April 22, 2025 • 10 mins
Yelena Belova doesn't want to be a hero, but she became one with her own poses and general vibe. Her bond with Natasha Romanoff continues to guide many of her actions and her goals.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I hope for stuff
I've never told you, production by her to you, and
welcome to another sub subsub subsube segment fictional women around
the World. This is one I always hesitate with these
(00:27):
episodes because we're doing a character wherein a lot of
more information is about to come out about her, but
we don't have it yet. Sometimes I don't do that,
and sometimes I'm excited, so I do it, and that's
where we are. I'm excited, so we're talking about it.
So yes, the Thunderbolts, the Marvel movie The Thunderbolts, which
(00:47):
is not a sponsor in any way, is coming out
soon as we record this, and so that means we
have another slightly less complicated episode for Marvel episode for
you about Yelena Belova, who is played by Florence Pugh.
No spoilers for that movie since it hasn't come out
(01:10):
and I haven't seen it yet, but spoilers for the
Black Widow movie and Hawkeye this show, all right. So
diving into the history, Yelena is the adoptive sister of
Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow of the Avengers, which, by
the way, we have done a Black Widow episode if
you want to check that out for more information. As
(01:33):
a young child, Yelena was born in the USSR and
was placed with adoptive parents and USSR operatives Alexei Shostakov
and Melina Vostakov and the US with Natasha posing as
her older sister, so they're kind of like a a
cell family. Since Yolena was so young, she didn't really
(01:55):
understand what was going on and thought that they were
her quote, real family. She didn't know this was sort
of a government operation. After three years undercover, the family
is discovered by Shield, the Marvel operation or organization, and
they managed to escape. The family managed to escape on
(02:15):
a plane to Cuba, a very daring escape. The two
sisters were separated in the so called Red Room, which
is this notorious training facility for women assassins in Russia.
Jumping ahead many years to the events of the Black
Widow film the main events because this is in the movie.
(02:36):
Yolena was one of the many brainwashed Red Room Black
Widow operatives. Because Black Widow is sort of like a
James Bond title. It's like a thing that many people carry,
and this kind of brainwashing is a procedure that started
after Natasha defected. After a liberated black widow freeze Jolena
(02:56):
up the brainwashing with something called red dust before Elena
unfortunately fatally stabs her. This black widow makes Elena promise
to free the others. Realizing the depth of what she
has done while she was controlled, Yelena agrees. She goes
to Budapest, where she has a surprise confrontation with Natasha.
(03:21):
They fight and eventually arrive at a stalemate and agree
to a truce. Yelena explains about the Red Room, which
Natasha believed had been destroyed. The pair are then attacked
by a bunch of brainwashed black widows. They managed to
escape after an encounter with a mysterious big bad task Master,
and they are now on the run while hiding from
(03:44):
task Master. An event, Natasha finally explains the infamous Budapest incident,
which is not nearly as fun as they made it
sound in the original Eventures movie. Real not nice, nos traumatizing.
This is a very traumatizing event. I think maybe they
were talking about being an event and having a bonding moment. Anyway,
it was a traumatizing event that I guess spoilers led
(04:05):
to task Masker being created. So Yelena and Natasha's relationship
is very strained in the beginning, like they're awkward around
each other. Yelena ask while why Natasha never looked her up,
and Natasha reasons that they weren't really family and that
she believed that Yelena was living a normal life without
her and was kind of better off. Yelena accused her
(04:28):
of just wanting to hang out with the cool kids
aka the Avengers, but they do bond and the pair
decides to work together to bring an end to the
Redroom once and for all. Here is where Yelena buys
a vest, which is the first thing she's ever purchased
on her own, and she's very excited about it. They
then go on a mission to rescue their adoptive father,
(04:51):
believing that he may know the location to the constantly
moving Red Room, which they do rescue him, but the
reunion is also a bit rocky. Yelena punches him in
the face. He accuses her of being on her period
and she's like, actually, they forcibly removed all of my
reproductive organs in the Red Room. Try again. They then
(05:14):
go try to find their adoptive mother, and when they do,
they all have very awkward family dinner. Their adoptive mom
Orville's that their mission in the US all those years
ago had been about perfecting the technology that they used
to control all black widows. Fight breaks out, with Natasha
(05:35):
dismissing any claims to their family, while Yelena says it
was real for her. She isolates herself away, but her
adoptive dad and her share a bonding moment where he
sings her favorite song when she was a kid, which
is American Pie. The family's attacked by black widows and
Yelena wakes up in the Red Room facility about to
(05:55):
be operated on. However, her mother had put a communication
device in her ear and informed her about a blade
in her suit that allows her to escape. She locates
some red dust, finds the widows that are attacking Natasha
in the Big Bad's office, not Taskmaster but the other guy.
