Why Yelena Will Join Thunderbolts, Not Young Avengers
Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) is more likely to join theThunderbolts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not the Young Avengers. The former Black Widow's most recent appearance was in Hawkeye; Yelena was sent by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) to kill Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), who she blamed for the death of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). But after working alongside (and fighting against) Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), Yelena realized Barton wasn't the cause of her older sister's death. Yelena's MCU future is up in the air but the Young Avengers' eventual roster won't include Belova, despite her friendship with Kate.
Yelena debuted in Black Widow, which revealed she was the youngest of a makeshift Russian family sent by the KGB to perform an undercover operation in Ohio. After Yelena's 'parents,' Alexei Shostakov AKA the Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokov (Rachel Weisz) completed their mission, the young Natasha and Yelena were forcibly indoctrinated into the Red Room's Black Widow program by General Dreykov (Ray Winstone). Natasha and Yelena were separated, with the former becoming one of Dreykov's top Black Widow operatives before Romanoff defected to S.H.I.E.L.D. and joined the Avengers. In turn, Yelena was subjected to Dreykov's mind control and remained a Black Widow until she was freed in 2016. In Black Widow, Natasha and Yelena reconnected and, with Alexei and Melina's help, brought down Dreykov and the Red Room. But Yelena was among the billions who died as a result of Thanos' (Josh Brolin) Infinity Gauntlet snap; when she resurrected five years later, Natasha was already dead. Yelena ended up working for Valentina but her status after Hawkeye is up in the
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