Black Widow (Yelena Belova)

Black Widow (Yelena Belova) is a fictional character, a spy in the and second modern-era character to use the Black Widow name. She first appears in Inhumans #5 (March 1999) and was created by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones. She was trained as a spy and assassin in the Red Room. Originally a foe of Natasha Romanova sent to kill her, they later became allies. She was also a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., Vanguard and HYDRA, who changed her into a version of Super-Adaptoid. As Super-Adaptoid, she was one of the members of the High Council of A.I.M. She has reverted to her original codename Black Widow in 2017.

Florence Pugh will portray the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow (2021).

Publication history
Belova, the second modern Black Widow after Natasha Romanova (Natasha Romanoff), was initially a post-Soviet Russian spy of the GRU. She debuted briefly in Inhumans vol. 2, #5 (March 1999), and was fully introduced in the 1999 Marvel Knights mini-series Black Widow. A second miniseries, also titled Black Widow and featuring Natasha Romanoff and Daredevil, followed in 2001. The next year, she did a solo turn in her own three-issue miniseries, also titled Black Widow (officially Black Widow: Pale Little Spider in the series' postal indicia) under the mature-audience Marvel MAX imprint. The June to August 2002 story arc, by writer Greg Rucka and artist Igor Kordey, was a flashback to the story of her becoming the second modern Black Widow, in events preceding her Inhumans appearance.

Fictional character biography
Belova is an amoral spy and assassin who was trained at the Red Room by the same spymasters who trained Natasha Romanoff, the first Black Widow. After the death of her trainer, Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, she is activated as the new Black Widow and deployed to investigate. She apprehends and eliminates his killer, unaware that both his murder and the investigation were part of a ploy to get Belova to assert herself as the new Black Widow. Believing herself to be the rightful successor to the title of "Black Widow", Yelena enthusiastically volunteers for a mission that will put her at odds with Natasha, although the meeting and confrontations between the two do not lead to a decisive battle. Natasha refers to Yelena as "little one" and "russkiya", meaning "Russian", and encourages her to find what makes her unique and her personal identity rather than blindly devote herself to her nation. Natasha later subjects Yelena to a cruel-but-necessary manipulation in order to shatter her illusions about the "Black Widow" title and teach her the reality of the espionage industry. Belova eventually retires to Cuba, where she becomes a successful businesswoman and model.

She is lured back, however, by the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and becomes involved in the agency's mining of vibranium in the Antarctic Savage Land. Shortly afterward, she barely survives an attack by Sauron, receiving severe burns and being subsequently approached with an offer for revenge against S.H.I.E.L.D. and the New Avengers.

Belova is genetically altered by the terrorist organization HYDRA, as she had suffered debilitating and disfiguring injuries after her last encounter with the New Avengers in the Savage Land. HYDRA recruited her with the prospect of revenge and after hiring the services of A.I.M. transferred her mind into a new version of Super-Adaptoid. This body appeared as Belova had originally until it began to absorb powers, at which time it changed as the original did, though now yellow in color. Now equipped with the ability to copy all of the New Avengers' powers, she engages the superhero team in combat. She is eventually defeated by a combination of Tony Stark's 49 successive Iron Man armors—from the first, Tales of Suspense #39, to the then-current—and the Sentry's use of his Void persona, which she absorbs with the rest of the Sentry's powers and energy. When she is defeated, HYDRA disables her using a remote self-destruct mechanism they had implanted in her, rather than let her reveal intelligence to the New Avengers.

She has returned working with a vigilante group, the Vanguard.

During the Dark Reign storyline, Quasimodo researched Yelena Belova for Norman Osborn. Yelena Belova appeared to join Osborn's Thunderbolts. However it was eventually revealed to be actually Natasha Romanova in disguise, acting as a double agent for Nick Fury. She believed she was disguised as Belova on Fury's behalf, planted for Osborn to find and invite into the Thunderbolts. However, Osborn revealed to her that he had tricked her into taking on Belova's appearance in order to get her to do his dirty work. After Natasha's escape from the Thunderbolts, Osborn then revealed the true Yelena in stasis to Scourge and warned him that she could be his replacement on the team.

