Red Widow

And here's probably the last After Avenger I get to before I see Endgame tomorrow! This is Red Widow, Adoma Orlova. And her origin is a little more complicated than the others because I wanted her's to be more rooted in the existing MCU. Adoma is the daughter of Ava Orlova, the first Red Widow (she's, uh... it's complicated... she's from the book Black Widow: Forever Red and the comic Red Widow if you want to look her up). As I see it, Ava feels very abandoned by the world, which is what draws her to help other people she sees as abandoned. Hypothetically, she found lots of people over the years who felt this way too, including a traditionalist Wakandan sorcerer who felt like he didn't have a place in the new future-centric Wakanda. Eventually together they decided that they were not defined by the mistakes of the people they were trying to be better than. And the result of that decision was Adoma. But the worlds of spies and magic don't mix. She, like Black Widow before her, is something of a wanderer. Natasha Romanov always had control of her situation but struggled to overcome her origins. Adoma, I figured, kind of turns that on it's head. She has to decide for herself who she is.
Kind of like Star Brand I guess. I realize looking back most of the After Avengers have some theme of searching for purpose. That's partly because the present day generation of heroes is so defined by their origins. I think it's usually peoples choices, not their tragic backstories, that shape them. And I guess that reflects in my work.
Her design is basically pulled straight from Jonathan Hickman's "50 Into the Future" comic (like Star Brand), though we don't learn anything else about her. The genre she's based on is modern fantasy movies. So many have leaned into darker or more realistic settings lately. Some frame the government as a danger to the fantasy world (like Shape of Water for example). A lot deal with the idea of "normal" people so weird they fit better in the fantasy world. As such, Red Widow is an agent who's part of a fantasy world.

Today I'm home! I'm back from college. We were all surprised it worked out this way, but I'm so glad I get to be back one night early. Thank you God!

Update 5/4/2019: Saw Endgame today. Wow. Well, now I'm extra glad I named her Red Widow instead of Black Widow. Even what I have written here almost feels irreverent now.