Yelena Belova

Yelena Belova (Russian: Еле́на Бело́ва) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Devin Grayson and artist J. G. Jones, the character appeared as a sketch in Marvel Knights: Wave 2 Sketchbook #1 (January 1998) before debuting a year later in the second volume of Inhumans #5 (January 1999) by writer Paul Jenkins and artist Jae Lee. Trained as an assassin in the Russian-based Red Room, Belova became the second modern-era character to use the Black Widow moniker, after Natasha Romanova. Originally sent to kill Romanova, the two became allies and have since worked together. Belova also became a version of Super-Adaptoid as a member of Hydra and A.I.M., before being freed and adopting the codename White Widow. Belova has been part of various teams and organisations including S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Thunderbolts. Florence Pugh portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in the films Black Widow (2021), Thunderbolts* (2025), and the Disney+ miniseries Hawkeye (2021) and television series Marvel Zombies (2025). Pugh's version is depicted as the adopted sister of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, and the adopted daughter of Alexei Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff.