History Main / BlackWidow

* Poison Ivy in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. She figures, why seduce one billionaire herself when she can create a small squad of female plant clones, have them seduce ''dozens'' of rich bachelors at once, then have said clones lead them to their doom upon a yacht that she sinks? Through her clones, she'd inherit ''multiple'' fortunes. Her only flaw here: Bruce Wayne is one of her targets.

* The VillainOfTheWeek of the second ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' {{pilot}} was one of these. An AmoralAttorney, WickedStepmother, and BitchInSheepsClothing who murdered her attorney husband after manipulating him into springboarding her career as part of an attempt to take over his law firm before he could divorce her after she showed her true colors.

* [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyda_Southard Lyda Southard]] had four husband's during her lifetime. Three died suddenly, alongside two children and one brother-in-law. A relative of her first husband was suspicious and had his body exhumed, determining he was poisoned with arsenic. The bodies of Southard's other victims were then exhumed, confirming she had poisoned them too. She was sentenced to 10 years to life and died while out on parole.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness Belle Gunness]] was a Norwegian immigrant to the United States who killed both of her husbands, all of her children, and numerous other suitors and boyfriends to collect insurance money. Gunness advertised in personals columns in newspapers throughout the midwest looking for victims. She also killed other individuals such as hired hands to cover her tracks and may have killed as many as 40 people, netting a total of $6.3 million adjusted for inflation. [[KarmaHoudini She was never brought to trial]] having faked her own death but was incarcerated in 1931 at the age of 72 for allegedly killing ''another'' husband for insurance money. She died before trial.

* ''[[{{FanFic/BadAlertTheExtreme}} Bad Alert: The Extreme]]'', while mostly a fan's response to the way a few villains are portrayed in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' and ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'', is partly based on the theory that [[spoiler: [[{{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]] murdered Cinderella's father after marrying him for his money]].

* [[spoiler: Roxanne]] in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' was a low ranked warrior, who consistently would become the [[HideYourLesbians best friend]] of a higher ranked warrior, learn her techniques through yoki synchronization, and kill her. This continued until she became one of the strongest and most notorious Claymores in history.

* Abigail Mathers in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. She seduces a rich TV producer away from his family and tampers with the airlock in a submarine he was testing in order to kill him for the insurance money. She then cons Michael into salvaging what's left of the submarine to prove his death to the insurance company and flees to the airport to skip town unless killed by the player.

* In ''VideoGame/AVampyreStory'', the Baroness, previous owner of the castle in which the protagonist is currently imprisoned, is heavily implied to be one of these; that, or crazy unlucky in marriage. In her old bedroom is a shelf full of funerary urns, each containing the remains of a husband. Whatever the reason, she's spent so little time actually married that she has to resort to black magic in order to have a child, namely the villain of the piece (well, maybe "resort" is the wrong word; she was a witch to begin with).

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRSwAZ5XfDE "Black Widow"]] by Booty Luv turns it UpToEleven, with so many spider metaphors that it almost becomes a description of the real thing.[[note]] people's perception of it, that is.[[/note]] Verse 2 really drives it home:

* Poison Ivy takes this UpToEleven in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. She figures, why seduce one billionaire herself when she can create a small squad of female plant clones, have them seduce ''dozens'' of rich bachelors at once, then have said clones lead them to their doom upon a yacht that she sinks? Through her clones, she'd inherit ''multiple'' fortunes. Her only flaw here: Bruce Wayne is one of her targets.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Horse_(Katy_Perry_song) "Dark Horse"]] by Music/KatyPerry has the singer warning men who fall in love with her that once they do, "There's no going back." The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KSOMA3QBU0 music video]] reinforces this trope, with Katy Perry playing an [[AncientEgypt ancient Egyptian]] queen who is approached by several suitors bearing gifts. She accepts the gifts... after using magic to disintegrate the suitors into piles of sand.

* "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Horse_(Katy_Perry_song) Dark Horse]]" by Music/KatyPerry has the singer warning men who fall in love with her that once they do, "There's no going back." The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KSOMA3QBU0 music video]] reinforces this trope, with Katy Perry playing an [[AncientEgypt ancient Egyptian]] queen who is approached by several suitors bearing gifts. She accepts the gifts... after using magic to disintegrate the suitors into piles of sand.

