Yelena Belova / Black Widow
"We are defined by what we do, not by nice words. Like it or not, there is no escaping this."
Species: Human
Citizenship: Russian, American
Affiliation(s): Red Room (formerly), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Portrayed By: Florence Pugh, Violet McGraw (young)Foreign voice actors
Appearances: Black Widow | Hawkeye | Thunderbolts
"Pain and suffering is every day and we are both still a trained killer. Except I'm not the one that's on the cover of a magazine. I'm not the killer that little girls call their hero."
A spy and assassin trained at the Red Room and Natasha Romanoff's surrogate sister.
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- Accidental Misnaming: When she reproaches Alexei for only being concerned about his Glory Days, she calls his superhero alias "Crimson Dynamo" instead of "Red Guardian". She doesn't take it well when Alexei promptly corrects her about it.
- Accuser of the Brethren: She hates that Clint's status as an Avenger seems to clear him of all the blood on his hands during his time as Ronin. She's further incensed that Kate still sees him as a hero despite knowing his past. Downplayed, however, in that she's implied to be specifically upset about Natasha's death (which she blames him for out of misguidance) than about anything else about Clint's past; likely because, as she's an assassin herself, her own hands are also dripping in blood.
- Action Girl: Manages to hold her own against Natasha. Also: it should be remembered that when she gets freed from her brainwashing, Yelena is technically surrounded by fellow Black Widows, no slouches on their own. The fact that she seems to have no injuries after that (save for cutting her right leg open to remove her tracker), compared to Natasha whose back has been Covered with Scars over the years, speaks well of her too.note
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her eyes are blue in the comics. Here, she has her actress Florence Pugh's green eyes.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: In the comics, Natasha Romanoff, Melinda Vostokoff, and Alexei Shostakov aren't her adoptive family as her parents were still alive.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Comics Yelena is a competitive, scheming asshole who is all business all the time outside of her very one-sided rivalry with Natasha. Here, Yelena is much more prone to joking, and one of her big things is wanting to live a normal life.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the comics, she willingly joined the Red Room and became a Black Widow to make her parents proud but in the MCU, her biological parents are implied to have died and she was indoctrinated into it as a little girl after she had her happy childhood taken away from her and was under the effects of brainwashing the majority of her time as a Black Widow.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics, she willingly joined the Red Room and became a Black Widow to impress her parents. In the MCU, she was indoctrinated into the Red Room and trained to become a Black Widow at a very young age and she never knew her biological parents.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: She jokes and snarks more than her comic book counterpart, who's a much more serious individual in comparison.
- Adaptational Consent: A non-sexual and non-romantic example. In the comics, she willingly joined the Red Room but in here, she was indoctrinated in it at a young age and brainwashed to carry out missions.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Yelena is a supervillain and an Evil Counterpart to Natasha Romanoff. Here, her worst crimes are committed while under mind control, and she's Natasha's surrogate sister.
- Adaptational Modesty: Yelena's usual comics outfit actually has her with a bare midriff, if only to visually distinguish her from Natasha. Here, her Black Widow suits (both the Red Room one and the white tactical suit she wears for the rest of the film) remain full-body covering—the latter even a bit looser than Natasha's Form-Fitting Wardrobe.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- She and Natasha never trained together in the comics, as Natasha is several decades older than Yelena; Yelena was also intended to be Natasha's Superior Successor, but ended up becoming an Evil Counterpart to her. Here, they were brought up as siblings for a few years, trained at the Red Room in the same timeframe, and are ultimately allies.
- Alexei Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff weren't her adoptive parents in the comics as they were much closer in age there.
- Her dynamic with Kate Bishop is entirely new to the MCU, as the two characters have never encountered each other before in the comics.
- Affably Evil: Though evil may be a stretch, her demeanor when entering Kate's apartment is more akin to someone first meeting their old college friend's new roommate, not a trained assassin questioning their target's protégé about his whereabouts.
- All Girls Like Ponies: She has a stuffed toy pony that she takes with her when she flees to Cuba with Alexei, Melina, and Natasha.
- Alternate Self: Has one on Earth-89521 who's a zombie apocalypse survivor.
- And I Must Scream: The Red Room's brainwashing left her fully conscious but subservient to General Dreykov. Even after being freed, she's not sure what parts of her mind are really hers.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: Of the Animal Alias sort; as the Black Widow is named after the poisonous spider.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: She gives her big sister Natasha grief by mocking her tendency to "pose". There's also backseat driving, snarking at her plans, and also talking her ear off about this new vest she bought and all its handy pockets.