Yelena tossed a grenade wrapped with the vials of red
dust into the room, where it exploded and freed the widows.
(06:18):
Yelena evacuated them while Natasha extracted data on where the
rest of them were around the world, so the Big
Bad dre Cough was attempting to escape on a helicopter,
but Yelena managed to climb onto it, intending to stick
her baton in it and take them all down, and
Natasha arrives just in time to hear her say basically
like it's been fun, but I'm going this is the
(06:40):
end for me. She starts free falling as the helicopter explodes,
Natasha jumps after her, catches her and deploys her parachute,
guaranteeing Yelena a safe landing. Later, she apologizes to Yelena
for not coming for her sooner, and that she also
felt that their family was real. Due to governments slash
Avengers reasons, Natasha has to go on her own path,
(07:04):
but not before Elena gives Natasha her best Yolena spent
the next few years freeing black widows while Natasha was
doing Avenger things until Sanos's snap erased Helena from existence
for five years. When she was brought back during the Blip,
as it's called, she learned that Natasha had died. She
(07:27):
is approached by a woman named Valentina Alegra de Fontaine
or Valve for short, who tells her that Clint Barton
slash Hawke killed her, so Jolena sets off on a
mission to kill him in revenge. She confronts Clint on
several occasions as he attempts to get her to believe
the truth of Natasha's sacrifice because she basically sacrificed herself
(07:49):
Clint did not kill her, and also encounters and sort
of befriends Kate Bishop, who we've also talked about on
the segment, who is Clint's protege. Bishop continues only defends Clint,
and they have her and Yelene have a very fun
relationship in my opinion, but it isn't intel. Clint uses
the secret whistle Natasha and Elena used when they were
(08:11):
kids that she starts to believe him, and they share
an emotional moment grieving Natasha. So that's where we are
as this movie comes out. I know, like in the
most recent trailer they show they have behind the scenes
of how they did this Stint where she jumps off
the highest building in the world, and a quote playing
during it is like, I think something's wrong with me,
(08:31):
or maybe I'm just bored. I think that kind of
captures a lot of her personality. She's very in the
shadows as compared to Natasha. She even has a quote
about that. She says, pain and suffering is every day
and we are both still trained killers, except I'm not
the one that's on the cover of a magazine. I'm
not the killer that little girls call their hero. She
(08:52):
also kind of pokes fun at Tatasha for having the
superhero landing. That's a running joke, even though she does
end up doing it. She's very cynical, sarcastic. She's also
incredibly skilled, but I've find she's a really genuine in
a way that I enjoy it. She really was moved
by like this is my family and I want to
fight for it. So she's a character I like and
(09:14):
I'm interested to see what happens. Wee Shlsey. Maybe this
will be an update in future in the future, but
in the meantime, listeners, if you have any thoughts about
this or any characters we should do next, please let
us know. You can email us at Hello at stuff
Whenever Told You dot com. You can find us on
Blue Scott at most a podcast, or on Instagram and
TikTok at stuff We Never Told You For us on YouTube.
