Black widow may refer to:

Spiders

* Black widow spider, a common name for some species of spiders in the genus '' Latrodectus''

American species

* '' Latrodectus apicalis'', the Galapagos black widow * '' Latrodectus curacaviensis'', the South American black widow * '' Latrodectus hesperus'', the western black widow * '' Latrodectus mactans'', the southern black widow * ''

Latrodectus variolus ''Latrodectus variolus'', the northern black widow spider or northern widow, is a venomous species of spider in the genus ''Latrodectus'' of the family Theridiidae. The population is closely related to the southern black widow, ''Latrodectus mact ...

'', the northern black widow

Eurasian species

* '' Latrodectus tredecimguttatus'', the Mediterranean black widow or European black widow

Oceanian species

* ''

Latrodectus hasseltii The redback spider (''Latrodectus hasselti''), also known as the Australian black widow, is a species of highly venomous spider believed to originate in South Australia or adjacent Western Australian deserts, but now found throughout Australi ...

'', the redback spider or Australian black widow

People

Murderers

Black Widows of Liverpool Catherine Flannagan (1829 – 3 March 1884) and Margaret Higgins (1843 – 3 March 1884) were Irish sisters who were convicted of poisoning and murdering one person in Liverpool, England, and suspected of four more deaths. The women collected ...

, two women hanged for murder in 1884 * Belle Gunness, 25-40 victims spanning from 1884 to 1908 *

Vera Renczi Vera Renczi (dubbed the Black Widow, Mrs. Poison or Chatelaine of Berkerekul), was a Romanian serial killer who was charged with poisoning 35 individuals including her two husbands, multiple lovers, and her son with arsenic during the 1920s. J ...

(1903-1960), murdered 35 men, including her husband and her son *

Betty Neumar Betty Lafon Neumar (November 27, 1931 – June 13, 2011) was an American woman charged with arranging the murder of her fourth husband, Harold Gentry, who died in 1986. The dead man's brother, Al Gentry, had, for 22 years prior to Mrs. Neumar's ...

(1931–2011), dubbed "Black Widow" or "Black Widow Granny", accused of murdering one of her husbands * Blanche Taylor Moore (born 1933), convicted murderer * Griselda Blanco (1943–2012), Colombian drug trafficker, known for her ordering or committing the murders of three ex-husbands *

Catherine Nevin Catherine Nevin (; 1 October 1950 – 19 February 2018) was an Irish woman who was convicted in 2000 of murdering her husband Tom Nevin at Jack White's Inn, a pub owned by the couple in County Wicklow. The jury in her trial also found her gui ...

(1950-2018), responsible for the 1996 murder of Tom Nevin in Jack White's Inn * Stacey Castor (1967–2016), convicted murderer * Lynn Turner (murderer) (1968–2010), convicted murderer * Black Widow Murders, murders committed in 1999/2005 by two elderly women in Los Angeles * Áurea Vázquez-Rijos who hired a hitman for the

Murder of Adam Anhang Adam Joel Anhang Uster (March 8, 1973 – September 23, 2005) was an entrepreneur and real estate developer; he was murdered at the intersection of Calle San Justo and Calle Luna in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico in September 2005. He was leaving the Pi ...

in 2005, extradited back to Puerto Rico in 2015 and convicted in 2018 *

Melissa Ann Shepard Melissa Ann Shepard (née Russell; born May 16, 1935), also known as Melissa Ann Weeks, Melissa Ann Friedrich, Melissa Ann Shephard and Melissa Ann Stewart, sometimes given the sobriquet of Internet Black Widow, is a Canadian murderer and habitual ...

(born 1935), Canadian murderer * Patrizia Reggiani (born 1948), ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, convicted of arranging his murder *

Chisako Kakehi is a Japanese serial killer who was sentenced to death for the murders of three men, including her husband, and for the attempted murder of a fourth.Lyda Southard Lyda Southard (October 16, 1892 – February 5, 1958), also known as Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood, was an American female suspected serial killer. It was suspected that she had killed her four husbands, a brother-in-law, and her daughter by using arsen ...

(1892–1958), American serial killer of husbands and other family members using arsenic from flypaper

Athletes

* Jeanette Lee (pool player) (born 1971), so-called because of her fondness for wearing black *

Sonya Thomas Sonya Thomas (born Lee Sun-kyung on July 26, 1967), also known by her nickname The Black Widow, and "The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus", is a South Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. Thomas joined ...

