Skip to content

Yelena Belova Reading Order (Black Widow, White Widow)

  • by

Yelena Belova is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since the film Black Widow (2021), where Florence Pugh portrays her. She appeared in the first season of Hawkeye and she will soon return in a Thunderbolts movie, announced for 2025.

What about the comic book version? Created by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones, Yelena Belova made her first appearance in the Marvel pages at the end of the ’90s in Inhumans v2 #5. Trained as a spy and assassin in the Red Room, she is first a foe of Natasha Romanova and has also used The Black Widow name.

She has been, during all these years, a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., Vanguard, HYDRA, and the High Council of A.I.M. Thanks to her part in the MCU, Yelena found herself under the spotlight in the comics, and recently opt to assume the identity of White Widow.

Despite not having a lot of appearances, her story is quite convoluted, as she’s been presumed dead on multiple occasions and clones of her exist.

So where to start with Yelena? Let’s dive into her complicated history with this reading order!

Where to start with Yelena Belova?

To accompany the release of the Thunderbolts movie, Marvel will release a trade retracing Yelena Belova’s journey from adversary to ally of the Black Widow.

As Marvel described it, Yelena is the first student in Red Room history to exceed Natasha’s skills — and now she’s determined to eliminate her predecessor and claim the title for her own! It’s a war of the Widows that will rage from the Middle East’s deserts to New York’s Upper West Side! But Yelena’s path will soon place her square in the crosshairs of her home country, alongside Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian! Together, they face a race across Russia…pursued by the Winter Guard! And Yelena finds her destiny as the White Widow, helping Natasha protect San Francisco from a terrible threat!”

  • Thunderbolts: The Saga of Yelena Belova (Coming in 2025!)
    COLLECTING: Black Widow (1999) #1-3, Black Widow (2001) #1-3, Widowmakers: Red Guardian and Yelena Belova (2020) #1, Winter Guard (2021) #1-4, Black Widow (2020) #7-10

Yelena Belova Complete Comics Reading Order:

Yelena Belova as Black Widow

Yelena Belova as White Widow

During Kelly Thompson’s run on Black Widow, Yelena Belova infiltrates Natasha’s life to help the spy and become her ally. She takes on the codename White Widow, starting to forge a new path for herself. She headlined her own series, written by Sarah Gailey, striking out as a hero in her own right

Yelena Bolova is right now a player in Marvel’s Blood Hunt event – specifically in the Blood Hunters tie-in miniseries.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *