Who Do We Want? #WeWantWidow

This past weekend, you may have noticed a lot of #WeWantWidow popping up in the comics corners of the Internet. Organized by K. Rielly, cosplayer flash mobs took place across 17 cities on Saturday, along with a big online push of the hashtag. The idea was to send a positive message that Natasha, as well as her fellow superheroines, is a character folks want to see more of, whether it’s in her own film, on more merch, or in the toy aisles. Obviously I was into it, so I went out to support the New York team of cosplayers who were gathering at Special Edition: NYC.

I’m not the biggest cosplayer. While I love dressing up as my favorite characters, I’m a terrible seamstress and catsuits are not my jam. I’m a Kate Bishop in a purple tank top and hoodie, slinging her H coffee mug kind of cosplayer. So my plan for #WeWantWidow was to grab a cute Black Widow logo tshirt, cut off the collar, overdo the eyeliner and go with a kind of rock and roll Natasha. Easy, right? Eh. Not really.

There’s a reason people were publicly highlighting the seriously limited of options when it comes to lady superheroes. There were three places I found that offered as many options for Black Widow-specific clothing as they did for other Avengers characters: Her Universe, Hot Topic, and WeLoveFine. And two of those sites had nothing or very little left in stock. Even finding a Black Widow logo t-shirt in a men’s size was difficult. My search for something to wear to #WeWantWidow was totally proving the point the group was trying to make.