Black widow

Black widow may refer to:

Spiders

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

North American species

• Latrodectus hesperus, the western black widow
• Latrodectus mactans, the southern black widow
• Latrodectus variolus, the northern black widow

Eurasian species

• Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, the Mediterranean black widow or European black widow.

People

• Shahidka, female suicide bombers from Chechnya or Dagestan, commonly referred to as "black widows"

Murderers

• Vera Renczi (born 1903), murdered 35 men, including her husband and her son
• Black Widows of Liverpool, two women hanged for murder in 1884
• Stacey Castor (born 1967), convicted murderer
• Lynn Turner (murderer) (1968–2010), convicted murderer
• The Black Widow Murders, murders committed by two elderly women in Los Angeles
• Betty Neumar (1931–2011), dubbed "Black Widow" or "Black Widow Granny", accused of murdering one of her husbands
• Griselda Blanco (1943–2012), Colombian drug trafficker, known as the "Black Widow" due to her ordering or committing the murders of three ex-husbands

Sports people

• Jeanette Lee (pool player) (born 1971), so-called because of her fondness for wearing black
• Sonya Thomas (born 1967), top-ranked competitive eater

Fictional characters

• Black Widow (Marvel Comics), the name of four distinct characters
• The Black Widow, a Batman villain played by Tallulah Bankhead
• Natasha Kerensky, a BattleTech character also known as the "Black Widow"
• 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
• 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 Widow Productions, a pornographic film studio

Gaming

• Black Widow (video game), a 1982 Atari arcade game
• Black Widow Games, a computer games developer

Military

• Northrop P-61 Black Widow, a World War II night fighter.
• Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II, a prototype fighter aircraft
• Black Widow, a nickname applied to Soviet submarine B-39 after having been sold off as a museum ship.

Music

• Black Widow (opera), by Thomas Pasatieri
• Black Widow Records, an Italian label
• 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

Songs

• "Black Widow", by American metal band Black Tide on the album Light from Above
• "Black Widow", by American metal band Mötley Crüe on the compilation Red, White & Crüe
• "Black Widow", by Finnish metal band Children of Bodom on the album Hatebreeder
• "Black Widow", on Animal House(U.D.O. album)
• "Black Widow", by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, featuring Rita Ora
• "Black Widow", on Are You Listening? (Dolores O'Riordan album)
• "Black Widow", by Donovan Leitch on the album Slow Down World
• "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", on Winds of Change (Jefferson Starship album)
• "Black Widow", by Booty Luv
• "Black Widow", by Link Wray and His Ray Men, B-side to "Jack the Ripper"
• "Black Widow", by Cage the Elephant on the album Melophobia
• "Black Widows", on The Last Supper (Grave Digger album)
• "Black Widow of La Porte", by John 5 featuring Jim Root on the album The Devil Knows My Name

Other plants and animals

• Black tetra, also known as "black widow tetra", a freshwater fish
• Black widow (Stygnobrotula latebricola), an ocean fish
• Black widow, the herbaceous plant species Geranium phaeum

Other uses

• Black Widow Pulsar, a star
• Black Widow (ride), an amusement ride at Kennywood
• Black Widow, a roller coaster at Six Flags New England
• Black Widow: A Novel, a 1981 novel by Christina Crawford
• Black Widow (paint mix), paint mix for projection screen
• Dima Halim Daoga, a militant Dimasa organization in Assam, India
• The Black Widow (Daniel Silva novel), 2016

See also

• Almana Shchora (Hebrew for "black widow"), an Israeli band
• Florentine Rost van Tonningen (1914–2007), Dutch neo-Nazi nicknamed Zwarte weduwe (Black Widow)
• Black Widower (disambiguation)