| Yelena Belova | |
|---|---|
| Marvel Cinematic Universe character | |
 Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova inThunderbolts* (2025) | |
| First appearance | Black Widow (2021) |
| Based on | |
| Adapted by | |
| Portrayed by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Aliases | Black Widow |
| Occupation | Contract killer |
| Affiliation | |
| Weapon |
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| Family |
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| Origin | Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
Yelena Belova is afictional character portrayed byFlorence Pugh in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film franchise based on theMarvel Comicscharacter of the same name. She is depicted as the adopted sister ofNatasha Romanoff.
Trained as aBlack Widow assassin in theRed Room, Belova went on to become one of the greatest child assassins. As an adult, she helps Romanoff and their adoptive parents,Alexei Shostakov andMelina Vostokoff, take down the Red Room operations led byDreykov. She falls victim tothe Blip and, after being restored to life, works as acontract killer forValentina Allegra de Fontaine, who tasks her to killClint Barton, but Belova spares his life. She later joins a team of other contract killers who go on to form theThunderbolts, later rebranded as theNew Avengers.
Pugh appeared as the character in the filmsBlack Widow (2021),Thunderbolts* (2025), and theDisney+ seriesHawkeye (2021). An alternate version of Belova appeared in the Disney+adult animated seriesMarvel Zombies (2025), also voiced by Pugh. American actressViolet McGraw has also portrayed a younger Belova. Pugh's portrayal has received generally positive reviews.
Yelena Belova was born in theSoviet Union in 1989. When she was three years old,General Dreykov assigned her the role of the youngest daughter ofAlexei Shostakov andMelina Vostokoff, as well as the little sister ofNatasha Romanoff, although due to Belova's young age at the start of the assignment, she was the only member of the group who was unaware of the true nature of their assigned mission and believed the three of them to be her real family.[1] As a small child, she played goalie on a peewee soccer team called the "Thunderbolts".
In 1995, when Shostakov completes his assigned mission to steal intel fromS.H.I.E.L.D. inOhio, the family escape toCuba where they rendezvous with their boss, Dreykov, who has Romanoff and Belova put through theRed Room for further training to becomeassassins. This training included luring another girl into the woods to be shot, and assembling a pistol from parts, which she was the fastest in her class to do, which meant that she was allowed to stand apart from the rest of the class while their hands were whipped.
In 2016, Belova kills a rogue former Widow but comes in contact with asynthetic gas that neutralizes the Red Room's chemicalmind-control agent. Belova sends vials of the antidote to Romanoff, hoping she and theAvengers can free the other Widows, and goes into hiding.
In Budapest, Romanoff, now a fugitive for violating theSokovia Accords,[a] finds Belova, who reveals that Dreykov is alive and the Red Room is still active. Widows and Red Room agentTaskmaster attack them, but Belova and Romanoff evade them and meet with Mason, who supplies them with a helicopter. Belova and Romanoff break Shostakov out of prison to learn Dreykov's location, and he directs them to Vostokoff, who lives on a farm outsideSaint Petersburg refining the chemical mind control process used on the Widows. Vostokoff alerts Dreykov and his agents arrive to take them, but Romanoff convinces Vostokoff to help them and the pair use face mask technology to switch places.
At the Red Room, a secret aerial facility, Vostokoff frees Shostakov and Belova from their restraints. Dreykov escapes as other Widows attack Romanoff, but Belova exposes them to the antidote. Romanoff copies the locations of other Widows worldwide from Dreykov's computer as the facility begins to explode and fall. In freefall, Romanoff gives Belova a parachute before battling Taskmaster, who is revealed to be Dreykov's daughterAntonia. After landing, Romanoff uses one antidote vial on Taskmaster and gives the other to Belova along with the locations of the other mind-controlled Widows so she can find and free them. Belova, Vostokoff, and Shostakov say goodbye to Romanoff and leave with Taskmaster and the freed Widows, while Romanoff waits to face an arrivingU.S. Secretary of StateThaddeus Ross.
In 2018, Belova and Widow agent Sonya subdue a woman named Anna in her house, wanting to "deprogram" her like other Black Widows but it turns out she did not need their help. Inside Anna's house, Belova becomes a victim ofthe Blip and is restored to life in 2023,[b] hoping to talk with Romanoff, but eventually learns of her death. Belova goes on to get a dog named Fanny and work as acontract killer forValentina Allegra de Fontaine. In December 2024, Belova visits Romanoff's grave and is met by de Fontaine, who tasks Belova to killClint Barton, telling her that he is to blame for her sister's death.[1]
Belova tracks Barton toNew York City and ambushes him, getting into a fight with his protégéKate Bishop andMaya Lopez as well. During the ensuing fight she is unmasked by Barton and escapes. She confronts Bishop at her apartment and reveals that she was hired to kill Barton. Belova attempts to convince Bishop that Barton is not the hero that Bishop worships, but Bishop rebuffs this. Belova follows Bishop's mother,Eleanor, and takes a video of her talking toWilson Fisk before sending it to Bishop, stating Eleanor had hired her.