(born 1967), top-ranked competitive eater

Other

* Florentine Rost van Tonningen (1914–2007), Dutch neo-Nazi nicknamed ''Zwarte weduwe'' (Black Widow)

Arts and entertainment

Fictional characters

Black Widow (Marvel Comics) Black Widow is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe. Claire Voyant Claire Voyant is the f ...

, the name of several distinct characters: ** Black Widow (Claire Voyant) ** Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) ** Black Widow (Yelena Belova) * In the : ** Natasha Romanoff (Marvel Cinematic Universe) ** Yelena Belova (Marvel Cinematic Universe) ** Melina Vostokoff (Marvel Cinematic Universe) **

Dottie Underwood '' Agent Carter'' is an American television series created for ABC by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, inspired by the 2011 film '' Captain America: The First Avenger'', and the 2013 Marvel One-Shot short film of the same name. It is set i ...

* The Black Widow, a ''Batman'' villain played by Tallulah Bankhead * Black Widow, a character from the '' Saturday Night Slam Masters'' series of games by Capcom

Film and television

* ''The Black Widow'' (serial), a 1947 movie serial starring Bruce Edwards * ''The Black Widow'' (1951 film), a British film starring Christine Norden * ''Black Widow'' (1954 film), starring Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney * ''Black Widow'' (1987 film), featuring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell * ''Black Widow'' (2003 film), a film directed by Brad Turner * ''The Black Widow'' (2005 film), DVD release title of film by Giada Colagrande, produced as ''Before It Had a Name'' * ''Black Widow'' (2005 film), a Canadian film starring Sarah Slean * "The Black Widow", an episode of ''Boston Legal'' * ''Black Widow'' (2007 film), with Elizabeth Berkley and Alicia Coppola * ''Black Widow'' (2010 film), starring Jack Scalia and Jennifer O'Dell * ''Black Widows'' (2016 TV series), Scandinavian TV serial *

Black Widows (Indian TV series) ''Black Widows'' is a ZEE5 original dark comedy Indian web series directed by Birsa Dasgupta and produced by Namit Sharma. The series is a remake of the popular 2014 Finnish show, ''Mustat Lesket''. Starring Mona Singh, Swastika Mukherjee, ...

, a 2020 web series * ''Black Widow'' (2021 film), a film starring Scarlett Johansson based on the Marvel Comics character * '' Black Widow: A Land Bleeds'', a 2017 Indian film

Literature

* ''The Black Widow'' (Silva novel), 2016 novel by Daniel Silva * ''Black Widow: A Novel'', a 1981 novel by Christina Crawford

Gaming

* ''Black Widow'' (video game), a 1982 Atari arcade game *

Black Widow Games Black Widow Games was a video game developer specializing in promotional mods for '' Quake'' and ''Half-Life'' 3D engines. They are best known for their ''They Hunger'' series. Prominent members included Neil Manke (game and level design), Einar ...

, a computer games developer

Music

* ''Black Widow'' (opera), by Thomas Pasatieri * Black Widow (band), a British rock band * ''Black Widow'' (Black Widow album), 1971 * ''Black Widow'' (Lalo Schifrin album), 1976 * ''Black Widow'' (In This Moment album), 2014 * ''The Black Widow'' (album) * Black Widow Records, an Italian label

Songs

* "Black Widow" (Iggy Azalea song), 2014 * "Black Widow" (Pristin song), 2017 * "Black Widow", by Black Tide on the album ''

Light from Above ''Light from Above'' is the debut album from Black Tide. The album was released on March 18, 2008 and was produced by Johnny K. Each member of Black Tide was under 20 years of age during the recording of this album, making it very notable in the ...

'' * "Black Widow", by Mötley Crüe on the compilation ''

Red, White & Crüe ''Red, White & Crüe'' is the eighth compilation album by the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on February 1, 2005 by Mötley Records and charted at number 6 on The Billboard 200. To coincide with the album's release, the band reunited ...

'' * "Black Widow", by Children of Bodom on the album ''

Hatebreeder ''Hatebreeder'' is the second studio album by Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom. The "Deluxe Edition" was released in 2005 with bonus material. It was also re-released in 2008. Reception In 2005, ''Hatebreeder'' was ranked ...

'' * "Black Widow", by U.D.O. on the album '' Animal House'' * "Black Widow", by Dolores O'Riordan on the album '' Are You Listening?'' * "Black Widow", by Donovan Leitch on the album '' Slow Down World'' * "Black Widow", by In This Moment on the album ''

Black Widow Black widow may refer to: Spiders * Black widow spider, a common name for some species of spiders in the genus ''Latrodectus'' American species * ''Latrodectus apicalis'', the Galapagos black widow * ''Latrodectus curacaviensis'', the South Amer ...