- Anti-Hero: While she's never anything less than heroic during the events of Black Widow proper, she has a mean streak, between all the "red in her ledger", and being picked up by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, implying she's fallen in with a bad crowd, and then going on a revenge quest against Clint Barton.
- Are We There Yet?: She asks Alexei this while they and Natasha walk to Melina's farm, which is further evidence of her being the youngest child in the family.Yelena: So, are we there yet?
Alexei: You'll know when we're there. - Arm Cannon: Just like Natasha, Yelena's bracelets have an energy weapon that fires crimson bolts of electricity, which can temporarily incapacitate her enemies in one shot.
- BFG: She uses an airburst grenade launcher to blow up a watchtower during the break out of Alexei from the Seventh Circle Prison, causing an avalanche in the process.
- Back from the Dead: Episode 5 of Hawkeye reveals that she is a victim of Thanos's snap before she is revived by Bruce Banner. Unlike most of those snapped away, her resurrection is actually seen onscreen and occurs right after her death is shown through an instant five-year Time Skip.
- Badass Normal: Just like Natasha, Yelena makes up her lack of superpowers by becoming a formidable martial artist, proficient spy, and a master of firearms and melee weapons.
- Bifurcated Weapon: Like with Natasha and the other Black Widows, Yelena can connect her two batons together to make a staff.
- Big Little Sister: She's slightly taller than her adoptive sister Natasha and is around 4-5 years younger than her.
- Big Sister Worship: As a child, she looked up to and adored her older adoptive sister Natasha, and despite some cynicism regarding her status as a superhero, she still cares about her. She even sent her the vials of antidote with a portion of the photos they shared, saying Natasha is the only superhero she knows. When Natasha is Killed Off for Real during the events of Avengers: Endgame, Yelena is devastated by her death.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: She's the blonde to Melina's brunette and Natasha's redhead.
- Blood Knight: A downplayed example, but she's clearly enjoying herself as she wreaks havoc with a bazooka while helping Natasha break Alexei out of prison. The resulting avalanche which comes barreling down from the nearby mountains only adds to her enthusiasm.Yelena: This would be a cool way to die.
- Braids of Action: When she shows up in Hawkeye she's wearing her hair in a Dutch braid just like Natasha used to wear.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: At first, like the other incumbent soldiers of the Red Room. However, a former Red Room agent frees her from control in her first major scene, setting the stage for her to do the same for the others.
- Break the Cutie: She was once a Cheerful Child who genuinely loved her family despite knowing that it was just a facade. Being forcibly subjected to the harsh training and brainwashing of the Red Room turned her into a cynical and jaded killer who's emotionally stunted as a result of having her childhood ripped away from her.
- Broken Bird: The Training from Hell in the Red Room, losing contact with Natasha after she defected and being Brainwashed and Crazy have worn her down over time, leaving her with a very cynical outlook that isn't helped when she learns her Parental Substitutes are a Jaded Washout who resented being assigned to be her father and a Mad Scientist who developed the mind control serum that was used to control her. The only thing that hasn't changed is her sense of right and wrong, though even that starts to shake loose after she loses Natasha.
- Brutal Honesty: She likes giving blunt remarks towards people, like telling Natasha that her plan to drive away from the other Black Widows pursuing them is a terrible plan and that her tendency to do Three Point Landings makes her look like a poser.
- Calling the Old Man Out: First to Melina, revealing the Mind Control serum she developed was used by the Red Room to brainwash her and countless others, and then to Alexei, voicing her anger and disappointment that the man she loved like a father has outed himself as a Resentful Guardian who can only think about the Glory Days of his past. Also gives one to her older sister, Natasha, earlier in the movie, over having abandoned Yelena to the Red Room to seek out her own path; see I Coulda Been a Contender! below.
- Car Fu: She uses the car that she and Natasha are driving to take out a brainwashed Black Widow chasing them by grabbing the wheel from Natasha, swinging it around into reverse, and kicking one of the doors off its hinges at the perfect angle to knock the Widow's motorcycle out from under her.
- Celebrity Paradox: Shrek was referenced in an episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Florence Pugh voiced Goldilocks in the spin-off film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
- Cheerful Child: As a little girl in America, she was very happy and carefree. Sadly, she was taken back to the Red Room, which crushed all the happiness out of her.
- Child Soldiers: She was indoctrinated into the Red Room to become a Black Widow since she was a very young girl and was taught to be a spy and an assassin there alongside many other young girls.
- Color Animal Codename: Played With in that her code name Black Widow's namesake spider is actually called that and not combining a color and an animal together for a codename like the trope is supposed to be about.
- Color Character: The Black Widow.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: During the finale of Hawkeye, she attends the Bishops' Christmas party wearing a green trenchcoat to hide her Spy Catsuit and weapons in an attempt to kill Clint. One of the LARPers offer to take the coat away from her but she declines so that she does not blow her cover.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Absolutely flattens Echo in battle, who wisely recognizes she's way out of her league and bolts.
- Cute Bruiser: A short, pretty young woman who's a heavily-trained assassin and spy and is proficient in several firearms and weapons.
- The Cynic: Yelena's a pessimistic woman (even compared to Natasha) who has a dry sense of humor and a jaded attitude to match.
- Dark Action Girl: She served as an assassin for Dreykov and the Red Room before being freed of her brainwashing and making a Heel–Face Turn.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She was taken from her family as a baby, then taken away from her adoptive family at the age of six, and then indoctrinated into the Red Room Academy where she was taught to be an assassin and spy. She then carried out several assassinations while brainwashed before being freed of her brainwashing but not before killing the Widow who freed her from it.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Yelena is a genuinely friendly person even though she tends to wear black tactical suits on missions.
- Deadpan Snarker: She's every bit as snarky as Natasha, which often results in Snark-to-Snark Combat between the two.
- Deuteragonist: Of Black Widow. She has the most screen time in the film next to Natasha and is the second most important character in the film.
- Death Glare: Gives one to Kate after Clint unmasks her during their fight.
- Disney Death: It was revealed she was in fact a Snap victim—although she experienced both getting dusted and returning in a blink of an eye. While this means she did not suffer as much, the additional trauma of losing another 5 years of her life is clearly bearing down on her.
- Distinction Without a Difference: She is quite fond of these.
- She did not "break and enter" into Kate's apartment. She is far too much of a professional to have to break anything in order to enter.
- She is not going to cause trouble at the Bishop Security Christmas party. She's just going to kill Clint, eat some appetizers and then leave.
- Dramatic Unmask: Clint unmasks her during their fight which reveals to the audience that the masked assailant that ambushed Clint is none other than Yelena Belova.
- The Dreaded: She's so incredibly dangerous that the minute Clint realizes that she's a Black Widow, he immediately ends his partnership with Kate because an assassin like her being a factor in what's happening means that Kate is completely out of her depth and in grave danger just by being associated with him.
- Dual Wielding: Just like Natasha, Yelena wields two electrified batons.
- Fading Away: She's revealed to have been among the billions reduced to ashes by the Snap in episode 5 of Hawkeye before coming back to life five years later.
- Family of Choice: Since she has no memory or knowledge of her real parents, Yelena still sees Alexei and Melina as her father and mother and Natasha as her sister.
- Foil:
- To Kate Bishop. They're both skilled young women but Kate is a Naïve Newcomer new to the superhero game while Yelena has been a Black Widow for most of her life. They both like dogs and pick up a dog at some point during their debuts, Kate at the beginning of the series and Yelena at the end of Black Widow. Kate and Yelena are both women in their 20's who act more like late teens but for different reasons. For Kate, it's because she came from a privileged background and has been young and rich her whole life and as a result is a bit overconfident. For Yelena, it's because she's been indoctrinated and brainwashed for most of her life and as a result has had next to no childhood. They both also look up to an Avenger. As a result, Kate is an ordinary girl while Yelena is anything but. Even their appearances are foils to each other. Kate is tall and dark-haired and Yelena is short to average in stature and blonde. Kate dresses more boyishly and casually while Yelena dresses more femininely and fashionably. Lastly, Kate survived the Snap while Yelena was a casualty of it.
- To Maya Lopez. Both of them are competent female martial artists who were trained and raised by shady organizations, and they are both seeking to avenge the deaths of their beloved family members by killing Clint Barton. However, Yelena learns that Clint did not kill Natasha and leaves her grudge behind. Maya's case is slightly more ambiguous since Clint did kill her father through Kingpin's manipulation (though she seems to have re-targeted her wrath to Kingpin himself in the finale). Yelena is a more professional assassin who is equipped with high-tech gadgets to help her in her missions. Maya does not have such luxuries so she tends to rely on her subordinates to do her bidding. Also, Yelena is a blonde-haired white woman with a short to average stature while Maya is a dark-haired native and a tall stature. Lastly like with Kate, Maya survived the Snap in contrast to Yelena dying to it.
- Forgiveness: At the end of Hawkeye, she forgives Clint for his role in Natasha's death, finally accepting that Natasha chose to sacrifice herself.
- Friendly Enemy: She gets along with Kate Bishop very well, even though she's trying to kill the person Kate considers a mentor and a personal hero.
- Friendly Sniper: She's an assassin who's an incredibly skilled sharpshooter and is also quite genial and nice in person.
- From Dress to Dressing: Following the car crash in Budapest, Yelena uses her coat to bandage her injured arm till she can get proper bandages.
- Full-Name Basis: She refers to Kate by her full name for most of her visit to her apartment, much to Kate's annoyance. She admits that she does it as an intimidation tactic, which Kate lampshades as obvious.
- Get Out!: She shouts this to Alexei after he says one too many insensitive remarks.Yelena: Get out. GET OUT!
- Good Wears White: She wears a white tactical suit during her mission of terminating the Red Room.
- Got Me Doing It: She copies Natasha's Three-Point Landing during a mission, and then shudders about it. In Hawkeye, she's now doing it full time.
- Green-Eyed Monster: In Hawkeye, she admits to Clint that she was jealous and resentful of how Clint had so much time with Natasha while she didn't have enough time with Natasha before her death at the end of their fight. Bonus points for her actually having green eyes because of her actress.
- Grenade Launcher: She uses one to take out a guard firing at her helicopter during her and Natasha's mission to break Alexei out of Seventh Circle Prison. The resulting impact causes an avalanche that forces the guards and prisoners to retreat to the inside and Natasha and Alexei to hurry back to the chopper.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: She's the blonde-haired younger sibling who's more sassy and impish to Natasha's redheaded older sibling who's more serious and stoic.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Yelena has blonde hair and she is a good person with a good heart.
- Happily Adopted: She genuinely loved Alexei, Melina, and Natasha as her real family as she doesn't know who, where, or what happened to her biological family and is deeply saddened and hurt when Natasha states that they weren't a real family.
- Harmful to Minors: She was trafficked and indoctrinated to The Red Room at a very young age where she was taught to murder, spy, and use weapons like guns and knives.
- Hates Their Parent: Downplayed in that it's more dislike than outright hate, but she finds her adoptive father Alexei incredible annoying because of his constant yearning for the Glory Days, incredibly rancid smell, and in general finds his prideful attitude obnoxious.
- Headbutt of Love: She has one with Natasha after they successfully destroy the Red Room.
- Heal It with Booze: When she and Natasha stop to patch up their injuries outside Budapest, she uses a small bottle of vodka to clean the gash on her arm before Natasha patches it up.
- The Heart: The crux of her role in Black Widow. She is still very attached to Alexei, Melina, and Natasha, insisting that their family bond during their time in America was and still is real to her, calling them out on their less-than-admirable actions and personality traits and pushing for them not to ruin what was, to her, the best part of her entire life.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: In Hawkeye, she sports a new leather vest to replace her green vest that she gave to Natasha at the end of Black Widow. She wears it on top of her white catsuit and later her black catsuit.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Once she and Natasha have warmed up to each other, the loyal and capable Yelena endears herself to both her "sister" and the audience by proclaiming her desire for a dog. She has obtained one by the time of Black Widow's post-credits scene and named her "Fanny", after Natasha's alias. During Hawkeye, she approves of Kate running out into the street to save Lucky the Pizza Dog from getting hit by traffic.
- Heroic Sacrifice: During the final battle, Yelena jams her staff into the aircraft that Dreykov and his soldiers try to escape in, resulting in an explosion that kills them and sends her flying into a free-fall, but she manages to survive thanks to Natasha diving in and catching her mid-air.
- Hero of Another Story: Hawkeye reveals that while Natasha was off doing covert missions with Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers and later fighting off Thanos' alien invasion, Yelena was working with the other Widows to free the remaining brainwashed Widows.
- Hero Stole My Bike: While fleeing from Taskmaster on the streets of Budapest, she steals a man's car at gunpoint. Natasha protests the theft as they both climb in and drive away, to which Yelena snarks, "What, you want me to chase him down and un-steal it?"
- History Repeats: She's clearly meant to be the new Black Widow as Kate Bishop has become the new Hawkeye. The two women meet while on opposite sides, but immediately click into natural chemistry; very much like that shared between Natasha and Clint - even though they’re on opposite sides. They even find themselves holding back and bantering much like Clint and Natasha did during the airport battle in Civil War.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Tiny Girl to Alexei's Huge Guy.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: Downplayed, but Invoked nonetheless. While on the run catching up, Yelena and Natasha discuss why the latter seemingly never tried to find her until she reached out to her over the Red Room. Yelena implies that she resents how despite suffering the same traumas as Natasha and the other Black Widows in the Red Room, Natasha is the only one who benefitted from it by virtue of her high profile as an Avenger and managing to defect to S.H.I.E.L.D. She also accuses Natasha of having been too caught up in the high profile of her "Avenging" to even remember her. They eventually reconcile and understand that these were circumstances beyond their control. Her connection to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, as revealed in The Stinger, might nonetheless be Yelena now forging her own similar path for herself.Natasha: All that time that I spent posing, I was trying to actually do something good to make up for all the pain and suffering that we caused. Trying to be more than just a trained killer.
Yelena: Well, then you were fooling yourself because pain and suffering is every day and we are both still a trained killer. Except I’m not the one that’s on the cover of a magazine. I’m not the killer that little girls call their hero. - If I Wanted You Dead...: Yelena has every chance to kill Kate in all of their encounters but chose not to because she has no vendetta towards her.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: When Alexei and Melina start flirting with each other, she starts taking more shots of vodka.
- It Has Been an Honor: She tells Natasha "This was fun!" before blowing up Dreykov's jet with her on top of it. She narrowly manages to avoid dying though as Natasha dives in and saves her.
- It Meant Something to Me: Even though their family was just a cover for a mission, she honestly loves Natasha, Alexei, and Melina and still considers them her family. Eventually, the rest of them admit they have genuine affection for the others too.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a cynical, ruthless assassin, Yelena shows that, deep down, she has a moral compass and truly tries to fight for a noble cause.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Despite her cynicism, she's still dedicated to freeing and helping other Black Widows under the effects of Dreykov's brainwashing.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: At times, it seems she can barely get through a sentence without saying "shit".
- Legacy Character: Yelena is built up to carry on Natasha Romanoff's legacy.
M-Y
- Mirror Character:
- To Nebula. Both were orphaned at a young age and were taken in by morally dubious people who trained them to become deadly assassins. They also reconcile with their respective adoptive father and sister after leaving their complicated past behind. Nebula, however, was tortured by her adoptive father so that her adoptive sister can reveal the location of the Soul Stone, though she reconciled with him before his death. Yelena reconciles with her adoptive father before she is killed by the Snap and is resurrected after her adoptive sister sacrificed herself to obtain the Soul Stone.
- As separate agents to Valentina, she can be seen as one to John Walker/U.S. Agent:
- Both are ruthless military trainees considered peak in their fields, and neither has any issue with using brute force on a mission. But while Yelena resents her past as a trained killer, Walker (despite being haunted by people he's killed or left to die) has no issue throwing his weight around to get what he wants to finish the mission.
- Both fall in under Valentina after catastrophes leave them without purpose. Though it's worth highlighting that Walker's situation was self-imposed, while Yelena's misfortune was not her own fault.
- Both are polite to the people who they have no quarrels or issues with but are quick to drop the formalities when the other person refuses to cooperate.
- Yelena despises the idea of being a public hero and having your misdeeds wiped away by fame. Walker clings to the title of Captain America because to him, holding the mantle and letting America feel safe under him is the only thing he believes will help him repent for his past misdoings.
- Yelena grew up in a situation essentially tangential to a trafficked child slave and spent most of her "Accords-era" life freeing other widows because it's the right thing to do. Walker is a (likely very privileged) agent of the American government and enforces the law even at the expense of the downtrodden.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She has this reaction when she gets freed from her brainwashing by Oksana and sees that she mortally wounded her while under the effects of it.
- Mythology Gag: In Hawkeye, she wears Night-Vision Goggles during her fight with Kate, Clint, and Maya as a reference to the ones she wore in the comics.
- Night-Vision Goggles: She wears these during her first appearance in Hawkeye as a Mythology Gag to the goggles she wore in the comics.
