White Widow Creators Bring New Mysterious Corporation to Marvel (2024)

Dealing with the trauma of being raised in one of the Marvel Universe's most infamous super-assassin programs, the Red Room, is an insanely difficult task, and when you compound that with living in the shadow of that organization's most famous operative, the Black Widow, it becomes an almost Herculean one. But it's a labor that Yelena Belova, AKA the White Widow, is finally ready to confront head-on, and this November, she'll go at it guns blazing in the pages of her own four-issue miniseries.

Writer Sarah Gailey and artist Alessandro Miracolo's White Window miniseries finds their titular character in a small town, ready to forge her own life on her terms. CBR spoke with the creators about their story, its setting, the brand new and possibly insidious organization they're introducing into the Marvel Universe, and the popular action movie franchise that inspired elements of their story. Marvel also shared an exclusive preview of Miracolo's art from White Widow #1.

CBR: Sarah, What do you find most interesting about Yelena Belova? What's your sense of what she currently wants out of life?

Sarah Gailey: The thing I find most interesting about her is probably her approach to processing the events of her life. She's a person who's taken a life of consistently inflicted trauma and violence and turned it into a very even-keeled, dark sense of humor and truth-telling demeanor. Her vibe is very, "We're taking everything as it is with perfect honesty and not making a big deal out of any of it." Everything feels very equal to her, and I love that as someone who has spent a lot of time processing my own life and challenges in a very similar way. I find her approach to the world incredibly refreshing.

The way that she is approaching life now and what she's looking to get out of the world is very much a sense of self. She's been denied the opportunity to develop an independent identity. Now, she has the chance to do it, and she's doing what she always does, which is taking that opportunity by the horns and making the most of it.

Hearing you talk about her appeal to you makes me remember that there are some people coming to White Widow only knowing Florence Pugh's version of Yelena. It sounds like even though the comic and film versions of the character have walked different paths, they have very similar outlooks.

Gailey: I think so. And, of course, I'm trying to strike a balance. A lot of Yelena Belova fans are coming from the MCU, and I want them to feel welcome with this character. At the same time, I want to honor, as you said, the very different path that the comic Yelena has walked. What I think they really have in common is this refusal to be flattened by what they've experienced.

Alessandro, who is the White Widow to you? Which aspects of the character did you want to emphasize in your depictions of her?

Alessandro Miracolo: I'll start by saying that I love tactical and introverted characters, being a lover of the thriller, crime, and espionage genres, which is why I loved Yelena at first glance. Then, when she came out for the first time on the big screen played by Florence Pugh -- an actress I adore -- I loved her even more.

With Yelena, I wanted to emphasize her trying to return to normality away from the chaos of New York, trying to live a "normal" life away from everything, and forgetting the memories of the Red Room that chase her. We will see a different Yelena who approaches everything that's happened to her with irony and a lightness.

Where is the White Widow physically and emotionally when your story begins?

Gailey: She's feeling aggressively fine -- a state of being that I think a lot of us can relate to in the last few years. She's got a sense of, "Things have been really hard, but I'm going to do fine no matter what." That's where Yelena starts. It's not where she stays.

Physically, she's in the small town of Idylhaven, the most average town she could locate in the United States. It's far enough from the Avengers that they can't bother her on a regular basis. It's close enough to keep her eye on anything exciting that might be going on in New York. She's in this town to try to figure out what it means for her to live a "normal life."

Speaking of that town, based on what I've read, it sounds like the feeling you're aiming for with this series is small-town John Wick meets the Marvel Universe. Is that an accurate description?

Gailey: [Laughs] I feel like you've been reading my diary! That is exactly the goal.

Alessandro, what's it like depicting a world that's a balance of big, dynamic action and intrigue with bits of small-town life? What can you tell us about your approach to the book?

Miracolo: I love this kind of setting, and I love cinema and reading thrillers, crime, action, and espionage. My approach was direct, as if I felt Sarah's vision, thanks to their way of telling stories. Ranging from scene [to] scene, fusing different worlds together was a great challenge for me. It really excited me. Being a person who gets excited when faced with difficult challenges and always aims to give my best, I found myself very comfortable working on it, and I'm getting better and better at being part of this world. I always thank the whole team for giving me the chance.

What else can you tell us about Idylhaven? Is this the primary setting for your story?

Gailey: Yes. This four-issue mini primarily takes place in the small town Idylhaven. It's kind of my ideal, imagined small town. So, it's not a false, idealized kind of haven of witness and police presence. Instead, it's a small town that's very much focused on community support and people helping take care of each other. I don't believe this is any kind of spoiler, but it is a small town that's currently hosting a new company called Armament that is coming in and trying to revolutionize certain aspects of life that some people might find difficult to have revolutionized.

Armament is a new organization that you're introducing into the Marvel Universe, correct?

Gailey: Yes, and they're new in this story as well. They're a brand-new company coming in that our characters are going to have to figure out what they're up to, what their primary ulterior motives might be, and whether they can be trusted.

Who are some of Armament's front-facing representatives?

