows, ready to strike any time, anywhere, with their endgame being total world domination. With Black Widow, Captain America, and Wolverine now under the cult’s control, the Hand just became infinitely more dangerous.

All three have world-class fighting skills, they’ve all done covert-ops missions, and each of them is incredibly hard to kill. And now, Steve, Natasha, and Logan don’t have the capacity to hold back, as their minds are controlled by the Hand while their souls are corrupted by the darkness that drives this sinister cult. In other words, practically anyone they go up against likely won’t stand a chance, meaning the Hand has never been closer to achieving its goal of global dominance.

Black Widow’s Corruption Pays Off a Decades-Old Marvel Comics Story

Uncanny X-Men #268 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee

While the corruption of Captain America, Black Widow, and Wolverine is a new development in Marvel Comics, it’s actually one that perfectly pays off a decades-old story - the aforementioned deep-rooted origin of the relationship between these three heroes.

In Uncanny X-Men #268, Captain America teams up with Wolverine (before Logan’s hero days) to save a little girl from being corrupted by the Hand and turned into the organization’s ultimate assassin. That little girl was Natasha Romanoff, and Captain America and Wolverine were successful in rescuing her. But now, years after the success of their initial mission, they’re faced with brutal failure, as the Hand managed to get all three when they previously couldn’t even secure the one - a perfect (albeit incredibly dark) payoff for this story.

Luckily for the rest of the Marvel Universe, this storyline isn’t set in the ‘modern day’ of Marvel Comics canon, meaning the Hand is destined to lose in the end, and these three heroes are fated to come out on top. However, even though fans know they won’t last, at least this comic gave readers the chance to see the absolutely stunning and incredibly dark matching-costume redesign of Wolverine, Captain America, and Black Widow, while experiencing a version of these heroes that could have potentially brought the world to its knees.

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #4 by Marvel Comics is available now.