Yelena Belova (Earth-616)

Black Widow
Name	Yelena Belova
Current Alias	Black Widow
Aliases	Super-Adaptoid, Little Spider, Rooskaya, Minister of State
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	A.I.M.; formerly Lady Liberators, KGB, Black Widow Ops Program, S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Vanguard
Relatives	Unnamed mother and father in Kiev; Olga (aunt)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	5′7″ (1.7 m)
Weight	135 lbs (61.23 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Blond
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human trained by the Red Room
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Kiev (presumed), Ukraine
Personal Information
Identity	Known to Authorities
Citizenship	Ukrainian Soviet (formerly)
Occupation	Warrior; former espionage agent, lingerie model, entertainment entrepreneur, social activist, captain in the GRU (Glavnoye Razvedovatel'noye Upravienie/Main Intelligence Administration)
Education	Graduate of the Moscow Red Room espionage unit
Base of Operations	Red Room, Moscow, Russia
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Devin Grayson, J.G. Jones
First	Inhumans (Vol. 2) #5 (January, 1999)
First	Inhumans (Vol. 2) #5 (January, 1999)
Death	Tales of Suspense #102 (February, 2018)
Death	Tales of Suspense #102 (February, 2018)

 The Red Room wants me dead? You won't be the one to do it! Not you! Not ever! 

—Yelena Belova

History

When the United States and Russian governments sent Natasha Romanova after the Deathless Frenzy, Yuri Stalyenko sent Yelena from the Red Room, at her own insistence, to shadow Natasha to ensure that the serum ended up in Russian hands. After being fooled into thinking Natasha was dead, Yelena headed to Rhapastan to stop General Khan and the Deathless Frenzy. She failed and was captured. It was only through the efforts of Natasha Romanova that Khan's plans failed, although Yelena learned some important lessons from her failing.

Shortly after, Yelena was used by Natasha in her plans to find out what General Stalyenko was up to. Yelena was captured from her home by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Natasha, Fury, and a reluctant Daredevil had her face surgically swapped with Natasha's. Wandering New York in shock Yelena nearly lost her mind. After the whole affair was over Natasha revealed that she had done this to try and help Yelena see that spies were not heroes, but tools who get used for nasty business. Yelena felt violated.

The Avengers were confronted by Yelena and a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. battalion illegally mining vibranium in the Savage Land. They attacked the Avengers in order to kill them but an intervening Sauron burned Yelena's upper body severely. Once in ICU she was offered a way to take revenge for what happened to her and eventually kill Spider-Woman in the process. A mysterious man approached her with AIM scientists in tow, promising to make her more powerful than before, even more powerful than the Avengers, which would make her the new Adaptoid.

Face swap

Months later, just prior to the wedding of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones Yelena attacked the Avengers in their tower. The nature of the Adaptoid's powers made her unconquerable by her new ability to host every power she'd been attacked with. Although strengthening herself by taking in the Sentry's powers, she weakened herself by also taking in the Void's. When the mysterious man behind this scheme saw that Yelena wouldn't be able to kill Spider-Woman, thus becoming disposable, he pushed the remote fail-safe button and seemingly killed her.

Yelena later turned up alive and was working with the superhero black-ops team Vanguard, but was again forced into hiding when the team disbanded. After the Skrull Invasion, Norman Osborn approached Yelena when she was stealing from an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. However, this Yelena turned out to be Natasha, the original Black Widow in disguise under Nick Fury's order to infiltrate the Thunderbolts. However, Osborn had in fact known all along who she was and used her to strengthen the bonds of his Thunderbolts, and lead him to Fury and Songbird to be executed.

After Natasha and Songbird managed to escape, while Fury was revealed to be a LMD, Osborn decided to awake the real Yelena, who had been kept in stasis within the Avengers Tower. She was later recovered by A.I.M., who invited her to join their High Council as the Minister of State in their newly formed country in Barbuda.

During a rescue mission in which the Secret Avengers tried to rescue Mockingbird from A.I.M. Island, Yelena intercepted and fought the escaping Mockingbird. During the fight, the two of them fell behind a metal gate. Upon emerging, Mockingbird was shot by an A.I.M. operative. The Secret Avengers took her body and escaped in a submarine, only to discover the deceased Mockingbird was actually Yelena, whose belt contained a holo-camouflage device the actual Mockingbird snuck into during the fight.

When Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier were investigating a series of murders carried out in an identical way to the MO of the now-deceased Natalia Romanoff, they contacted former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Blevins for intel and she directed them towards a former Hydra operative that had increased the security of his residence. While impersonating Romanoff, Yelena bombed Sally's car shortly after she left the meet-up. Yelena then attacked the residence of the Hydra operative Blevins had taked about, but was subdued by Hawkeye and Bucky, in the process revealing her disguise. While forcing Yelena to take them back to her hideout to investigate it, Clint and Bucky noticed Yelena had no memories of them despite knowing both of them. After letting her go, Bucky and Clint followed her into a subway, where she was shot in the head by an unrevealed assailant.

Attributes

Power Grid

Abilities

Yelena is extensively trained in espionage and various forms of armed and unarmed combat, being a master martial artist. She is highly intelligent and is an Olympic level gymnast.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Yelena wears a Kevlar costume and uses bracelets which release electric blasts (her Widow's bite). It is unknown whether they can also launch a cable similar to Romanoff's.

Weapons

• Wrist cartridges contain various tools of the spy trade:
  • Tear-gas pellets
  • A radio transmitter
  • Spring-loaded cable
  • A small device capable of emitting a high-frequency electrostatic charge.

Notes

Yelena was a freelance S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Level Five.

See Also

• 63 appearance(s) of Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 7 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 3 minor appearance(s) of Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 9 mention(s) of Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 92 image(s) of Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 7 quotation(s) by or about Yelena Belova (Earth-616)
• 1 victim(s) killed by Yelena Belova (Earth-616)