Phase Zero
Characters

Yelena Belova

Black Widow

Earth-616

The younger sister from a family that was an assignment, who was still in the programme when her sister got out, and who is much funnier about all of it than anyone expects.

Yelena Belova spent three years in Ohio as a child, in a house with two handlers playing her parents and an older girl playing her sister, and was the only one of the four who thought it was real. Everything about the character comes from that: the humour, the directness, and the complete refusal to let anybody be sentimental about it in front of her.

She is also the only person in this catalogue who talks about the Red Room as an ongoing problem rather than as a backstory. Natasha Romanoff escaped it. Yelena went back for everyone else.

Played by
Florence Pugh
Role
Widow, then whatever this is
Affiliation
Formerly the Red Room
What they can do
None. The same training, finished more recently.

The journey

What happens to this person, title by title.

  1. Black Widow2021

    Free of the chemical control that ran her for years, she goes looking for her sister and for everyone else still under it.

  2. Hawkeye2021

    Hired to kill Clint Barton by somebody who told her he was responsible for Natasha's death.

  3. Thunderbolts*2025

    In a room with several other people who have all done something unforgivable, none of whom is coping.

  4. Spider-Man: Brand New Day2026

    Still around, in a New York that has forgotten somebody.

Appears in

  1. Black Widow2021
  2. Hawkeye2021
  3. Thunderbolts*2025
  4. Spider-Man: Brand New Day2026

Sources

Facts last checked on Sep 7, 2026