Black
Widow is hurled through a window of a Moscow high rise; she returns to the
roof, beats up a bunch of Molina hoods, demanding to know about “Blackbird.”
One hood reveals that Blackbird came into a gang meeting two nights earlier,
asking for Yi Yang, beat everyone up and vanished into the dark. Her partner,
Yuri Petrov of the Moscow City Police, arrives; they have been forced to work
together by their superiors to find the deadly vigilante called Blackbird, who
has been targeting the Molina (Russian mafia) and recently murdered Leonid
Kostoev, a high-ranking diplomat, and branded him on the forehead. Natasha
contacts Nick Fury to ask for info on Yi Yang. Fury returns to tell them that
Yi Yang was head of an opium smuggling gang back in the 1930s and the archenemy
of Night Raven, the 1930s vigilante whose M.O. is being copied by this new
killer. If this is the same vigilante he must be very old….
At the
Metro Station at “mugging house” Blackbird guns down multiple thieves and
robbers, to take his mind off Yi Yang….
A man
flees through the night, Black Widow swoops down to halt him and the villains
who think he has betrayed them catch up. Natasha fights with them but is pinned
down to be executed when Night Raven arrives and she teams up with him to fight
the gang; Blackbird, who loosely acknowledges being Night Raven, kills his
enemies, questioning others as to where he can find Yi Yang. Night Raven is
shot from a roof, he pursues but the police arrive, demanding he surrender. He
does not and is mowed down by police bullets…
…but
his body is nowhere to be found. Yuri Petrov shrugs it off, also admitting the
criminals arrested the day before are already back on the streets and the
reality of police corruption….
The
next day at the Law Courts, Natasha contacts Ivan Petrovich to express her
confusion over whether the Blackbird is the original Night Raven and is Yi Yang
can also be the same person from decades earlier. She asks Ivan to track down
Angela Cleaver, chief investigator for the Night Raven case from years ago.
Yuri Petrov arrives and invites Natasha to join the police intercepting a drug
shipment coming in that night….
Xanadu,
Yi Yang’s Siberian refuge, looks like an oriental palace and Yi Yang is a
young-appearing woman, wearing a gold mask that covers the right side of her
face as she relaxes with her lover….
Ivan
Petrovich arrives at Angela Cleaver’s cabin in the Louisiana Bayou where he is
attacked by her dog Sabre. She holds Ivan at gunpoint, refusing to answer any
more questions about Night Raven. But Ivan also mentions Yi Yang which opens
Angela’s memories. She was a member of T.R.A.C.E. (a nebulous law enforcement
agency) who followed Night Raven’s trail until his corpse turned up but he
recovered on the autopsy table. They went after Yi Yang but she was apparently
killed in an explosion and Night Raven rescued Angela who lost use of her legs
but she still keeps a dossier on him. Then some Russian baddies arrive and kill
her dog. There is a battle, and Angela escapes with Ivan in a swamp boat while
the cabin explodes, killing all of the Russians as revenge for the dog. Later,
Ivan reports to Natasha but he is overpowered by a man who looks like a snow
leopard….
The
Moscow police await the drug shipment coming in that night and Night Raven also
appears, there is fighting in the snowfall, The vigilante seizes onto Yi Yang’s
helicopter and Black Widow follows, the line is cut and she falls, and Yi Yang
shoots Night Raven in the face. Nat locates him and drags him into shelter,
removing his mask to reveal a horribly scarred face. He insists he will heal
quickly and relates his earlier history, a veteran obsessed with death who was
given immortality and pain by Yi Yang and now he is forever on her trail. They
head to Night Raven’s hideout where Natasha finds Ivan Petrovich tied to the
rafters. His captor, Snow Leopard, introduces himself. Created by the Soviet
Super-Soldier project and abandoned, he was found by Yi Yang and she became his
teacher and lover. Yuri Petrov is watching from a secret vantage point but he
is captured by Gregor his aide who was secretly working for the villainess.
Night Raven arrives, the lights go out, there is a battle, Yi Yang reappears in
her copter, rebuking Snow Leopard for his failure and she drops a bomb, the
good guys escape, Natasha realizes Nick Fury knows more than he’s telling….
Natasha,
Ivan, Petrov, and company invade Xanadu, taking on Yi Yang’s super-soldiers and
forcing Gregor to take them to his boss. Yi Yang greets them with two more Snow
Leopard men and has Gregor shot for cowardice. Night Raven, disguised as one of
the guards, unmasks, Black Widow fights a Snow Leopard and sends him plummeting
into the Well, receptacle for nuclear waste. Yi Yang shows she has Angela
Cleaver hostage, tries to throw her into the Well but Angela fakes her out,
sending the villainess into the Well, only to be caught by a Snow Leopard.
Natasha and Night Raven team up to clobber everyone left in the place, aided by
the cops and Ivan Petrovich. Night Raven rescues Angela, Yuri Petrov takes
bullets meant for Natasha, Nick Fury and SHIELD arrive too late. Night Raven goes
after Yi Yang, Natasha handing him an automatic rifle to finish the job, the
vigilante shoots down Yi Yang’s helicopter and it crashes down on him,
exploding and apparently killing the two longtime antagonists. Natasha tells
Nick Fury that the new Russia is not what she expected….
For the special marvelite in you