īelova 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. 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. She is lured back, however, by the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and becomes involved in the agency's vibranium mining in the Antarctic Savage Land. Belova eventually retires to Cuba, where she becomes a successful businesswoman and model. Natasha later subjects Yelena to a cruel but necessary manipulation to shatter her illusions about the "Black Widow" title and teach her the reality of the espionage industry. Natasha refers to Yelena as "little one" and "russkaya", meaning "Russian", and encourages her to find what makes her unique and her personal identity rather than blindly devote herself to her nation. Believing herself to be the rightful successor to the "Black Widow" title, 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. 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.
After the death of her trainer, Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, she is activated as the new Black Widow and deployed to investigate.
Fictional character biography īelova 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. The storyline by writer Greg Rucka and artist Igor Kordey was a flashback to the her taking on the mantle of the second modern Black Widow. The next year, she did a solo turn in her own three-issue miniseries, Black Widow: Pale Little Spider under the mature audience Marvel MAX imprint. A second miniseries also titled Black Widow featuring Natasha Romanoff and Daredevil followed in 2001. 2) #5 (March 1999), and was fully introduced in the 1999 Marvel Knights mini-series Black Widow. įlorence Pugh portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow and the miniseries Hawkeye (both 2021).īelova, the second modern Black Widow after Natasha Romanova (Natasha Romanoff), was initially a post-Soviet Russian spy of the GRU. She is the first confirmed asexual character in the Marvel Universe. She reverted to her original codename Black Widow in 2017. As Super-Adaptoid, she was one of the members of the High Council of A.I.M. She was also a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., Vanguard, and HYDRA the latter organization changed her into a version of Super-Adaptoid. Originally, Yelena was a foe of Natasha Romanova and was sent to kill her, but the two later became allies. She was trained as a spy and assassin in the Red Room. She first appeared in Inhumans #5 (March 1999) and was created by Devin Grayson and J.G. She is depicted as a spy and was the second modern-era character to use the Black Widow name.
White Widow, Crimson Widow, Super-Adaptoid, Pale Little Spider & RusskayaĮxtensive military, martial arts, and espionage trainingīlack Widow ( Yelena Belova Russian: Елена Белова Ukrainian: Олена Бєлова, romanized: Olena Bielova) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Black Widow: Pale Little Spider #1 (June 2002)