'' * "Black Widow", by Lita Ford on the album '' Dangerous Curves'' * "Black Widow", by Michelle Shocked on the album '' Short Sharp Shocked'' * "Black Widow", by Alice Cooper on the album '' Welcome to My Nightmare'' * "Black Widow", by Jefferson Starship on the album ''Winds of Change'' * "Black Widow", by Booty Luv * "Black Widow", by

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. ''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...

and His Ray Men, B-side to "Jack the Ripper" * "Black Widow", by Cage the Elephant on the album '' Melophobia'' * "Black Widow", by Susanne Sundfør on the album ''

The Brothel ''The Brothel'' is the second studio album by Norwegian musician Susanne Sundfør, released on 15 March 2010 in Norway, through EMI Music Norway and Grönland Records. The album sees a shift from the piano driven pop from previous releases towa ...

'' * "Black Widow Pt. 2", by RZA featuring ODB on the album ''

Digital Bullet ''Digital Bullet'' is the second solo studio album by United States, American hip hop music, hip hop artist RZA under his pseudonym Bobby Digital. The album was released on August 28, 2001. As a sequel to ''Bobby Digital in Stereo'' (1998), the al ...

'' * "Black Widows", by Grave Digger on the album ''The Last Supper''

Rides

* Black Widow (ride), an amusement ride at Kennywood * Black Widow, a roller coaster at Six Flags New England

Military

* Northrop P-61 Black Widow, a World War II night fighter * Black Widow II, a Northrop YF-23 prototype fighter aircraft, nicknamed after the P-61 *

PMN mine The PMN () series of blast anti-personnel mines were designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union. They are one of the most widely used and commonly found devices during demining operations. They are sometimes nicknamed "black widow" because of ...

, nicknamed Black Widow because of their dark casing *

Soviet submarine B-39 ''B-39'' was a Project 641 () diesel-electric attack submarine of the Soviet Navy. The "B" (actually " Б") in her designation stands for большая (''bolshaya'', "large")—Foxtrots were the Soviet Navy's largest non-nuclear submarines. ...

, nicknamed Black Widow after having been sold off as a museum ship *

421st Fighter Squadron The 421st Fighter Squadron is part of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. It operates the Lockheed Martin F-35A aircraft conducting air superiority missions. The squadron is one of the most decorated fighter squadrons in the ...

, nicknamed Black Widows

Other plants and animals

Black tetra The black tetra (''Gymnocorymbus ternetzi''), also known as the black skirt tetra, petticoat tetra, high-fin black skirt tetra, black widow tetra and blackamoor, is a freshwater fish of the characin family (Characidae). It is native to the Parag ...

, also known as "black widow tetra", a freshwater fish * ''

Stygnobrotula latebricola The black brotula (''Stygnobrotula latebricola''), also known as the black widow, is a species of viviparous brotula found in reefs of the western Atlantic Ocean where it occurs from the Bahamas in the north southwards to Brazil. This species ...

'', an ocean fish * '' Geranium phaeum'', a herbaceous plant species

Other uses

* The

Black Widow Pulsar The Black Widow Pulsar (PSR B1957+20) is an eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar in the Milky Way. Discovered in 1988, it is located roughly away from Earth. It orbits with a brown dwarf or Super-Jupiter companion with a period of 9.2 hou ...

Black Widow (paint mix) Black Widow (also known as a Black Widow Ultra in Europe) is a non-commercial open source project to design a paint mix for the base of a DIY projection screen. Anonymous DIYers responsible for popularizing Black Widow in the DIY community include M ...

, paint mix for projection screen *

Black Widow (Chechnya) Black Widow (russian: чёрная вдова, ''chyornaya vdova'') or shahidka (russian: шахидка—Russian feminine gender derivation from ''shahid''), is a term for Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers, willing to be a manifestati ...

, term for female suicide bombers from Chechnya or Dagestan * DHD(J), also called Black Widow, a subgroup of the militant Dimasa organization

Dima Halim Daoga Dima Halam Daogah was an Indian extremist group operating mainly in Assam and Nagaland. The group laid down their arms in January 2013, and claimed to represent the Dimasa and their goal to create a Dimaland or ''Dimaraji'' in the two states. Obje ...

of Assam, India