** [[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I%27m_Henery_the_Eighth,_I_Am If you read the full lyrics]] [[ChorusOnlySong (Herman's Hermits only sang the chorus)]], the last verse makes it much clearer that this is indeed the case.
* The music video for Music/NoDoubt's cover of [[Music/TalkTalk "It's My Life"]] casts Gwen Stefani as a Black Widow who seduces the three male members of the band and murders them when she gets tired of them. The video is framed by scenes of her being put on trial and eventually executed for her crimes.
* ''Music/TheyMightBeGiants'': In the music video for "Mrs. Bluebeard", the eponymous Mrs. is the killer, and the singer is the ghost of her latest murdered husband. [[LaserGuidedKarma She gets her comeuppance]] when a séance summons the ghosts of her dead husbands, and Mrs. Bluebeard and her accomplices get each other killed in a panic.

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Compare {{Yandere}}, ComfortingTheWidow, WidowWoman (for other widow tropes), WillAndInheritanceTropes and CartwrightCurse. When pregnancy is involved, this intersects with ConceiveAndKill. See also LiteralManeater, which is an actual monster that uses the disguise of a woman to lure in its prey.

* A Franchise/{{Batman}} story[[note]]''Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special'' #1[[/note]] has Bruce Wayne meet, fall for, and almost marry a woman who turns out to be this. He figures it out in time. As for why he'd nearly wed a woman in such short order, it turned out he was unknowingly affected by Scarecrow's fear gas in a previous fight, and it made him afraid of spending his life alone.
** Before she can complete her next murder, Bruce has a note slipped to her ordering her to confess to all her crimes. Seeing the Bat Symbol on the note, she quickly decides to comply.
* ComicBook/BlackWidow used to be this trope when she was a spy for the KGB. To quote Pepper Potts, "she mates and then she kills."

* One of the women at the [[spoiler: Serial Killer Convention]] complains about female serial killers being stereotyped as nothing but Black Widows & Killer Nurses in ''Comicbook/TheSandman'' book ''The Doll's House''.
** This is made all the more amusing because she says this while participating in a panel discussion on "Women In Serial Killing"... whose fellow panelists ''are'' a Black Widow and a Killer Nurse who are visibly annoyed with her. And for extra laughs, she's complaining about stereotypes despite being an Asian working under the ''nom de guerre'' of "Dog Soup".

* The Contessa of ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'' is heavily implied to be this. While it is never explicitly stated that she killed her wealthy husband, she definitely used his money for illegal purposes after his death.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Doss The Giggling Granny]]

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Natasha Kerensky is actually a subversion. She became known by her moniker after her lover (who was one of the founders of the renowned Wolf's Dragoons) was taken hostage and later killed by Anton Marik, due to a [[CreativeDifferences fallout]] in relations. She reacted [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge violently]] to this and lead her unit to storm Marik's stronghold and kill him and his remaining forces.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' has Oswald Cobblepot's stepmother. She and her (adult) kids are trying to kill Ozzie's real father by tampering with his medication. After Oswald comes into the picture, he becomes his father's favourite (he is his only real son) and his most likely heir. [[spoiler: This causes the step-mom to poison Ozzie's drink, only for his dad to drink it instead. (Un)fortunately, Oz later finds the poison, and [[SiblingMurder bad]] [[IAteWhat things]] [[{{Matricide}} happen]] to the step-family.]]

* Victoria from ''[[Pinball/WHODunnit WHO dunnit]],'' who has already buried two husbands before she plots against her third.

* Debbie Jellinsky from ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'' is one of these. It's only her latest M.O., as she's been killing since childhood, and often gets rid of people who fail to meet her needs (usually money-related), starting with her parents, who she killed for not giving her a Ballerina Barbie for her birthday. She gets her claws into Fester and marries him, but, Fester being one of the Addams clan, she doesn't quite succeed at the killing part. Once the Addamses understands the depths of her [[AxCrazy issues]] they all start to really empathize with her and regret not really getting to know her. [[spoiler: After she dies, she is buried with honors in the family graveyard.]]