The New Avengers (Thunderbolts)
Yelena Belova
Alive — leads the New Avengers from the Watchtower. D
- Appearances
- 4
Along the chronological spine
Where the guide talks about them (7)
Set immediately after Civil War, while Natasha is a fugitive. She reunites with her fake Soviet sleeper-cell family from childhood: sister Yelena Belova, "father" Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, and "mother" Melina Vostokoff. They destroy the Red Room, the programme that trained and chemically conditioned Black Widows, killing its director Dreykov. His daughter Antonia, whom Natasha believed she had killed and who was in fact turned into the mind-controlled Taskmaster, is freed.
Clint Barton meets Kate Bishop, a young archer who found the Ronin suit. They deal with the fallout of his Blip-era killings, the Tracksuit Mafia, and Maya Lopez / Echo, whose father Ronin killed. Yelena Belova arrives to assassinate Barton, having been told by Valentina that he killed Natasha; Barton tells her the truth, and she lets him go.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, CIA director facing impeachment, sends four of her expendable operatives — Yelena Belova, John Walker, Ghost (Ava Starr), and Taskmaster — to a facility to unknowingly kill each other and erase evidence of Project Sentry.
| Character | First appeared in | Route to Valentina |
|---|---|---|
| Yelena Belova | Black Widow (FILM, 2021) | Recruited in the post-credits, pointed at Barton |
| John Walker | Falcon and the Winter Soldier (SERIES) | Approached right after he's stripped of the shield |
| Ghost / Ava Starr | Ant-Man and the Wasp (FILM, 2018) | Not shown; recruited offscreen |
| Taskmaster / Antonia | Black Widow (FILM) | Not shown |
| Alexei Shostakov | Black Widow (FILM) | Not a recruit — Yelena's fake father, freed from prison |
| Bucky Barnes | The First Avenger (FILM, 2011) | Not a recruit — investigating her as a congressman |
| Bob Reynolds / Sentry | Thunderbolts* (FILM, 2025) | Her test subject, not her employee |
Peter Parker in a world that doesn't remember him, working street-level, watching MJ and Ned live lives he's no longer in. The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Hulk appear. Yelena Belova appears twice, as leader of the New Avengers, dismissing Peter's problems as "small potatoes."
| Character | Premiered | Appeared in | Status now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yelena Belova | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thunderbolts, Brand New Day | Alive — leads the New Avengers from the Watchtower. D |
| Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow, Thunderbolts | Alive. D |
| Melina Vostokoff | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow | Alive, not seen since |
| John Walker / U.S. Agent | FATWS (2021) | FATWS, Thunderbolts | Alive. D |
| Ava Starr / Ghost | Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) | Ant-Man 2, Thunderbolts | Alive, stabilised but not cured. D |
| Bob Reynolds / Sentry | Thunderbolts* (2025) | Thunderbolts | Alive, with the Void contained rather than gone. D |
| Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster | Black Widow (2021) | Black Widow, Thunderbolts | Dead — killed early in Thunderbolts*. Not in Doomsday |
| Valentina Allegra de Fontaine | FATWS (2021) | FATWS, Black Widow (post-credits), Thunderbolts, Brave New World | Alive — CIA Director, nominally in charge and actually controlled by the team |
- Sam Wilson's Avengers — Sam as Captain America, Joaquín Torres as Falcon, and Isaiah Bradley as an ally rather than an operative. Small, and being rebuilt since Brave New World
- The New Avengers — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, Ghost, Alexei Shostakov, Bob Reynolds/Sentry — operating from the rebranded Avengers Tower, "the Watchtower," with Valentina de Fontaine nominally in charge and actually under their control