(09:36):
We have a Teeth public store, and we have a
book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always too our super ducer Christina or executive pducer my
anti contriper Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for
listening stuff never told you. Issptiction by Heart Radio for
more podcasts or my heart Radio. You can check out
the heart Radio app have a podcast, or if you
listen to your favorite shows,
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I hope for stuff
I've never told you, production by her to you, and
welcome to another sub subsub subsube segment fictional women around
the World. This is one I always hesitate with these
(00:27):
episodes because we're doing a character wherein a lot of
more information is about to come out about her, but
we don't have it yet. Sometimes I don't do that,
and sometimes I'm excited, so I do it, and that's
where we are. I'm excited, so we're talking about it.
So yes, the Thunderbolts, the Marvel movie The Thunderbolts, which
(00:47):
is not a sponsor in any way, is coming out
soon as we record this, and so that means we
have another slightly less complicated episode for Marvel episode for
you about Yelena Belova, who is played by Florence Pugh.
No spoilers for that movie since it hasn't come out
(01:10):
and I haven't seen it yet, but spoilers for the
Black Widow movie and Hawkeye this show, all right. So
diving into the history, Yelena is the adoptive sister of
Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow of the Avengers, which, by
the way, we have done a Black Widow episode if
you want to check that out for more information. As
(01:33):
a young child, Yelena was born in the USSR and
was placed with adoptive parents and USSR operatives Alexei Shostakov
and Melina Vostakov and the US with Natasha posing as
her older sister, so they're kind of like a a
cell family. Since Yolena was so young, she didn't really
(01:55):
understand what was going on and thought that they were
her quote, real family. She didn't know this was sort
of a government operation. After three years undercover, the family
is discovered by Shield, the Marvel operation or organization, and
they managed to escape. The family managed to escape on
(02:15):
a plane to Cuba, a very daring escape. The two
sisters were separated in the so called Red Room, which
is this notorious training facility for women assassins in Russia.
Jumping ahead many years to the events of the Black
Widow film the main events because this is in the movie.
(02:36):
Yolena was one of the many brainwashed Red Room Black
Widow operatives. Because Black Widow is sort of like a
James Bond title. It's like a thing that many people carry,
and this kind of brainwashing is a procedure that started
after Natasha defected. After a liberated black widow freeze Jolena
(02:56):
up the brainwashing with something called red dust before Elena
unfortunately fatally stabs her. This black widow makes Elena promise
to free the others. Realizing the depth of what she
has done while she was controlled, Yelena agrees. She goes
to Budapest, where she has a surprise confrontation with Natasha.
(03:21):
They fight and eventually arrive at a stalemate and agree
to a truce. Yelena explains about the Red Room, which
Natasha believed had been destroyed. The pair are then attacked
by a bunch of brainwashed black widows. They managed to
escape after an encounter with a mysterious big bad task Master,
and they are now on the run while hiding from
(03:44):
task Master. An event, Natasha finally explains the infamous Budapest incident,
which is not nearly as fun as they made it
sound in the original Eventures movie. Real not nice, nos traumatizing.
This is a very traumatizing event. I think maybe they
were talking about being an event and having a bonding moment. Anyway,
it was a traumatizing event that I guess spoilers led
(04:05):
to task Masker being created. So Yelena and Natasha's relationship
is very strained in the beginning, like they're awkward around
each other. Yelena ask while why Natasha never looked her up,
and Natasha reasons that they weren't really family and that
she believed that Yelena was living a normal life without
her and was kind of better off. Yelena accused her
(04:28):
of just wanting to hang out with the cool kids
aka the Avengers, but they do bond and the pair
decides to work together to bring an end to the
Redroom once and for all. Here is where Yelena buys
a vest, which is the first thing she's ever purchased
on her own, and she's very excited about it. They
then go on a mission to rescue their adoptive father,
(04:51):
believing that he may know the location to the constantly
moving Red Room, which they do rescue him, but the
reunion is also a bit rocky. Yelena punches him in
the face. He accuses her of being on her period
and she's like, actually, they forcibly removed all of my
reproductive organs in the Red Room. Try again. They then
(05:14):
go try to find their adoptive mother, and when they do,
they all have very awkward family dinner. Their adoptive mom
Orville's that their mission in the US all those years
ago had been about perfecting the technology that they used
to control all black widows. Fight breaks out, with Natasha
(05:35):
dismissing any claims to their family, while Yelena says it
was real for her. She isolates herself away, but her
adoptive dad and her share a bonding moment where he
sings her favorite song when she was a kid, which
is American Pie. The family's attacked by black widows and
Yelena wakes up in the Red Room facility about to
(05:55):
be operated on. However, her mother had put a communication
device in her ear and informed her about a blade
in her suit that allows her to escape. She locates
some red dust, finds the widows that are attacking Natasha
in the Big Bad's office, not Taskmaster but the other guy.
