Following in the footsteps of anyone is tough. It can be even tougher if the act you’re following is world famous. Yelena Belova knows this all too well, becoming the Black Widow when Natasha Romanoff was believed dead to the world. Where did she come from, and how did she end up in this position? Let’s find out!
Yelena Belova was trained at the Red Room Academy in Russia and given the physical training of the famed Black Widow program. While she was given their skills, she did not undergo the chemical treatments to gain their super human abilities like Natasha Romanoff had before her. Yelena would be sent out on missions with the goal of making her the next Black Widow, but one that her handlers could control.
Her work would gain the attention of Natasha, who did what she could to try and pull Yelena from her programming. The two would cross paths on missions, and Yelena even believed she had witnessed Natasha’s death, but it was all a ruse. Yelena was later tricked by Natasha and had her face replaced with that of Natasha’s, in an attempt to teach Yelena that spies are not heroes, just tools of their handlers. Understandably, this backfired, sickening Yelena for the violation of her own face being stolen from her.
When her mentor was murdered, Yelena decided this was her last real mission. After Yelena solved the case, she began a new life as a business woman. Starting a successful empire, she used her power as best she could to keep sex workers safe and provide medicine for HIV and AIDS patients. It would be Natasha who would bring her back into the adventuring life, gaining Natasha’s aid to get more medicine from nefarious companies.
Yelena eventually found herself working with S.H.I.E.L.D., though it turned out to be a rebel branch that had her facing off against the Avengers in the Savage Land. Using his powers, Sauron, the vampiric dinosaur man, greatly burned most of Yelena’s body in the chaos of the battle. Yelena would be whisked away by A.I.M. to be healed and improved upon, making her the new Super-Adaptoid.
Yelena found herself facing off against the Avengers once again. She would hold her own for some time until she absorbed the wrong power. The Sentry’s Void power would weaken Yelena, and showed her benefactors she couldn’t complete the job as necessary. This led to the activation of a kill switch, and Yelena died in the process.
What followed were appearances by Yelena, or so it would seem. During Norman Osbourne’s reign as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Yelena would be the Black Widow of his new Avengers. In reality, Natasha was infiltrating the team, impersonating Yelena. It was then revealed that Yelena was in stasis; A.I.M. had revived her to have her fight for them once more. Later, she was able to break free and take up the Black Widow name after Natasha had appeared to be killed by Captain America during the events of Secret Empire.
Just as nothing is what it seems in the spy world, this Yelena was shown to be a clone, made by the Red Room, with many more in the process of being created. Natasha discovered the clone Yelena, finding that she was trying to do work she thought Natasha would have, killing off many political targets. However, clone Yelena proved to be too dangerous and was killed by Natasha. Though, when clones are at play, it’s possibly never truly over. She’s recently been seen working with Red Guardian, Natasha, and Hawkeye; not bad for a supposed corpse.
There you have it! Yelena Belova was someone who tried to become the Black Widow and eventually realized her own path, only to be twisted over and over by outside forces. She’s been animated on the small screen and recently made her live action debut on the big screen. Where she’ll end up next in the comics is anyone’s guess, but you can catch her soon in the Disney+ series Hawkeye. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Inhumans Vol. 2, #5
Secret Avengers Vol. 2, #14
Tales of Suspense: Hawkeye and Winter Soldier
Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova
Black Widow Vol. 8
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