- No Body Left Behind: Episode 5 of Hawkeye reveals that Yelena was among those killed by the Snap, dusted in the aftermath of a mission to help free a Black Widow she and her partner were unaware had already been freed. Needless to say, returning after five years to learn of Natasha's death presumably right away did not help her mental state.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Yelena delivers one to Clint with a baton, declaring he "should have tried harder" to beat Natasha in their duel to commit suicide on Vormir.
- No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: In the fifth episode of Hawkeye, she sneaks into Kate's apartment and ambushes her in it... to eat some really good macaroni-and-cheese with her.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: She's the one who ultimately kills the Big Bad Dreykov at the end of Black Widow, not Natasha.
- No Periods, Period: Justified, as the final ceremony to complete her Black Widow training was to give her an involuntary hysterectomy that removed her ovaries and uterus, making it impossible for hear to bear children or have periods. When Alexei tries to crack a joke about her and Natasha having periods because they've been acting cranky recently, she tells him this and describes the process in graphic detail which grosses Alexei out.
- Odd Friendship: She and Kate Bishop have this since they almost immediately become Friendly Enemies and maintain their rapport even when Kate is actively trying to stop Yelena from killing her mentor.
- Offering a Hand: Yelena offers Clint her hand and helps him stand up, showing that she has finally made peace with him (and how Natasha's death wasn't his fault).
- Oh, Crap!: Yelena's reaction when she realizes that Taskmaster is hunting her and Natasha down.
- Older Than They Look: Due to being one of the victims of Thanos' snap, Yelena's physically five years younger than her chronological age.
- On Three: Subverted. She tells Natasha that she will remove the knife lodged in her back on the count of three, but she does so immediately.Yelena: Okay. I take out on three, ready?
- Paint It Black: Like with John Walker, Yelena starts wearing black costumes to replace her lighter-colored ones under the employ of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
- Parental Abandonment: She doesn't know who her biological parents are or what happened to them, and was made to burn her birth certificate which made it impossible to find out. As a result, she is completely attached to her surrogate family.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: When Melina and Alexei start flirting, she starts knocking back the vodka.
- Pet the Dog: Yelena shows in Black Widow and Hawkeye that, despite being a cynical assassin, she has a few moments that show she's not as jaded as she lets on. When ordered to assassinate Clint on a rooftop, she attaches a rope to Kate before throwing her off the roof, leaving her dangling. She has no reason to kill Kate, but just needs her out of the way so she can go after her real target. She even cheerfully offers Kate some boxed mac & cheese after she finds her in her apartment.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's about the same size as Natasha (Florence Pugh is just an inch taller than Scarlett Johansson, standing at 5'4"/1.62m) but kicks as much ass as her sister.
- Professional Killer: Seems to have taken this job under Valentina Allegra de Fontaine's employ after being revived by the Blip.
- Reduced to Dust: Episode 5 of Hawkeye reveals that she was among the billions who were reduced to ashes by Thanos' Badass Fingersnap in Infinity War.
- Refuge in Audacity: The first thing she does when she casually struts into Kate's apartment is make some boxed mac and cheese before casually and cheerfully offering some to her. Needless to say, Kate is rightfully confused by this.
- Related in the Adaptation: Natasha Romanoff isn't her adoptive sister and Alexei Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff aren't her adoptive parents in the comics.
- Revenge Before Reason: In Hawkeye, she tries to murder Clint (partially as a job) after being told he killed Natasha and wanting to avenge her late sister. But, as Kate points out to her, Clint and Natasha were close friends, so the idea that Clint murdered her makes little sense. Nonetheless, she's determined to kill Clint and, when he tries explaining Natasha willingly sacrificed herself, outright calls him a liar and refuses to listen to him. All while giving him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. It's only when Clint reveals intimate details Natasha told him about Yelena (such as their secret whistle and childhood separation) that she finally admits she's grief-stricken, is jealous he had more time with Natasha than she did, and wants to kill him because she needs someone to blame for losing Natasha; feeling that if she were there, she could have saved her sister. Clint tells her Natasha made the choice to sacrifice herself and nobody could have stopped her. Yelena tearfully makes peace with losing Natasha and finally drops her misguided hatred against Clint.
- Reverse Grip: She tends to hold knives this way in close-quarters combat.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Hawkeye, she flees her fight with Clint and Kate when Clint removes her mask and Kate has her dead to rights with an arrow aimed at her.
