Iron and Silver Lining

Iron and Silver Lining is the 21th episode of the Season 1 in Avengers Unleashed.

Featured Characters

 * Avengers
 * Captain America / Steve Rogers
 * Iron Man / Tony Stark
 * F.R.I.D.A.Y.
 * Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff (flashback and main story; origins revealed)
 * Spider-Man / Peter Parker
 * Jocasta
 * Thor
 * Goliath / Dr. Hank Pym
 * Captain Marvel / Carol Danvers
 * Phoenix Princess / Mary Jane Watson
 * Wasp / Janet Van Dyne
 * Hawkeye / Clint Barton
 * White Swan / Gwen Stacy
 * Tigra / Greer Grant
 * She-Hulk / Jennifer "Jen" Walters
 * Red Shadow / Katrina Romanoff (first appearance) (flashback and main story; origins revealed) (joins Avengers Academy)

Supporting Characters

 * Avengers Academy
 * Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan
 * Kid Arachnid / Miles Morales
 * Ironheart / Riri Williams (first appearance; joins team)
 * Reptil / Humberto Lopez
 * American Son / Max Olson
 * Nova / Sam Alexander
 * Midgard Valkyrie / Tarene Olson
 * Speed / Thomas "Tommy" Kaplan
 * Colossus / Piotr Rasputin (first appearance) (flashback and main story)
 * War Machine / James "Rhodey" Rhodes
 * Rescue / Pepper Potts

Villains

 * Hydra
 * Silvermane / Silvio Manfredi (first appearance)
 * Viper / Madame Hydra
 * Arnim Zola
 * Red Skull / Johann Schmidt (mentioned only)
 * Kree
 * Yon-Rogg (first appearance) (flashback and main story)
 * Hala the Accuser (flashback only)
 * Supreme Intelligence (flashback only; deceased)
 * Ulik
 * Red Room
 * Madame B. (first appearance) (flashback only)
 * Silver Sable / Silver Sablinova (first appearance) (flashback and main story; origins revealed)

Other Characters

 * Mar-Vell (mentioned only)
 * Ronan the Accuser (mentioned only)
 * Korath the Pursuer (mentioned only)
 * Stan Lee

Premise
Black Widow reluctantly teams up with her old rival Silver Sable in stopping Viper from attempting to recreate Ulik's goal of unleashing the Midgard Serpent using Asgardian artifacts she stole from Amora the Enchantress. Meanwhile, the Avengers work to stop a turf war between Kree forces commanded by Yon-Rogg and Hydra units commanded by Silvermane over the same artifact under Viper's possession. At the same time, Iron Man and Wasp look after Riri Williams, a young girl with an superhuman intellect who developed her own prototype of the Iron Man suit through the nanotech resources she retrieved from Spencer Smythe, and Katrina, a young girl with the same technology and skills as Black Widow who is looking for answers about her past and the identity of her long lost mother, who seems to have a deep connection to one of the Avengers...

Plot
12 years ago, Natasha Romanoff had tricked the other Black Widows of the Red Room program into eliminating each other until the Red Room facility was destroyed once one of the graduated agents was near to learn that Romanoff violated their primary rule: never give birth to a half-breed child; Natasha had wooed an American agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and given birth to a child girl named Katrina. Fearful that the Red Room headmasters may one day learn of her daughter's existance, Natasha decided to leave Katrina on the care of X-Man Colossus until the day she was ready. In present day, Black Widow is resuming her role as an Avenger and teacher in Avengers Academy, though she still regrets having not seen Katrina for years because of her role in the Red Room. Just then, during a fight against invading Hydra agents, she is aided and (soon after the Hydra agents retreat) taken to a fight by her old rival in the Red Room: Silver Sablinova / Silver Sable.

Having learned that Natasha was responsible for the incident in the Red Room facility, Sable had returned to get her revenge on Natasha (who only acknowledges that Sable is unaware of Katrina's existance) for inadventently causing her graduation to never happen. Their fight is cut short by Captain America and Spider-Man, who have been both focus on Hydra's next plot, which involves a valuable prize Sable is after. While Widow and Sable agree to track down Viper, who is making researches over Asgardian artifacts she stole from Amora the Enchantress, the rest of the Avengers set out to stop a gangwar between the Hydra units commanded by Silvermane and the Kree forces commanded by Yon-Rogg, who is also after the artifacts on Viper's possession. Meanwhile, the Avengers Academy trainees are having class lessons with Pepper Potts / Rescue and James Rhodes / War Machine, who introduce them to Riri Williams, a young science prodigy who was brought in under the tutelage of Tony Stark / Iron Man and Janet Van Dyne / Wasp. Iron Man and Wasp are also working to solve mysteries about a new young vigilante called the Red Shadow, who has been running around New York looking for answers about her mother. Though she escapes, Red Shadow is analysed by Stark, who eventually notices that her tactics, skills and technology are very similar to those of Black Widow's.

