Yelena Belova (Marvel)
Yelena Belova is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Yelena Belova (Russian: Елена Белова; Ukrainian: Олена Бєлова) was a female human who came to be a recruit in the Red Room in Moscow to become the newest Black Widow. As a student of the program, her physical test scores were noted to had exceeded those of her rival Natasha Romanova. (Black Widow v1 #1)
One of her first known missions was delivering a device that would lower the barriers around Attilan in order to allow of an invasion of the Inhuman city. (Inhumans v2 #5)
Black Widow
She later joined S.H.I.E.L.D. where she became a freelance operative of the espionage agency that managed the Vibranium mining operation in the Savage Land. During this time, the new Avengers arrived in pursuit of Karl Lykos following him after his escape from the Raft. Upon arriving at the rogue facility, Belova commanded S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to attack the Avengers but they refused leading to their swift capture. Yelena refused to reveal anything except that she was working on S.H.I.E.L.D. when she was attacked by Lykos's alternate persona Sauron who breathed fire on her causing her body to be engulfed in flames. This led to her fleeing into the jungles of the Savage Land where she was badly wounded but was recovered by her benefactor who offered her a chance at revenge with Belova accepting the deal. (New Avengers v1 #6) This was an operative from Hydra who alongside A.I.M. offered her the chance to get revenge by providing her with the abilities of an Adaptoid. As a result, Yelena made a full-recovery and in disguise she attacked Avengers Tower when the Mayor was visiting the Avengers. The proximity of the Avengers allowed Yelena to absorb each of their powers where she overpowered them until Stark used Iron Man Armors remotely to attack her. She was defeated when the Sentry overwhelmed Yelena's powers due to his ties to the Void causing her to be paralysed with fear. To prevent her from revealing their secrets, her handler detonated a remote bomb causing her body to explode seemingly killing Belova. (New Avengers Annual v1 #1)
Though seemingly dead, she had survived but was left in stasis with her being recovered by A.I.M. and placed at their Chariot facility. The Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson came to the site to recruit her to be the Minister of State on his new High Council of A.I.M. on their island nation of Barbuda. (Secret Avengers v2 #2)
In the aftermath, Belova was hiding in Symkaria when she was confronted by Natasha who did not want a fight but wanted Yelena to help her on an assignment. They broke into a classified server site where they encountered an imposter disguised as Nastasha Romanoff. (Web of Black Widow v1 #3)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She acknowledged that she lacked the experience of Natalia Romonova but considered herself her predecessors equal or superior in every other respect. (Black Widow v1 #1) Yelena was ambitious, hungry and passionate with this driving her desire to find and destroy Romonova no matter the cost. (Black Widow v1 #2)
Her suit had a grappling line by the top of her hand allowing her to scale buildings. (Black Widow v1 #2)
Yelena stated that she had parents back in Kiev waiting for her to make them proud. (Black Widow v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
Such was her talent that she was said to be the first student in the history of the Red Room to had surpassed the marks of the legendary Natalia Romonova. (Black Widow v1 #1)
For a time, she was biologically modified to possess the powers of an Adaptoid allowing her to absorb the superpowers of anyone she touched. Her body was able to hold multiple abilities which she could use in conjunction with one another against her enemies. Despite this, she was not used to superhuman abilities and thus was not adept in their use. (New Avengers Annual v1 #1)
Notes
- Yelena Belova was created by Devin Grayson and J. G. Jones where she made her first appearance in Inhumans v2 #5 (March, 1999).
- In an interview on Marvel.com, Grayson wrote on the creation of the character, "“[BLACK WIDOW (1999)] was about Natasha confronting her own sense of aging, and to illustrate that I felt I needed someone younger for her to play off of. We had also just lived through this extraordinary political transformation, and Yelena gave me a way to make a differentiation between a generation of Russians who grew up as Soviets and the one following them, who grew up after the Belavezha Accords. When we meet Yelena, she’s young and rash and hungry to prove herself against Nat. She considers Black Widow a mantle more than a person and one that Natasha no longer deserves. In [the follow-up series] which I co-wrote with Greg Rucka, Nat goes to great lengths to show Yelena the extent to which, even as a ‘free Russian,’ Yelena is still a spy and a Red Room graduate and as such a tool of her government and/or the highest bidder. Yelena has made use of choices that weren’t initially available to Nat. In my mind, Natasha is indelibly connected to the Soviet Union and the Cold War, and Yelena is not. Yelena is a child of perestroika and glasnost and unification, a patriotic Russian moving through the world without the hang-ups of Stalinism. She is, in other words, loyal by choice, as opposed to Natasha, who was loyal by indoctrination and so subsequently—perhaps inevitably—revised her primary allegiance... Yelena reflects contemporary Russia. Obviously, there’s a lot more to them than that—Nat is older and more experienced and less invested in the approval of others, as well as being a very passionate person who forms deep connections with other people despite the intention not to, whereas Yelena is in some ways less cynical about her ability to change the world than Nat is, less hampered by association with highly principled associates, and probably more likely to identify as asexual than to follow Nat’s romantic path—but that’s the central tension between the two characters."
In other media
Television
- In Avengers Assemble, Yelena Belova appeared as an antagonist in the animated series third season Avengers: Ultron Revolution episode "Seeing Double" where she was voiced by actress Julie Nathanson. She was recruited by Baron Strucker after he reactivated the Red Room program and her become the next Black Widow. Belova operated as his prime agent in HYDRA with her deemed as his greatest creation though she regularly challenged him. Strucker dispatched her to capture the Hulk where she turned him into Bruce Banner. She brought Banner to a HYDRA facility where Baron Strucker used the Winter Soldier brainwashing technology to transform the Hulk into a controllable agent called the Winter Hulk. In the episode "Prison Break", she began to operate as the Crimson Widow who remained as the sole remaining operative of the Red Room.
Films
- In Black Widow, Yelena Belova appeared in the setting of the 2021 live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Florence Pugh.
Video games
- In Marvel Heroes, Yelena Belova appeared as an alternate enhanced costume for Black Widow in the setting of the MMORPG video game.
- In Marvel Future Fight, Yelena Belova appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game where she was introduced as part of the Black Widow film tie-in update.
Novels
Appearances
- Inhumans v2: (1999)
- Black Widow v1: (1999)
- New Avengers v1:
- New Avengers Annual v1:
- Secret Avengers v2:
- Web of Black Widow v1:
- Widowmakers:
- Black Widow:
External links
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