- Secret-Keeper: Valentina reveals to her in The Stinger of Black Widow that Clint is the murderous vigilante Rōnin, which gives her incentive to try and kill him for Natasha's death. After Clint makes peace with her and reveals the real circumstances of Natasha's passing, she keeps this secret with her.
- Self-Surgery: After being freed from the Red Room's brainwashing, she takes out a knife and then stabs her own leg to remove a tracker planted inside it.
- She Is All Grown Up: The first thing Natasha notices about her after their brief fight scuffle that she's grown up.
- Shock and Awe: Like Natasha, she uses two electroshock batons and two gauntlets that fire electrical blasts.
- Shock Stick: Just like Natasha, Yelena uses a pair of electroshock batons as her preferred melee weapons.
- Sibling Team: Yelena and Natasha are this during their mission of terminating the Red Room in Black Widow.
- Signature Move: Black Widow shows us that Yelena is pretty comfortable with rappelling to move around, but we are shown in Hawkeye that she seems to have taken the habit of falling off a window/ledge on her back, as part of her Stealth Hi/Bye get-away.
- Silent Antagonist: In her first appearance in Hawkeye, she doesn't say a word to Clint, Kate, or Maya during their battle; the closest she gets to communicating with them is a glare and a shake of the head in Kate's direction before she leaves the fight.
- Sneaky Spider: She's a stealthy assassin who uses a codename derived from a spider.
- Spy Catsuit: Like all Widows, including her big sister, she wears a black catsuit. She switches to a white one while breaking Alexei out of prison and keeps it for the rest of the movie. Unlike most examples of this trope, Yelena's suits aren't skintight and are noticeably looser than Natasha's (possibly because it's a spare of Natasha's, which is a little large for her). She also pairs her white suit with her tactical vest, as seen in the above image.
- Static Stun Gun: As an agent of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, she uses her own version of Natasha's Widow's Bite tasers. Hers are red instead of blue.
- Stink Snub: When Alexei hugs her after they reunite, she asks him to let her go because she doesn't like the way he smells.Yelena: Okay, you can... Let go of me now? You smell really bad.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: After getting captured by the Red Room, she is sent to an operating room so Red Room techs can cut her open and find out why she is no longer under control. She mutters that this is not a cool way to die. She quickly frees herself thanks to a concealed knife.
- Super Wrist-Gadget: In Hawkeye, she has her own Widow's Bite which, like Natasha's, fires electrical blasts that temporarily incapacitate her targets.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: The way she's turned to dust by the Snap is portrayed as this in Hawkeye. One minute, she's heading to the bathroom to relieve herself and then suddenly she's snapped away while washing her hands. She comes back a second later but in real time she was dead for five years before coming back.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She clearly hates having to work with Alexei to take down the Red Room, openly being disdainful of him and even punching him in the face after breaking him out of prison.
- This Is Gonna Suck: While strapped to an operating table about to have her head cut open without anesthesia, Yelena comments that this is not a cool way to die.
- Three-Point Landing: After mocking Natasha's habit of doing this throughout the movie, she eventually does one herself during the infiltration of the Red Room Academy. She finds it "disgusting". By Hawkeye, she appears to have gotten over it and now does it full-time.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: She has some grenades in her arsenal. When the Black Widows storm the building in Budapest, Yelena pulls out a hand grenade and throws it at two Black Widows on the floor below.
- Timeshifted Actor: Violet McGraw portrays Yelena as a child during the 1995 prologue of Black Widow while Florence Pugh plays her as an adult.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl:
- As shown during their childhood, she serves as the Girly Girl to Natasha's Tomboy. In the flashback to their time in Ohio in Black Widow, Natasha has short hair, wears active clothing, and loves riding her bike, while Yelena has long blonde hair, wears pink, and has a My Little Pony plush. This is still shown to be true as adults where she tends to be more fashionable compared to Natasha.
- And again in Hawkeye, as Yelena's fashion sense is a big contrast to Kate Bishop's reserved and boyish clothing.
- Tomboyish Voice: Has a very deep and raspy voice, courtesy of Florence Pugh.
- Too Much Information: When Alexei tries to joke that she and Natasha are on their periods because of how cranky they are, she bluntly tells him that she doesn't get periods due to not having a uterus and gives an incredibly graphic description of how the Red Room gives their trainees an involuntary hysterectomy which weirds Alexei out.
- Toyota Tripwire: Yelena does this to take out a Widow on a motorbike during the Car Chase in Budapest. Although she doesn't just open the door, but kicks it so it goes off flying.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Boxed mac and cheese. She asks for it as a young child in Black Widow, and makes it when she breaks into Kate's apartment about two decades later in Hawkeye.
- Trespassing to Talk: Breaks into Kate's apartment and waits for her to get back; partly to tell her why she's going after Clint Barton, but mostly as a show of force. She delivers Kate's one formal warning to stay out of her way and to mind her own business.
- Troll: She clearly enjoys Kate's discomfort when she greets her after having broken into her apartment and goes out of her way to make it as awkward and tense as possible before she finally gives Kate her one and only warning to stay out of her way.
- Troubled, but Cute: She's a pretty girl who is jaded and cynical as a result of having her childhood taken from her and later dealing with losing five years of her life and her adoptive sister.
- Tyke-Bomb: Raised as an assassin by a Russian general who wants to control the world from the shadows.
- Unknown Rival: Exploited by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. During The Stinger of Black Widow, she manipulates Yelena into believing that Clint was responsible for Natasha's death, encouraging her to go on a mission to kill him. Fast-forward to the events of Hawkeye, where Yelena comes out of nowhere to try to assassinate Clint during his and Kate's attempt to break into Maya Lopez's apartment. While Clint recognizes her as a Black Widow assassin, he has no idea who she is or why she's been sent to kill him. It is only when Kate reveals Yelena's relationship with Natasha that he understands the situation.
- Unwitting Pawn: She's used as a blunt instrument against Clint Barton by three people no less. Barton's meddling is a threat to both Eleanor Bishop and Wilson Fisk, who hire Yelena as a hitman through Valentina as the intermediary, who has her own mysterious reasons for wanting Barton dead. In fact, she didn't even know she was truly working for Eleanor and Fisk until after some digging. It's a downplayed instance however, as though Yelena may not know why she's being used as disposable muscle by them, she has her own reasons for wanting to kill Barton and doesn't seem to mind the paycheck either.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The flashback to 1995 shows that she was a carefree Cheerful Child who loved her "family". Sadly, being taken back to the Red Room turned her into a cynical assassin.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: She and Natasha constantly snark at each other, but at the end of the day they're as close as sisters can be.
- Walking Armory: She has two Shock Sticks that can be combined to form a staff, a Super Wrist-Gadget that fires bolts of electricity that incapacitates targets, throwing knives, a combat knife, and a handgun.
- Weak, but Skilled: Like the other Black Widows, Yelena doesn't have any superpowers and is entirely human but she more than makes up for it by being a highly-trained assassin and spy.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": A slight variation. Early in Black Widow, Natasha is given a fake ID with the name "Fanny Longbottom". In The Stinger of the same movie, Yelena has a dog she named "Fanny". The inference is obvious, given she's taking her dog to visit Natasha's tombstone.
- Willfully Weak: She has a lot more restraint while fighting Kate Bishop than she does fighting anyone else because she is fond of her and likely also because Kate's mother hired her to kill Clint so Yelena might have been told to go easy on Kate by her.
- Womanchild: Acts more like a moody late teen than an adult. In her fight with Natasha, Yelena yells like a toddler when she smashes a plate on Nat's head, seeks her older sister's approval, and fantasizes about an idyllic life in New York. This makes sense because Yelena essentially had no childhood.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: When Kate slaps her across the face during their elevator scuffle, Yelena is actually more shocked than hurt by the slap. She then gets extremely annoyed when Kate presses all the elevator buttons to stop her from getting to the floor Clint is at so she can kill him.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Alexei praises both her and Natasha for having become formidable assassins with high kill counts, they're both visibly annoyed and uncomfortable with his praise and break free from the hug, with Yelena in particular giving him a Stink Snub.
Variants
Zombie Apocalypse Yelena Belova
Yelena Belova / Black Widow
Species: Human
Citizenship: Russian, American
Affiliation(s): Red Room (formerly)
Voiced By: TBA
Appearances: Marvel Zombies
On Earth-89521, Yelena Belova is among those fighting to survive the Zombie Apocalypse.- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In this universe, Clint Barton is infected with the Quantum Virus and becomes a zombie five years before their first official encounter, meaning that she never gets to meet him alive.
- Red Is Heroic: In this timeline, she wears a red vest to replace the green vest she gave to Natasha.
- Zombie Apocalypse Hero: She's one of the few people to initially survive the Zombie Apocalypse in this universe.
"This was fun!"