The real Yelena is later freed from stasis by members of A.I.M. who install the female Adaptoid on the High Council of A.I.M. (alongside Andrew Forson, Graviton, Jude the Entropic Man, Mentallo, Superia, and an undercover Taskmaster) as the Minister of State in Bagalia (a country populated by supervillains).

After the death of the original Black Widow at the hands of Captain America's Hydra doppelganger then defeat at hands of the real Captain America in Secret Empire, Yelena began to reassume the Black Widow identity once again, but now to honor the late-Natasha. Sometimes during the world's restoration from Hydra's mess, Yelena travels around the world to assassinate the world's infamous generals and remaining Hydra's remnants, which caught the attentions of Natasha's former lovers, Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.

Powers and abilities
Black Widow is in peak athletic condition. She also has extensive military, martial arts, and espionage training.

As a Super-Adaptoid, she was mutated by material synthesized from the Super-Adaptoid where she could adapt the powers of anyone around her like Luke Cage, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Sentry, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Wolverine in rapid succession.

Television
Yelena Belova appears on the Avengers Assemble animated series, voiced by Julie Nathanson. She is introduced in the third season, Avengers: Ultron Revolution, as the second incarnation of the Black Widow following Baron Strucker reactivating the Red Room and Winter Soldier programs. In the episode "Seeing Double", she is sent to abduct Bruce Banner and bring him to Strucker's Siberian base so he can transform him into the Winter Hulk. However, the current Black Widow Natasha Romanoff intervenes and fights Yelena after learning of her involvement in Strucker's schemes. With Captain America and Iron Man's help, the three Avengers defeat Yelena, Strucker, and the Winter Hulk, though Yelena escapes. She returns in the fourth season Avengers: Secret Wars, now calling herself the Crimson Widow. In the episode "Prison Break", she, Zarda, and Typhoid Mary attempted to break out of the Vault, only to be defeated by Captain Marvel and the Wasp. In "Why I Hate Halloween", Crimson Widow and Crossbones are sent to retrieve former Hydra scientist Whitney Frost from Hawkeye. After fleeing from Dracula's vampire army however, the villains are apprehended by the Avengers. In the series finale "House of M", Crimson Widow accompanies the Red Skull, Crossbones, and Typhoid Mary in confronting Frost as Madame Masque alongside the Avengers.

Film
Florence Pugh portrays Yelena Belova in the upcoming live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow.

Video games

 * Yelena Belova's Black Widow suit is available as an alternate costume for Natasha Romanoff in the PlayStation Portable version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
 * The Yelena Belova incarnation of Black Widow appears in The Punisher: No Mercy. This version is a member of a S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Yelena Belova, as Dark Widow, appears as a miniboss in Marvel Avengers Alliance.
 * Yelena Belova appears as a miniboss and an unlockable playable character in Marvel Puzzle Quest. She also later earned a version inspired by Yelena's portrayal in the Black Widow film.
 * Yelena Belova's Black Widow suit is available as an alternate costume for Natasha Romanoff in Marvel Heroes.
 * Yelena Belova appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Fight as part of the Black Widow film update.

Motion comics

 * The Yelena Belova incarnation of Black Widow appears in Marvel Knights - Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D., voiced JoEllen Anklam.
 * The Yelena Belova incarnation of Black Widow appears in Marvel Knights: Inhumans, voiced by Sarah Edmondson.

Novels
Yelena Belova appears in New Avengers: Breakout, written by Alisa Kwitney. In the novel, she is depicted as Natasha Romanoff's former friend and roommate from the Red Room program. After joining a rogue faction of S.H.I.E.L.D., she comes into conflict with Natasha and the rest of the Avengers while overseeing a covert mining operation in the Savage Land.