With the first Black Widow movie making its Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, it brings with it a comic book character that also shared the codename with Natasha Romanoff. Yelena Belova, brought to life by Florence Pugh, joins the MCU as Natasha's "little sister" in the Red Room program.
Though Yelena Belova might be new to the MCU, she does have a decent amount of comic book history and even though she hasn't appeared in comics consistently since her debut, Yelena does pop up for plenty of interesting Black Widow stories. Fans who only know her from the MCU, however, might be interested in learning more about her comic book history.
10 When Did Yelena Make Her First Comic Book Appearance?
The 1999 comic book series that sees Yelena Belova debut on the page isn't one that features a big Black Widow story. Instead, it was Inhumans.
In her debut, Yelena was assigned the responsibility of luring the Inhumans out of hiding. Her first issue, #5, saw her debut as a teaser for an upcoming storyline. Readers saw her mostly shrouded in shadow as she detailed her aims, but they did get to see the red hourglass symbol of the Black Widow on her belt.
9 Has She Ever Had Her Own Comic Book Series?
While Natasha has had several solo series over the years from Marvel comics, Yelena hasn't had quite as much luck. She's typically a part of larger Black Widow stories involving Natasha, or on teams of other characters.
Just three years after her debut, however, she did get a miniseries called Black Widow: Pale Little Spider penned by Greg Rucka. The story lasted for three issues in Marvel's MAX line. It followed Yelena as she attempted to track down who had murdered one of her mentors. The story was also set before she made her comic book debut in 1999, giving the readers an idea of her past and her rise to become a Black Widow.
8 Are Yelena And Natasha Allies Or Enemies?
When Yelena first makes her comic book debut, she and Natasha are definitely enemies. Yelena wants to prove that she's the rightful holder of the Black Widow title, after all. They tend to have a very antagonistic relationship when they meet up in different stories.
Just as often as they are enemies, however, they are also allies. Yelena and Natasha, despite the animosity that some writers give them, also respect one another. They're willing to work together when the occasion calls for it, even pretending to be one another to infiltrate different groups.
7 What Does Yelena Do When She Retires From The Widow Role?
Yelena, much like Natasha, becomes disillusioned with her role as a Widow for the Red Room. When she decides to retire from life as a spy, she moves to Cuba and starts her own business empire.
Yelena uses what she's learned about seduction as a spy to run her business. She models, designs lingerie, and becomes a millionaire while she does it. Yelena also makes it her mission to protect sex workers while she lives in Cuba, and even starts getting medicine for underground clinics. Of course, in Marvel comics, no spy retires for long.
6 Why Did She And Natasha Swap Faces?
One of the things that actually made Yelena decide to retire for a while was Natasha forcibly swapping faces with her. Natasha decides at one point that Yelena needs to understand what being a spy really means: being a tool in someone else's arsenal. She helps SHIELD defeat and kidnap Yelena, then convinces Nick Fury and Daredevil to allow her to surgically swap faces with Yelena and temporarily take Yelena's place.
Yelena feels understandably violated by the procedure when she's left to wander New York with someone else's face while Natasha proves her point when no one comes to save Yelena from SHIELD.
5 Does Yelena Have Any Super Powers?
During her early time as a Black Widow, Yelena doesn't have any special powers. The Widows in her era of the program are kept in peak physical health and trained in a variety of fighting styles, but not given a super-soldier serum.
That changes, however, when the organization Hydra gets their hooks in her. Hydra uses technology provided by AIM to augment Yelena when she's severely injured. Their experiments turn her into a version of Super-Adaptoid. As Super-Adaptoid, she's able to absorb and use the powers of others, but her body slowly turns a yellow color the more she uses her ability.
4 How Many Different Comic Book Organizations Has She Belonged To?
Because of Yelena's switching loyalties, she's been a member of a lot of different organizations on the page. She begins her journey as a Red Room operative before working for herself and the KGB, but there are a lot of groups that recruit her.
As an Adaptoid, she works with both Hydra and AIM. She works with She-Hulk in the Lady Liberators at one point. Yelena also joined the black-ops group Vanguard at one point, a group full of heroes who were employed to carry out assassinations that others wouldn't. She even became a SHIELD agent for a while, despite the things they did to her when she worked for the Red Room. That's at least seven different organizations she's worked for in the last two decades.
3 What Rank Did She Have Within SHIELD?
SHIELD's ranking system sometimes seems arbitrary. It's meant to keep certain information compartmentalized as lower-ranking agents don't have access to certain classified information, but sometimes, it's thrown out the window in favor of capable fighters being brought into certain missions.
While at times, the system appears to have eight levels, Nick Fury is considered a level 10 agent when he's the director. That appears to be the highest-ranking offered in the comics. Yelena doesn't make it nearly that high with her clearance level as she's a level 5. Natasha, at one point, was listed as a level 10 agent just like Fury.
2 How Has She Survived So Many Comic Book Deaths?
There's a trend in Marvel comics that no character stays dead for long - except for, of course, Spider-Man's Uncle Ben. That's true for Yelena as well. Every time readers think she's dead, she pops up again later. Part of those "survivals" are not true survivals, but part of protocol put in place by a new version of the Red Room.
At one point in the comics, it's revealed that in order to keep the Black Widow program going indefinitely, clones were made of top operatives. Some of the Natashas in the comics are clones, just like Yelena. While some of the clones are aware of their status, others are not, implanted with the memories of the original Widows.
1 Has Yelena Ever Appeared In Live Action Before?
Prior to Florence Pugh taking on the role of Yelena for the MCU in Black Widow, the character hadn't appeared in live action. She also has only appeared in one animated project: Avengers Assemble.
She appeared in seasons 3 and 4 of the animated series, providing the reveal that the Red Room was still active, much as she does in the comics. Though the series didn't turn her into an ally of Black Widow initially, it did see her keep popping up as an adversary. Her final appearance did see her (and a few other villains) team up with the Avengers against a common enemy.
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