Yelena tossed a grenade wrapped with the vials of red
dust into the room, where it exploded and freed the widows.
(06:18):
Yelena evacuated them while Natasha extracted data on where the
rest of them were around the world, so the Big
Bad dre Cough was attempting to escape on a helicopter,
but Yelena managed to climb onto it, intending to stick
her baton in it and take them all down, and
Natasha arrives just in time to hear her say basically
like it's been fun, but I'm going this is the
(06:40):
end for me. She starts free falling as the helicopter explodes,
Natasha jumps after her, catches her and deploys her parachute,
guaranteeing Yelena a safe landing. Later, she apologizes to Yelena
for not coming for her sooner, and that she also
felt that their family was real. Due to governments slash
Avengers reasons, Natasha has to go on her own path,
(07:04):
but not before Elena gives Natasha her best Yolena spent
the next few years freeing black widows while Natasha was
doing Avenger things until Sanos's snap erased Helena from existence
for five years. When she was brought back during the Blip,
as it's called, she learned that Natasha had died. She
(07:27):
is approached by a woman named Valentina Alegra de Fontaine
or Valve for short, who tells her that Clint Barton
slash Hawke killed her, so Jolena sets off on a
mission to kill him in revenge. She confronts Clint on
several occasions as he attempts to get her to believe
the truth of Natasha's sacrifice because she basically sacrificed herself
(07:49):
Clint did not kill her, and also encounters and sort
of befriends Kate Bishop, who we've also talked about on
the segment, who is Clint's protege. Bishop continues only defends Clint,
and they have her and Yelene have a very fun
relationship in my opinion, but it isn't intel. Clint uses
the secret whistle Natasha and Elena used when they were
(08:11):
kids that she starts to believe him, and they share
an emotional moment grieving Natasha. So that's where we are
as this movie comes out. I know, like in the
most recent trailer they show they have behind the scenes
of how they did this Stint where she jumps off
the highest building in the world, and a quote playing
during it is like, I think something's wrong with me,
(08:31):
or maybe I'm just bored. I think that kind of
captures a lot of her personality. She's very in the
shadows as compared to Natasha. She even has a quote
about that. She says, pain and suffering is every day
and we are both still trained killers, except I'm not
the one that's on the cover of a magazine. I'm
not the killer that little girls call their hero. She
(08:52):
also kind of pokes fun at Tatasha for having the
superhero landing. That's a running joke, even though she does
end up doing it. She's very cynical, sarcastic. She's also
incredibly skilled, but I've find she's a really genuine in
a way that I enjoy it. She really was moved
by like this is my family and I want to
fight for it. So she's a character I like and
(09:14):
I'm interested to see what happens. Wee Shlsey. Maybe this
will be an update in future in the future, but
in the meantime, listeners, if you have any thoughts about
this or any characters we should do next, please let
us know. You can email us at Hello at stuff
Whenever Told You dot com. You can find us on
Blue Scott at most a podcast, or on Instagram and
TikTok at stuff We Never Told You For us on YouTube.
(09:36):
We have a Teeth public store, and we have a
book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always too our super ducer Christina or executive pducer my
anti contriper Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for
listening stuff never told you. Issptiction by Heart Radio for
more podcasts or my heart Radio. You can check out
the heart Radio app have a podcast, or if you
listen to your favorite shows,
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