All the sudden, Wasp contacts Black Widow herself and informs her of Red Shadow, whom Natasha feels seemingly familiar with. Meanwhile, the Avengers raid Silvermane's Hydra facility, where they are caught in the issuing battle the mercenaries and Yon-Rogg's soldiers. Ackowledging their presence, Yon-Rogg aims to angrily attack the Avengers, whom he holds responsible for the "Empire's extinction"; due to reccent drastic events like the ones which led to the Supreme Intelligence banishing Mar-Vell and Ronan the Accuser, the Kree Empire was torn apart by a Civil War between the "loyalists" under Yon-Rogg's command and the "traitors" led by Hala the Accuser. As a result, their planet was destroyed, leaving feel survivors. They are joined in the fight by Riri (on her Ironheart armor) and Colossus, who are at the time looking for Katrina. White Swan follows them to the X-Mansion, where she uses Cerebro to find Katrina by reading her mind. Meanwhile, Black Widow and Silver Sable confront and battle Viper, who plans to use the stolen artifacts to awaken the Midgard Serpent and convert it as the ultimate Hydra weapon. One middle of the mayhem, Red Shadow storms in and sabotages Viper's machine, destroying the artifacts and knocking Viper unconscious in the progress. Just then, White Swan's attempt to use Cerebro causes Black Widow's mind to interface with Red Shadow's, causing them both to recognize each other as mother and daughter respectively; Red Shadow is revealed to be Katrina.

Just then, Silver Sable (who was planning to retrieve the artifacts for her goals with her Wild Pack and her company Silver Sable International) attempts to shoot and kill Katrina for having foiled her plans, but Natasha intervenes and knocks Sable unconscious as White Swan uses Cerebro to strip Sable off her memories of the event. Natasha and Katrina share a warm reunion embrace before they gather with Colossus, White Swan and Riri and set out to join the Avengers in their fight against Yon-Rogg and Silvermane. While the Avengers, Potts, Rhodes and Colossus keep the villains occupied, Katrina and Riri head into the core of Yon-Rogg's ship and implant and hack its gravity-bending devices with small Space Stone prototypes they were working on together, creating a suction vortex weapon to slowly destroy both Silvermane's fortress and Yon-Rogg's ship. Zola ambushes the two and attempts to stop them, but they outwit him and trick him into activating the weapon, which successfully destroys Yon-Rogg's ship and Silvermane's fortress. Yon-Rogg forcibly retreats, but still vows revenge. Silvermane survives the destruction of his fortress, but ends up dragged away by Zola and Viper to face the Red Skull for his failure. Sable recovers from her bruises, but only to be discreetly tricked by White Swan into believing that Black Widow and Red Shadow are dead before leaving. Back in the Avengers Compound, Black Widow wins her teammates' warm forgiveness after apologizing for having kept her connection to Red Shadow in secret as they resume to train the Avengers Academy trainees, who are now joined by Katrina and Riri.

Voice Cast

 * Ariel Winter as Red Shadow / Katrina "Kat" Romanoff
 * Laura Bailey as Black Widow / Natasha "Nat" Romanoff
 * Roger Craig Smith as Captain America / Steve Rogers
 * Scott Porter as Spider-Man / Peter Parker
 * Ashley Johnson as Phoenix Princess / Mary Jane Watson
 * Sofia Wylie as Ironheart / Riri Williams
 * Mae Whitman as White Swan / Gwen Stacy
 * Mick Wingert as Iron Man / Tony Stark
 * Wally Wingert as Goliath / Hank Pym
 * Travis Willingham as Thor
 * Jennifer Hale as Captain Marvel / Carol Danvers, F.R.I.D.A.Y.
 * Colleen Villard as Wasp / Janet Van Dyne
 * Troy Baker as Hawkeye / Clint Barton
 * Matthew Mercer as Colossus / Piotr Rasputin
 * Scott Menville as Nova / Sam Alexander
 * Nadji Jeter as Kid Arachnid / Miles Morales
 * E.G. Daily as American Son / Max Olson
 * Tara Strong as Jocasta, Midgard Valkyrie / Tarene Olson
 * Antony Del Rio as Reptil / Humberto Lopez
 * Kate Higgins as Rescue / Pepper Potts
 * Ogie Banks as War Machine / James "Rhodey" Rhodes
 * Kimberly Brooks as Tigra / Greer Grant
 * Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Silver Sable / Silver Sablinova
 * Jeffrey Combs as Yon-Rogg
 * Claudia Black as Viper / Madame Hydra, Madame B.
 * Armin Shimerman as Arnim Zola
 * J. B. Blanc as Ulik
 * as Silvermane / Silvio Manfredi