Yelena Bulova: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Yelena Bulova

First Appearance: Inhumans #5 (March, 1999)

Powers: Yelena Bulova is an expert martial artist, is one of the worlds foremost spies, has exceptional training, and is an Olympic level athlete.

Affiliation: Russian Federation, A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D., Vanguard

Did You Know? Yelena was trained to be the Black Widow when Natasha Romanova renounced her loyalty to Russia. 

A Little History

The origin of Yelena Bulova is pretty straightforward. 

At a very young age, Yelena was chosen to become the new Black Widow. This happened because the previous Black Widow, Natasha Romanova, renounced her loyalty to Russia. After quickly enrolling in the famed Red Room, Yelena spent the next ten years training under Vasilievich Pyotr Starkovsky. During this time and unknown to Yelena, Vasilievich developed an obsession for the young woman. His obsession was so bad that, for a time, Vasilievich paid another woman (Petra) to wear Yelena’s clothes and pretend to be her. Frustrated and disgusted by Vasilievich, Petra killed him and in return was killed by Yelena. This series of events that saw Yelena avenge her mentor solidified her spot as the new Black Widow.

After graduation, it was revealed that Yelena was the first and only to achieve marks higher than Natasha. Wanting to prove her superiority over the former Black Widow, Yelena interfered with Natasha’s mission to destroy the “Deathless Frenzy”. Try as she may, however, she was no match for the experience and intelligence of the original Black Widow. Worse yet, Natasha’s experience allowed her to not only best Yelena, but also destroy the entire supply of Deathless Frenzy and kill her target, Colonel Kahn. Angered by her defeat, Yelena pulled out a gun on Natasha. Fortunately, before using it she realized that she would never prove herself if she killed Natasha and let her go.

And that’s it. The origin of Yelena Bulova.