Belova attends the Bishop Christmas Party at theRockefeller Center, where she is intercepted by Bishop, who tries to stop her from getting to Barton. Later on the ice rink, Belova confronts Barton and demands the truth of Romanoff's death. Barton complies, but the struggle leads to a fight in which Barton eventually convinces Belova to stand down and spare his life after whistling her and Romanoff's whistle, leading her to realize how close he was to Romanoff. Belova comes to terms with Barton and leaves.
In 2027, Belova initiates a mission for de Fontaine inMalaysia. Afterwards, she goes toWashington D.C. and visits Shostakov, telling him she does not feel fulfilled and wants to find purpose. She calls de Fontaine and reluctantly agrees to a last mission. She goes to a covert facility inUtah and is joined byJohn Walker,Ava Starr, and Antonia who are there to tie up loose ends on her side. After a fight ensures, Belova watches Starr fatally shoot Antonia in the head, before a mysterious man namedBob appears. Upon realizing de Fontaine's plan to incinerate them all, the remaining four manage to escape with Bob's help, as he sacrifices himself by distracting de Fontaine's forces.
Shostakov finds Belova, Walker, and Starr walking in the desert. He dubs the group the "Thunderbolts", named after Belova's childhood soccer team. The team is attacked again by a convoy of de Fontaine's forces, but they are saved byBucky Barnes, who apprehends them and intends to have them testify in de Fontaine's impeachment proceedings. Learning that Bob has survived and has been shipped to New York, the team infiltrate the formerAvengers Tower inNew York City, now renamed the "Watchtower", to find that de Fontaine has turned Bob into an immensely powerful superhuman known as the Sentry.
The Sentry overpowers Belova and the rest of the team, forcing them to escape. Sentry turns into his destructive alter ego, theVoid, and starts turning everyone in his vicinity into shadows and engulfs the city in darkness. Belova enters the Void realising that only reaching Bob's consciousness will help. After confronting her past, she finds Bob's consciousness who is lost and consumed by his own traumas. After the rest of her teammates save her, the team confront the Void by reminding Bob that he is not alone, enabling him to overcome his trauma, restoring light and normalcy to the city. With the threat neutralized, the team prepares to apprehend de Fontaine. However, she manipulates public perception by staging a press conference in which she rebrands them as theNew Avengers. Belova quietly warns de Fontaine "We own you now".
In 2028, Belova, the rest of the New Avengers, and Bob, now operating out and residing of the Watchtower, receive a distress signal from anextra-dimensional spacecraft with a large "4" emblem.[c]
In an alternate universe where a zombie plague infected the world, Belova, Vostokoff and Shostakov have been using technology to control and protect various zombies until they encounterKamala Khan andBlade Knight. They discover that the S.H.I.E.L.D. device must be taken into outer space to request help from the Nova Corps, until the base is attacked by a zombieOkoye, leading an army of zombies for theQueen of the Dead. In a tragic battle, Belova, Kamala, Blade, and Shostakov manage to escape and she learns that Vostokoff was left behind in sacrificing herself, and decide to go into outer space. They take refuge inHelmut Zemo's sanctuary, The Raft, upon encounteringShang-Chi's group. However, they fall into a trap set by Zemo to be sacrificed to the Talokanil zombie horde, led by a zombieNamor. After the remaining team escapes, Belova stays to manually override the escape pod, sacrificing herself and toasts her fallen allies before getting infected, and the Raft floods completely. Belova returns as a zombie, along with other fallen now zombies, part of the Queen of the Dead's army.
