9 Avengers Fates Worse Than Deaths

8. The Horrible Truth Of The Red Room

Age Of Ultron
Marvel Comics

Whether it's been detailed in Avengers books or her own solo titles, Natasha Romanova - or, Natasha Romanoff for you MCU fans - has had to endure more torment and trauma than most people on the planet.

For Nat, her fate worse than death here is that she's had to suffer through the extreme emotional and physical pain of the infamous Red Room. A sinister facility, the Red Room takes young orphan girls and trains them in the most brutal of fashions. This training involves brainwashing these youngsters into becoming master assassins, with all innocence, thought, and emotion drilled out of them in truly chilling fashion.

To make things worse, these girls - who are known as Black Widows - are implanted with fake memories which makes them think that their time in the Red Room was actually ballerina training rather than the horrific truth of the matter.

Of course, the adult Natasha began her comic book life as a villain, facing off with some of Marvel's biggest heroic names. Even when she managed to free herself of the Red Room's grip, though, Romanova has still at times been kidnapped and once again brainwashed by this most heinous of organisations.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.