Gailey: The one that I can tell you about prior to Issue #1 is Hamish Armament, who is the CEO and face of the company; a very smooth-talking, handsome, affable, [and] approachable person who is very present on social media and for interviews, and available to say all the words in a row that might make a company sound adequate. [Laughs]

[Laughs] It sounds like you're introducing a group that will give Roxxon a run for its money in deviousness.

Gailey: I couldn't possibly say. [Laughs] They could be a perfectly trustworthy outfit.

[Laughs] Who are some of the other supporting characters and townspeople that play roles in this series?

Gailey: Yelena is living in a fourplex, a big Victorian house that's been divided into four apartments, and her neighbors are very prominent in this series. Her neighbor Zelda owns a candy shop and is kind of an aging punk rocker who's very engaged in local politics like every aging punk rocker friend of mine. Her across-the-hall neighbors are Sabine and Griffin; the former a school teacher and the latter her child who is deeply interested in robotics and cybernetics and is engaged early on with Armament's work. Her downstairs neighbor, Rowan, is an Armament employee engaged in HR and recruiting that's disabled with ME/CFS [Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome] from a recent dust-up in New York City that resulted in quite a lot of building dust in the air. That character is very close to my heart because many friends of mine experience the same disability.

Is White Widow a series designed to introduce some new characters and concepts? Or will it feature some familiar Marvel heroes and villains that you can talk about?

Gailey: This series is primarily meant to introduce Yelena on her own terms, but we are going to see how Yelena got to a place of getting on her own terms with some familiar faces. So, there will be some glimpses into her interactions with characters that I think readers will recognize quite easily, and how those characters helped her decide that it was time for her to establish herself in her own right.

What's it like adding new concepts like Armament to the Marvel Universe?

Gailey: The hardest part is going through and making sure I'm not using any names or brand identities that have already been used because so many writers before me have done so much incredible work building this very dense universe. And every time I have a good idea, it's like, "Surely someone has had this good idea already!" [Laughs]

It's so much fun to be able to add to that incredible world that all these other writers have built! It feels like I'm getting to dive into a pool of the greats. I'm having the time of my life.

What's it like working with Alessandro?

Gailey: He's incredible! He's an amazing artist, and every time I get to talk to him, I get fuel in the tank of my excitement of working in comics. When you're head-down and working at something, you grind at it. You're sweating and you're frothing at the mouth going, "I HAVE TO MAKE THIS THE BEST IT CAN BE!" Then I talk to Alessandro, and I get this refreshing, "Oh right! This is an incredible and fun job that we're doing!"

Whenever I work with a new artist, I try to connect with them and ask, "What do you love drawing? What do you hate drawing?" Usually, when I ask the second one, they say they like drawing everything. And then I say, "Okay. I'm going to write you a script that's all trains, horses, and close-ups of hands." Then they say, "Okay, wait." [Laughs] But Alessandro's answer is, "I love drawing everything," and he means it. He loves drawing everything.

So, I get to open up my scripts so much and give notes like, "This is a panel where I want Alessandro to have as much fun as possible with 18 dead bodies." Then he takes it somewhere I never could have imagined he would take it.

I've also gotten to do some weapon design. That has been so much fun. Talking to him about weapons is a blast. Asking, "What's your favorite kind of weapon to draw? What are the flourishes that you enjoy?" His answers are, "I love everything, but here's what I love the most." He has such an infectious love of his craft.

Alessandro, What's it like working with Sarah? Which elements of their scripts were you especially excited to bring to life?

Miracolo: Sarah is fantastic. What can I say? It's the first time I've worked with them, but there was an immediate connection. We often talk to discuss possible ideas that cross their mind, and for me, that's really important. To have a strong collective union for a job is perfect, especially with the whole TEAM, including Editors Alanna and Kaitlyn, or as we call it "Team WHITE WIDOW."

When Sarah's scripts arrive, I completely immerse myself in the scenes they write. They have that ability to make you feel part of that action, and there's nothing better for a comic artist. All the details that describe the flashbacks, the drawing of the secondary characters, if I had to choose something in particular, I would be spoiled for choice. I've already said that I love Yelena Belova. [Laughs]

Finally, this is a four-issue miniseries, but if fans show up and support it would you like to continue to chronicle the White Widow's adventures? Do you know where you'd take Yelena after this?

Gailey: I would love it. I could work with her forever. Of course, if we don't get to continue this, I've designed this four-issue mini to be a stand-alone and to wrap up in a hopefully satisfying way. I also put a lot of trap doors into the story that we could climb through if we got to do a little more after this. So, I'd be delighted, but if we wrap with these four issues and this is the story we get to tell with Yelena, I will be absolutely satisfied.

Yelena's fans deserve so much credit. They care about this character very deeply. They're passionate about her story, and their absolute belief that she is not a sidekick to anyone. She's her own person who deserves her own story. I think they deserve a round of applause, and we probably wouldn't be doing this if they didn't care so much about her. Every time I meet a Yelena fan, it's like, "Thank you! You're the reason I get to do this!"

White Widow #1 is due out on Nov. 1.