Yelena Belova's 9 Most Traumatic Moments

None of the Thunderbolts have led easy lives, but few have suffered as much tragedy as Yelena Belova. On her journey to becoming the White Widow, Yelena endured a traumatizing upbringing in the Red Room, survived horrific injuries on the battlefield, and suffered cruel twists of fate that brought her close to death’s door.

Let's look back at some of Yelena Belova's most traumatic moments and how she survived them. From her days battling the Avengers to her time fighting alongside them, these experiences made Yelena one of the most resilient heroes in the Marvel Universe.

THE RED ROOM

Like all Black Widow Program graduates before her, Yelena Belova spent most of her youth training in the brutal Red Room. While most Black Widow recruits undergo rigorous brainwashing to turn them into perfect spies, Yelena genuinely believed in the Red Room's mission. As a result, Yelena’s training focused primarily on pushing her to her physical limits.

Yelena’s grueling training regimen turned her into a world-class martial artist with intense psychological manipulation tactics under her belt. With these skills in hand, she asserted herself as the lethal new Black Widow.

By the time she left the Red Room and entered the field, Yelena became the first student to score higher on the program's assessments than Natasha Romanova. Yelena proudly informed her predecessor of this when they finally came face-to-face in BLACK WIDOW (1999) #1 by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones.

STOLEN IDENTITY

Since Natasha Romanova escaped from the Red Room, she wanted to show Yelena how little her spymasters cared for her. After outsmarting Yelena during their first encounter, Natasha decided to employ extreme methods to make Yelena see her allegiances in another light.

In BLACK WIDOW (2001) #1 by Devin Grayson, Greg Rucka, and Scott Hampton, Natasha instructed S.H.I.E.L.D. to abduct Yelena and surgically swap the two Black Widows' faces. They subsequently brainwashed Yelena into believing she was Natasha, a delusion that the older Black Widow, Daredevil, Nick Fury, and S.H.I.E.L.D. all maintained.

After seemingly killing the disguised Natasha, Yelena suffered a mental breakdown as she reckoned with her identity and how expendable she was to the Red Room. While Natasha and her allies restored Yelena's sanity and appearance, the incident left Yelena’s sense of self shattered.

BURNED ALIVE

After Natasha and Daredevil dragged Yelena back into the world of espionage, she operated as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Yelena led a rogue squad that illegally mined vibranium in the Savage Land, a prehistoric nature preserve hidden deep within Antarctica.

When the New Avengers tried to shut her team down, Sauron attacked them in NEW AVENGERS (2004) #6 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch. Yelena tried to defend herself against Sauron, but the pterodactyl-like psychic vampire severely burned her with his fire breath.

Although the heroes took down Sauron, the attack left Yelena badly maimed with severe burns all over her body.

BECOMING THE ADAPTOID

As Yelena recovered in the hospital, Hydra approached her with a plan to get revenge on the New Avengers. She accepted their proposal, transforming into an Adaptoid and gaining the ability to replicate the powers of any nearby superhuman.

With her new powers, Yelena launched an attack on Avengers Tower in NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL (2006) #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel. She copied the powers of heroes like Wolverine, Luke Cage, and the Sentry, developing golden skin and a winged, inhuman appearance.

Although Yelena managed to hold off the heroes, the Sentry stopped her in her tracks when he unleashed the Void. Hydra then detonated a remote bomb that liquified Yelena on a molecular level.

ACCIDENTALLY KILLED BY A.I.M.

A.I.M. restored Yelena to her humanoid form and put her in stasis. She woke up to Andrew Forson searching for leaders to help him rule the criminal organization’s island nation. Still wielding her Adaptoid abilities, Yelena became A.I.M.'s Minister of State and confronted several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

On one mission, Yelena went undercover and posed as Natasha to kill Mockingbird in SECRET AVENGERS (2013) #15 by Nick Spencer, Ales Kot, and Luke Ross. As Yelena and Mockingbird fought, the hero slid a holographic image inducer onto the trained assassin, making Yelena appear as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. 

When Forson thought A.I.M. had a clear hit on Mockingbird, his forces shot Yelena. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents present quickly understood that the lethal blow aimed at Yelena was intended for Mockingbird.

YELENA'S CLONES

Yelena got another shot at life when the Red Room created several clones of her in TALES OF SUSPENSE (2017) #103 by Matthew Rosenberg and Travel Foreman. When Natasha discovered that Yelena died and that the Red Room resurrected her as a clone, she gathered three of Yelena’s clones.

Natasha quickly realized these clones possessed none of Yelena's memories. To wage war against the Red Room, Natasha killed two of the three clones. As for the third, Natasha uploaded Yelena’s original memories into the clone body, giving her a new chance to figure out her life. The older Black Widow hoped to turn a new page with her successor.

ELECTROCUTED

With a new lease on life and the freedom to do as she pleased, Yelena eventually found her way back to Natasha. She helped a brainwashed Natasha break free from conditioning, allowing her to continue protecting the planet as Black Widow. Yelena decided to take on a name of her own and officially began operating as White Widow. Together, they investigated the mysterious villain Apogee and his superhuman followers known as the Olio.

As part of the two Widows' plan, Apogee's forces briefly captured Yelena in BLACK WIDOW (2020) #8 by Kelly Thompson, Elena Casagrande, and Rafael De Latorre. When Natasha tried to rescue her, one of the Olio got a hold of Yelena and electrocuted her, leaving her near death. Lucy Nguyen, a young girl helping Natasha, used her unpredictable electricity powers to defibrillate Yelena and shocked her back to life.

WHITE WIDOW's NEIGHBORHOOD

After speaking with Steve Rogers, Yelena realized that she could do more good with her unique skillset. She decided to move to a small town called Idylhaven to figure her life out. During this time, Yelena tried to be a good neighbor. She learned to love her local farmers market and had a relatively normal job as a remote consultant for aspiring assassins.

However, a technology company called Armament threatened the normal life Yelena built for herself in WHITE WIDOW (2023) #1 by Sarah Gailey and Alessandro Miracolo. As she investigated an attack on her community, Yelena discovered that Renata Best, the daughter of one of her old enemies, used Armament to train an army of A.I. assassins in Idylhaven.

After Yelena saved her neighborhood, Natasha summoned her for a more global adventure and recruited her for the Thunderbolts.

BECOMING A VAMPIRE

During BLOOD HUNT (2024), the ancient vampire Varnae blocked out the Sun and brought the world’s vampires together for an all-out assault on the living. As the Avengers and Earth's other heroes came together to fight the undead threat, Yelena was bitten and turned into a vampire in BLOOD HUNTERS (2024) #2 by Erica Schultz and Bernard Chang.

While stalking New York, Yelena found the monster-hunting Elsa Bloodstone and Dagger. Elsa immobilized Yelena by sticking silver stakes through her palms, threatening to slay her. While Dagger used her light powers to purge the vampiric infection from Yelena, she contracted it herself.

Once Dagger also healed, Yelena joined her team alongside Elsa and the power-copying Hallow's Eve. Together, they protected civilians from the undead threats lurking in the eternal night as the Blood Hunters.

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