4. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
The Black Widow AKA Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johnsson), is a former Russian spy and a current member of SHIELD in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even in her short career at SHIELD, Agent Romanoff has turned covert espionage and interrogation into art forms. First appearing in
Iron Man 2, apparently as Tony Stark's new assistant following Pepper Potts' promotion to CEO, she is later revealed an undercover agent and joins Happy Hogan - Stark's bodyguard - in an attempt to capture Ivan Vanko AKA Whiplash. Although the attempt fails, she puts Hogan to shame in the ass-kicking stakes. After Loki declared war on Earth, Natasha joined the elite hero team known as the Avengers in the team's titular movie. She was used to brilliantly obtain information from the god of mischief and then took part in the battle with the alien army - the Chitauri - where she proved to be just as useful as the likes of Hulk, Thor and Iron Man on the ass-kicking front. In fact, she played a pivotal part in reaching and shutting down the portal through which the aliens came to Earth (her means of getting to it, by virtue of jumping on a Chitauri flier mid-flight, was truly kick-ass). She is due to appear in future Marvel cinematic universe movies, the next one being
Captain America: The Winter Soldier which is due for release in April 2014.