Why Black Widow Isn’t Natasha’s Origin Story (It’s Yelena’s)

Warning: This post contains Black Widow spoilers.

After years of waiting for Natasha Romanoff’s origin story, Black Widow failed to deliver on its promise to fans. Instead of taking a deep dive into Natasha’s past, the movie focuses on her adopted sister Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who is on a mission to free her fellow Red Room agents. Although Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is the main character, Yelena is the true star of the film.

Black Widow starts with a glimpse into Natasha’s childhood as she and three other Russian agents are embedded in the U.S. as a sleeper cell. Natasha’s little sister, Yelena, is only a small child when they’re both handed back over to the Red Room to be trained as assassins. Years later, the action starts when Yelena is freed from the Red Room’s mind control. After reaching out to Natasha for help, the two join forces to try and take down Dreykov and the Red Room from within.

While Black Widow ties up loose ends in Natasha’s MCU narrative and reveals some aspects of her past, it never fully explains her own liberation from the Red Room or her defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, it negates some aspects of her story by revealing the Red Room still exists and its leader Dreykov is alive and well. The heart of the movie is Yelena’s own liberation. After being freed from Dreykov’s brainwashing, Yelena embarks on a mission to bring down the entire organization. Natasha, meanwhile, is on a quest for revenge. 

While Black Widow is filled with references to Natasha’s veiled past, her life pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. is never fully explained. The movie fills in some blanks, explaining how Natasha was taken from her birth parents, showing a mission she was sent on as a preteen, and revealing what happened to Dreykov’s daughter (who was first mentioned by Loki in The Avengers). But there are many other parts of Natasha’s life the audience never sees, including her time being brainwashed and trained in the Red Room, her missions as a Widow, and her first meeting with Clint Barton. The audience never sees the Budapest mission in its entirety, nor do they see why Clint decided not to follow through on his orders to kill Natasha or how he persuaded her to defect to the U.S.

Natasha’s primary motivator in Black Widow is revenge. As an Avenger, she’s already put her life as a Soviet operative mostly behind her. Upon learning the Red Room is still active, Natasha has unfinished business. She uses the opportunity to settle some questions about her past, but is mostly just out to kill Dreykov. When Drekyov’s death does come, however, it’s at the hands of Yelena, as are many of the major events in the movie. Yelena’s story is a more powerful redemption narrative, as she escapes the Red Room, recruits Natasha, and tries to free her fellow widows. Yelena’s actions are what drive the plot forward and offer closure to the audience in the film’s finale.

Black Widow is also the start of a longer story for Yelena. For Natasha, the mission is simply an interlude to her larger Avengers arc. The movie takes place after (most of) the events of Captain America: Civil War and before Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame. The film is bookended by MCU movies that overshadow her story of found family. Yelena, on the other hand, is making her entree into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And if Pugh’s performance is anything to go by, fans can expect great things from her character before it’s all over.