Black Widow Strikes Again (1967)

Alfred has to interrupt Aunt Harriet modelling her new black trousers for Millionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson who are in raptures over their Aunts new Carnaby Street look. She giggles to herself about being “such a Beatnik” while Bruce and Dick zip down the bat-poles, having been told in code language by the wily Alfred that “A Mr. Gordon Commish is on the line for you, sir”. Some people might have guessed that he referred to police commissioner Gordon, but Aunt Harriet isn’t the brightest bulb in Wayne Manor.

“You’ll never guess who crawled into Town” are the words of a slightly exasperated Commissioner Gordon as he informs Batman that a dastardly old nemesis is back in Gotham City, causing havoc and sending shock waves through the banking community. One by one, she is robbing the banks in broad daylight, getting the managers to dish out dollops of cash at her whim as though putty in her spidery hands.

Of course, Batman soon discovered using his ingenious instrument, which determines which part of the brain has been affected by venom and how. It is soon determined that Black Widow has been using some dubious device by which she is rendering the bank managers as helpless pawns in her entangled web of trickery.

Black Widow has recently taken on the mantle of The Supreme Queen of Crime following after the passing of her husband “Dear, Sweet Max” and now stands along with Catwoman as one of the few heavyweight contenders in the murky world of Gotham City criminals; among the most feared and with good reason.

Black Widow skips merrily from Bank to Bank, emptying the coffers and returns to her cave-grotto hideout to count her loot and mix some drinks. She has her Brain Scrambling device to thank for her recent conquests and her bank looting spree. At the mere press of a button, this ingenious device renders the receiver of the scrambling rays completely incapable of resistance to her whims and charms by scrambling their cerebrums, thus hindering their ability to reason.

“Happiness Can’t Buy Money”, exclaims a delighted BW recalling the words of her beloved Max and counting her stacks of loot. Alas, her drive slows down as she runs out of banks to rob because she can’t think of the different names. Still, she carries on relentlessly and the financial district trembles in fear at the mere mention of the name of The Black Widow or Mrs Max Black.

However, Batman is soon on her tail, and their first encounter comes just after a very nervous Mr. Leghorn has pounced upon poor Aunt Harriet as she arrives at the Bank to open an account for her nephew Dick Grayson. Because of her stylish new black pants and beatnik chic look Aunt Harriet is mistaken for BW by Mr. Leghorn and a shocked Aunt Harriet gives him a good dressing down before taking her business to Beneficial.

Black Widow Zaps Batman with a paralyzing dose of Spider Venom, rendering him a slobbering fool while she gets away. Later Batman arrives at her hideout with the use of his Batsilloscope voice analyzer. This determines that the elderly couple who had told them that they hadn’t seen any strange Black Widow or such people in the vicinity were dummies, and their words were mouthed by none other than the devilish BW.

They home in on the hideout, but Black Widow outwits them with a wicked twist and reverses the polarity of her cerebrum short circuiter with devastating results. Batman is rendered a fawning idiot just as the Bank Managers had been, and all is lost.

Batman and Robin are caught in her filthy web and worse that, she sets a pair of giant Black Widows who had skipped their meals to be extra hungry so that they would feast on the flesh of the dynamic duet, sorry Duo. The fat-bellied, deadly Black Widows start crawling up Batman and Robins bodies while Black Widow heads out to rob another bank or two, cackling merrily on her way out, thrilled by her own genius. Meanwhile, the Black Widow on Robin has already started to bite as he pleads to Batman to hurry and sound the sonic button in his Utility Belt that maybe might just miraculously hit the right note that will repel the ghastly bugs. Anything is worth a try as a dreadful death looms just seconds away. Oh, the horror, Batman and Robin to be savaged by bulbous Black Widows while the Black Widow runs amok.

The episode ends with the Dynamic Duo facing a certain and painful and gruesome one at the hands of the two revolting, slobbering Black Widows already making inroads into poor Robin’s flesh. As the curtain falls on the episode, we hope at worst that the death is quick and relatively painless when it comes.