Pugh was in negotiations to join the cast ofBlack Widow by March 2019.[2] Marvel had been considering Pugh for the role since late 2018, but began looking at other actresses, includingSaoirse Ronan, in early 2019.[3][4] The studio returned to Pugh after she received strong reviews for her performance in the filmFighting with My Family (2019).[3] The following month Pugh was confirmed to have been cast in the film.[5] American actressViolet McGraw was cast as a young Belova inBlack Widow, and reprised her role inThunderbolts*.[6]
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Pugh first appeared as the character inBlack Widow (2021), where directorCate Shortland said thatNatasha Romanoff / Black Widow would be "handing [Belova] the baton" which would go on to "propel another female storyline".[7] On her character, Pugh called Belova "a lethal weapon but also a bit of a kid", adding that she "has no clue how to live as a human being".[8]: 4
Pugh characterized Belova's relationship with Romanoff as "a sister story that really homes in on grief, on pain, on abuse, on being a victim — and living with being a victim".[9] Johansson revealed that an early version of the script had a much more adversarial relationship between the sisters, with Belova intending to "dethrone" Romanoff as a spy; Johansson rejected that direction for the characters.[10] Wanting to avoid this dynamic, Johansson described the relationship between the two characters as "a knowingness and a sisterhood".[11] She felt that Belova would best stand on her own in comparison to Romanoff, while Pugh added there was a "generational difference" and that Belova is "unapologetic, and confident in herself, curious […] and emotionally brave".[12]
Pugh next appeared as the character in theDisney+ seriesHawkeye (2021).[13] On the character, Pugh noted that the show "sets up a whole different challenge" as she was now up against her sister's fighting partner,Clint Barton.[14] She added that it was "really wonderful to kind of jump ahead and see [how the character] has been surviving".[14]
ForThunderbolts*, the actors were given substantial input into the portrayal of their characters in the film.[15] Pugh said that her character has been affected by the traumatic events of recent MCU projects, including the death of Romanoff.[d] In the film, Belova jumps off the top of theMerdeka 118 without the use of stunt doubles in whichMarvel Studios was initially reluctant to allow.[17] Pugh noted that she had to push for the scenes to happen.[17] Pugh also advocated for changes to the opening scene that resulted in the character performing the initial mission dressed in a sweatsuit rather than spy gear, reflective of her overall dour mood.[15] Pugh also advocated for the script to include references to Romanoff's death, noting that "In the original script, there wasn't anything to do with Natasha".[18] Throughout her MCU appearances, Pugh noted that Belova's actions have always shown that "she's always trying to help the person that maybe isn't as strong, or maybe needs a bit of love", citing her adoption of a dog in the post-credits scene ofBlack Widow, her treatment ofKate Bishop inHawkeye, and her compassion towardsBob inThunderbolts.[18]
Pugh is set to reprise the role in the filmAvengers: Doomsday (2026), and theDisney+ limited miniseriesMarvel Zombies (2025).[19]
The MCU version of Belova differs from her comic book counterpart in several respects, most notably in having been raised as Romanoff's sister, which is not an aspect of the comic book character, who was instead merely a fellow Red Room student.[20] Physically, comic book Belova is relatively tall (5' 7") with blue eyes, while Florence Pugh, portraying Belova in the MCU, is 5' 3" with green eyes.[20] An additional story element is that Belova in the MCU first meets Clint Barton while pursuing him in the belief that he killed Romanoff, while in the comics they first meet when Barton pursues Belova to stop her use of extreme methods to hunt down Hydra agents.[20]
Brian Tallerico ofRogerEbert.com said Pugh was the MVP ofBlack Widow, and had found "just the right shades of strength and vulnerability".[21]Caryn James at theBBC also praised Pugh in the film and said Belova was "more lived-in than most action-movie characters".[22] Writing about Pugh's performance inHawkeye, Carly Lane ofCollider stated "The arrival of Florence Pugh's fan-favorite character shakes things up for the Disney+ series — in a good way".[23]The Direct noted that a "good chunk of the reactions towards the prequel praised Pugh's portrayal of Yelena, and the anticipation for her return inHawkeye is high after the positive reception".[10]
Caroline Siede ofThe A.V. Club, reviewing theHawkeye episode "Ronin", felt that Pugh stole the show and thought that "everything that made Yelena Belova such a hit in theBlack Widow movie is back and arguably better here".[24] Reviewing theHawkeye finale, "So This Is Christmas?", Siede praised Bishop and Belova, calling their "Princess Bride-style respectful friend fight" charming. She also felt that Romanoff's death finally truly mattered, finding it emotional to watch Barton and Belova fight through their pain.[25] Ross Bonaime, reviewing the episode forCollider, liked the way the show integrated Belova into the story and making her essential to both Barton and Bishop's stories.[26] Matt Purslow ofIGN praised the scene of Barton and Belova fighting and grieving over Romanoff's death, although Purslow felt that the special whistle moment felt too convenient.[27]
Pugh's role inThunderbolts* also received positive reviews with Jane Coyle of theAssociated Press writing that "Pugh commands every bit of the movie".[28] Nicholas Barber ofBBC Culture also praised Pugh's performance.[29]
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Black Widow | People's Choice Awards | Female Movie Star of 2021 | Nominated | [30] |
| Action Movie Star of 2021 | Nominated | ||||
| 2022 | Critics' Choice Super Awards | Best Actress in a Superhero Movie | Won | [31][32] | |
| Hawkeye | Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series, Comedy | Nominated | [33] | |
| 2025 | Thunderbolts* | Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Butt-Kicker | Nominated | [34] |
| Astra Midseason Movie Awards | Best Actress | Won | [35][36] | ||
| Critics' Choice Super Awards | Best Actress in a Superhero Movie | Won | [37] |
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